Dangan Ronpa: Forest of Despair (SYOC)
by SanityRequiem
Summary: Things are not what they seem. Akita Yamazaki, the Ultimate Mediator, and her classmates are all stuck in the Suicide Forest with only one way to get out: to kill another student and get away with it. However, the game itself is not the most dangerous obstacle this group of teenagers has to face. Remember, the Committee is always watching you, forever and ever.
1. Chapter 0

**Hello. This is Requiem speaking. I'll be your lovely writer for the evening. ;) Since I've become obsessed with entering SYOCs, I decided to create one myself. I hope that this one is good. :D And, you know, actually stays in business.**

 **Anyways, if there are any mistakes, like with grammar and spelling (because it always is grammar and spelling XD), just tell me. Review what you think of the story and idea. I love to hear your opinion and how I can improve as a writer. Now, let's stop this author's note and go into the** **story.**

 **...And now here's future Requiem. This story's rewrite has officially begun. End my suffering. As this is currently going a rewrite, I will say whether or not a chapter has been officially updated in the author's notes, which are usually at the bottom of each chapter. So, once again, I hope you like this SYOC, now that it has improved a lot.**

* * *

 **Chapter 0: それは私が望んだ状態ではない。**

* * *

 _Hope or despair?_

 _Which one is real, I wonder._

 ** _Both of them are real._**

 _Is that really true, you dumbass?_

 _Or is it what they want you to believe?_

 ** _You're the dumbass._**

 _Yeah, yeah, think whatever you want._

 _In the end, the truth will prevail._

 _No. Matter. What._

* * *

I force my feet to run towards the school as fast as they would let me. Of course, that is not that fast, but what can I do? I am not the Ultimate Runner or anything close to that. If I was, I would actually be on time for school for once in my pathetic life. How interesting it would be to see that alternate universe. Anyway, I have a dumb talent and name. **Akita Yamazaki** , **Ultimate Mediator**.

* * *

 **Ultimate Mediator**

 **Akita Yamazaki**

* * *

My younger sister has caused me to be late for school again. Like always. I have to make sure she does not do anything stupid. She is only eleven, so she has the uncanny talent of doing every idiotic thing you could ever think of and then some. Most of those including lots and lots of unneeded crying. Girl hosts her own pity parties. The Ultimate Crybaby if I ever meet one.

Other from that little distraction, it is a nice day. The sky is blue, the clouds white and the grass green. It is one of those cliche days you'll see in sappy TV shows. A show trying to remind us that we aren't currently living in a shithole.

There are billboards all around me with tall apartment buildings surrounding them. Lots of people are getting ready for work. They get ready fast so they won't upset their supreme overlords. A lot of people nowadays will do anything for money. Anything.

"Excuse me...can you spare some change?" an old lady asks in front of me. She's homeless like a lot of people are, especially those who dare to defy the Committee.

"..." I ponder for a long time. To tell you the truth, I pray this person doesn't screw her life over by getting into drugs. Or running into trouble, especially if that trouble's name is Hideyoshi Anno. She's too old to get killed by that lunatic so I get it. This won't hurt. Those puppy dog eyes remind me too much of that damn naive traveler.

"Fine." That is when I realize I left my purse at my house with most my money inside it like an idiot. I reach into one of my pockets and find a lone nickel. Such a lonely nickel. Placing the nickel in the lady's hands, I see the intense feeling of gratefulness written all over her face. "Don't take it the wrong way. I'm not doing this to spite the Committee like everybody else."

"Thanks, young lady. Now would you want..." I tune out the old woman as I realize that I'm still late for school. Picking up my pace, I curse about my brilliant decision to wear high heels of all things. A good decision maker I am not.

* * *

Now in the confines of the inner city of Kyoto, I rush my way towards the school. Only if I had enough money to buy a damn car. People keep running into me, and I do the same back with neither one of us apologizing. That would be a waste of time. Most of them are way too busy getting distracted by the city lights. Oh, and those damn Hope's Peak ads that you can never escape. Hope's Peak is watching you.

"Work on what makes you special, and believe in yourself! One day you'll become somebody important like all the other graduates!" One of those ads happens to be playing on a TV right by me. And it annoys me to no end. I can memorize the whole thing now. That Ayano Kirigiri brat's voice gets annoying after being forced to listen to it more than a hundred times per day.

Then, the moment that I have not been looking forward to, I reach the front gates of Hope's Peak Academy. It stands out automatically from the surrounding city. Kyoto has transformed into a boring city except for this. And it makes everything look like shit in comparison. Knowing that this city was once not destroyed for its beauty baffles me.

Opening the gate in front of me, I make my way through the entrance of the school. There are actual green plants, which is rare, especially in this city of boring greys and browns. Everything looks like it comes from a movie set from before the Tragedy fucked up the world. It may look nice but nothing feels genuine. Pretty sure the grass is fake.

Ever since they sent me a letter saying they had accepted me, I did my research about this new Hope's Peak Academy. Especially since this is the second one to open after the first one got destroyed during the Tragedy. All because of Japan's very own misfit child Junko Enoshima. Going somewhere without knowing everything and anything is going to bite you in the ass. There are various blogs about everything you can think of. They range from the next Ultimates to why the school is against their very own petty morals. I actually saw my own name there a few times. My work as a mediator gains me praise from both sides because I keep them from killing each other.

I walk a bit faster towards the main building until I stop. Something does not feel right. Ignoring the feeling, I continue onward. Hearing as my high heels click across the nicely done pavement below me. Thank God I participated in that goddamn guide of Hope's Peak. Even though I was the only one, leading to some rather...awkward moments with my poor tour guide. Or else I would be more lost than a certain somebody I know. That damn naive traveler, always getting into trouble.

There is then a door in front of me that's way too fancy to belong to a school other than Hope's Peak. I think about how much money is wasted to make sure this door was pretty enough for the high elite of society. Those assholes sure love their oversized doors. It makes me feel like they are overcompensating for something else.

The interior is well decorated but nothing special. Standard rich people shit. I blaze through the overabundance of posters and fliers for even more meaningless shit. Before I know it, I make my way to yet another pair of sophisticated doors. I ponder how much of the budget is wasted on these goddamn doors. And none of them are the same either! Crazy rich people need to find something else to focus on.

Beyond the doors is the gym. I would avoid this place like the plague, but the email Hope's Peak sent out told me and the rest of my goddamn class to meet here. Though, once I look around, I notice that something is wrong. Nineteen people are lying down on the floor, clearly out of it. I am about to leave when I realize the door behind me is closed and locked. Goddammit, I didn't want to be part of a horror movie today!

Quickly, I feel my pockets, but then realize I have left my phone in my purse. Curse my luck. I'm about to reach to one of the other students before a weird teddy bear appears right before me. It has the color scheme of black and white except for ones of its eyes. Its red and looks oddly like the old Hope's Peak logo.

"Oh my God, am I stuck in a movie right now, or one of those stupid prank shows? Come out, people, I know you're there-"

"Ahem...Bitch-chan-"

"Bitch-chan? Wh-"

"Let me finish my sentence, or I'll make you watch a very interesting video!" the bear threatens. I step back a bit, but then the bear takes another one forward. This is going nowhere.

"Get on with it already." I cross my arms. This is no time to be pranking the freshman of the school. If one of the students from a previous year is behind this, I'm going to throw a fit.

"First off, Bitch-chan, I should introduce myself. The name's Monokuma, the Ultimate Despair Headmaster!"

* * *

 **Ultimate Despair Headmaster**

 **Monokuma**

* * *

...Monokuma? You gotta be shitting me. That's nothing like he is in the history books. I really shouldn't be that shocked. For I doubt anything in those damn... _things_ is the complete truth, despite what Nicole used to tell me.

"..." I glare at him. Whoever is behind this doesn't have the best sense of humor.

"I know I am one handsome bear. Even I, with the greatest looks of all the bear kingdom, get embarrassed, you know? So say something! Confess your love to me!" Monokuma then starts to blush and cover up his naked bear body. Whoever made this is quite impressive. I hear some sound but I pay it no attention.

"...Something."

"Well, Bitch-chan, you're quite the smartass, aren't ya?"

Then I notice that one or two of the figures have moved. Before I could process what that can mean, I feel something heavy collide with my head. I fall onto the floor but, by some crazy miracle, I do not black out right away.

"Welcome to the Killing Game, Bitch-chan."

 _Puhuhuhu._

* * *

 _ **Class List:**_

 _ **Men:**_

 _ **1\. Takayuki Anno: The Ultimate Private Investigator**_

 _ **2\. Kyoto Kamui: The Ultimate Strategist**_

 _ **3\. Shinichi Fujimoto: The Ultimate Translator**_

 _ **4\. Takara Miyagi: The Ultimate Treasure Hunter**_

 _ **5\. Hayato Akimoto: The Ultimate Salesman**_

 _ **6\. Lord Cassius: The Ultimate Male Jeweler**_

 _ **7\. Akemi Nakatani: The Ultimate Chess Player**_

 _ **8\. Kazuhiko Hiraoka: The Ultimate Journalist**_

 _ **9\. Satoshi Nakajima: The Ultimate Bartender**_

 _ **Women:**_

 _ **1\. Akita Yamazaki: The Ultimate Mediator**_

 _ **2\. Naoko Kawabata: The Ultimate Child Prodigy**_

 _ **3\. Hotaru Amemori: The Ultimate Dart Thrower**_

 _ **4\. Mitsuru Banda: The Ultimate Sukeban**_

 _ **5\. Rosalina "Mirabilis" Folium: The Ultimate (totally not) Florist**_

 _ **6\. Kira Iwata: The Ultimate Female Jeweler**_

 _ **7\. Ayano Nishiki: The Ultimate Hacker**_

 _ **8\. Tsukiko Oda: The Ultimate Band Manager**_

 _ **9\. Miyuki Kobyashi: The Ultimate Onna-bugeisha**_

 _ **10\. Namita Nakahashi: The Ultimate Event Planner**_

 _ **Nonbinary:**_

 _ **1\. Yasu Matsuhita: The Ultimate Engineer**_

 _ **2\. Minato Ueda: The Ultimate Traveler**_


	2. Prologue 0-1

**Sorry, this is so late. I got sick and had to apply to college. My spring break was not fun. So I hope you like the first chapter anyway. Remember, if you see anything I can improve, just point it out to me. I am not used to first person, as third person is my go-to. And I'm way more better with past than present tense. Let's hope for the best. XD**

* * *

 **Prologue 0-1: Death Comes For Us All**

* * *

"Wake up, little kiddies, you don't wanna be late to your first day of school. Except if you're Bitch-chan," Monokuma laughs. His laugh echoes throughout the empty forest surrounding us. Something about this area makes me feel dead inside.

"What's...this? A talking teddy bear...who dares to curse! What kind of messed up anime is this? Wait, is this...a dream?!" Another person who knows the word anime, maybe this class isn't screwed after all.

Even though most of us stay where we are, one girl stands up to Monokuma. The first thing I notice about her is the roses in her brown hair and eyesore of an outfit. She, though, is struggling to stay up, breathing heavily and everything. I cannot tell if she is stupid or brave.

"What's this you ask? An average game with a handsome host in the middle of a normal forest," the bear responds. The girl does not look pleased. Everybody else does not look so either, but that is because of all the pain we are in. Monokuma could have been nicer to us.

"You already said all those things!" Another person, most likely a boy, screams. Then I notice the brunette fall back on the ground. Head first. That had to hurt.

"Kids these days, trying to interrupt everything. I remember back when little ones were well behaved! Causing despair without question. Oh, the good ol' days." Monokuma's face becomes gloomy when he looks onto the ground. "All I want is some fun."

"And all we want to know is what the Hell is going on!" This time the voice is more feminine but still deep. Without even looking at her face, I know she is one I do not want to piss off. Mostly because I regularly have the pleasure of working for her. I am not an idiot like the brunette from before. Pissing people off that want to punch you in the face is a big no-no.

"Be quiet...I sense that one of my students is somewhere else. Whatever. I need to find them and kick their ass later. No missing the introduction ceremony!"

"They're so lucky," I snicker under my breath. Monokuma is about ten feet away, so I am not surprised that he did not hear me. That damn bear is too caught up in his own deluded fantasy world.

"Welcome to the Fifth Mutual Killing Games! This will be your new student life within the forest of despair itself, Aokigahara!" I cannot believe what I'm hearing. All my life I learned about the Killing Games and the Tragedy. So what in the world did he mean by fifth?! That isn't what we have learned! Should have figured something was wrong with the textbooks...again.

The Suicide Forest, the English name for Aokigahara, itself is infamous. I'm impressed with whoever is manning the little annoying robot. This forest should be under constant government maintenance. The number of suicides committed here placed this on their watchlist.

"What?" Everybody around me is then silenced. Monokuma releases a gas all around us. We all try to fight against it, only to all succumb to it overwhelming presence.

"Puhuhuhuhu."

* * *

I wake up in a classroom. How typical. It's not ordinary though, for it looks like it belongs in a post-apocalyptic movie. Vines are where windows should be. Moss replaces the wood. Grass, or whatever the Hell this is, is now all over my body, including my face. Great. I hope none of it got into my facial scar. It would be a bitch to clean out.

"I'm getting real tired of this shit." Now my head is hurting way more than it did before. Shit.

"Aren't we all?" I recognize that voice from somewhere. I turn around to see a boy older than me, about seventeen right now. He has messy black hair that goes past his shoulders. If there is an Ultimate Hairstyler or whatever, they would go crazy seeing him.

"Oh, Yuki...I'm returning to the desk." There are only two other people that I don't want to see more than Yuki. And one of them is his goddamn cousin. And the other is the best friend of that goddamn cousin! Something about his bloodline must make psychopaths. Attention all fangirls, do not make this man your husbando.

"Akita, this is no time to be messing around!"

"I'll consider it when you stop being a dick to everyone you meet."

"Monokuma is right for calling you Bitch-chan," Yuki responds. His name is actually **Takayuki Anno** and he, like me, is an Ultimate. I swear I shivered when I saw his name come up way more times than mine on the blogs. Unfortunately, he did not get the title of dick. His title is **Ultimate Private Investigator.**

* * *

 **Ultimate Private Investigator...or Ultimate Dick**

 **Takayuki "Yuki" Anno**

* * *

"I see you look shady as ever," I say. His white lab coat makes him look more like a wannabe doctor. Or a mad scientist who doesn't realize that he's insane. It's way too big for him, but Yuki still tries to look cool as ever. Yuki's shoes are simple, black and forgettable, unlike everything else about him. He wears dark blue, simple jeans that are more torn than any rock singer the kids in the past could ever dream of. The shirt he has on is a simple black one with nothing remarkable about it. Black-rimmed glasses shield his bright blue eyes.

"And you still look like a slut." True, I like exposing a lot of my skin, but that does not make me a slut! I want to slap him in the face. Well, I always want to slap him in the face.

Yeah, sure, I am wearing a black crop top. And, yeah, sure, over it, I have a long, sleeveless jacket that reaches to my ankles. I wear black short shorts. My boots go all the way up to above my knees. There are also gloves that were a present by a stranger, that are unsurprisingly black, that cover my hands. A lot of the color black. It matches my soul. My mandatory description of myself is now done! Yea!

"You're much taller than I remember. Did you finally reach puberty?" Even though he towers me now, when we meet a couple years ago, I remember him being shorter by a long shot. How puberty can be kind to some people. Unlike it is to me. Damn you, periods. Takayuki and I actually see each other close to every day, but I like blocking that time from my mind. It is way too traumatic for me. Being coworkers with somebody you don't like is Hell on Earth.

"Also, you look like you're about to see a rock concert. Those are things of the past, remember? Destroyed by a member of Ultimate Despair, Ibuki Mioda." Except for First Light. Don't forget First Light.

"Because I wear all black? You look like you're going to horror movie screening only open to the biggest of nerds."

"...Um..." Both of us turn around to see somebody else, a girl, with us. She is holding both of her arms and creating what looks like some kind of barrier around herself. The first thing I notice is what seems to be some kind of burn marks, possibly due to my own scars. I tell myself that's probably my imagination. She keeps quiet, looking down on the floor.

"Do you have a name?" I question. Yuki looks like he is about to yell at her, but I stare at him. Luckily, he keeps his damn mouth shut. I lower myself to be about her level.

"M-my name? **Naoko Kawabata**...I am the **Ultimate Child Prodigy**. But I'm a teenager, just l-like you! Um...my memory is the only thing I'm proud of. Haha..."

* * *

 **Ultimate Child Prodigy**

 **Naoko Kawabata**

* * *

"Well, I'm Akita Yamazaki, the Ultimate Mediator-"

"So you act like an angel around her and a demon around me. Figures-"

"Ignore him. He's an asshole." I smile. Naoko still looks uncomfortable and I sigh. Because I cannot blame her. Poor little girl. "See what you did Yuki, you made her think I'm an asshole too."

"Because you are one," he answers. I hear him walk closer. I turn to see him actually observing Naoko, looking up and down. This does not shock me, for he does this to everybody he meets. Naoko tries to cover herself even more. She reminds me of how I used to be the first time I meet with Yuki after we became separated in our childhood. Oh, how time seems to pass.

"W-who are you...mister?" Naoko tries to hide her face with one of her arms. Her eyes peek from underneath it still. Why do I find that so adorable? If I could write a post on Tumblr about her, my followers would go insane.

"Hmph. My name happens to be-"

"Dickhead," I interrupt. In response, one of Yuki's eyebrow begins to twitch, but all I do is smirk. I can only imagine the chaos going through his head. That discord is my gift to him for all the times he has screamed my ears off.

"...Takayuki Anno. Call me Yuki. It's easier for idiots to remember." He stops to glare at me. "You might've heard of me before, Naoko, for I am known as the Ultimate Private Investigator. I heard of you and read your reports. It's good to know we have another person here that won't make me want to blow my own brains out."

"They're nothing that special." The girl begins to blush and hide her face even more. Naoko is actually pretty adorable, especially the more I look at her. There's something about her eyes.

"You gained the title of Ultimate from them, did you not? Don't waste that brain of yours doing stupid things like self-pity. That's the stupidest thing a person can ever do. Give into despair!" His hands ball up.

"I never have seen you like this. Where is Yuki and what did you do to him?" I ask. Yuki ignored me. If he was that kind, then he would've stopped that asshole journalist. But, no, freedom of the press and all that shit.

"Anyways, I got popular out of my free will like you. They couldn't stop that annoying article about me solving those damn murders. Damn that journalist. I'm not a hero or anything, trying to change the world. You aren't too. I'm the Ultimate Private Investigator. I do it for the money more than anything else. Somebody just happened to hire me."

"Nobody thinks of themselves as a hero anymore. This is not the era of Ultimate Hopes or Despairs. Only the dull in-between," I comment.

"...Um..." Naoko starts playing around with her red dress. Her fingers playing around with the frilly ends. They, her fingers, then travel up to her ponytail holding her brunette hair together. I notice that there's a dandelion in the tie. Her green eyes search for something, or someplace. They dart across the room, even though they droop. I see there are small cycling shorts underneath her dress and a denim jacket with a soft fur lining. Also, she has black and white checkered shoes and white socks. She is cute, but I can tell that there's much more to her. Especially compared to Yuki.

"What is it?" I ask. I keep my voice soft.

"...Th-there's another..."

"Another what?" Yuki towers over her. She lets out a small yelp. Seconds later, he tries to dodge me before my fist meets his face. Too bad he's too slow. Yuki falls on his butt and stays there.

"Please ignore him."

"...Um...there's a-another girl in the corner." Naoko points to the table nearest to the door. True to her word, there is another girl seated at the desk. She looks like she's sleeping but you can never be too sure nowadays.

"Indeed there is," responds Yuki. He's the first one of us to reach her. Due to how fast he is. Wait, isn't he supposed to be slow? Along with his legs, he must have gained the skill to run. Damn puberty! Damn ache that used to eat away my free time in the morning! Damn you! Damn you, pimples!

"A-are you okay?" Naoko looks worried about her, but the only emotion on Yuki's face is pure intrigue. I'm the last one to reach her. My hands start to shake the stranger's body only to get no response. Panicked, I check for a pulse and find one.

"Akita, she's very clearly not dead." As usual, Yuki only views me as an annoyance. Nothing has changed this past couple of years between us. Well, other than some complicated matters, but that doesn't matter right now. What we need to focus on is the girl in front of us that is taking a little too much time napping. This is no time to be sleeping!

"I had to check. Monokuma did say this was the Fifth Mutual Killing Game after all."

"...Killing game!" The harsh reality of our situation comes onto Naoko. She begins shaking, and her eyes look dilated. I can only imagine how horrible she'll react to a dead body.

"Naoko!" I try to comfort her, but she pushes me off. She hurries out of the room, tears flowing in her eyes. Yuki runs after her, but I stop him.

"You'll only make the situation worse," I tell him bluntly. He does not listen to what I say. Due to him struggling, I let go of his hand and watch him take off. Dammit, I was about to ask him about what he thinks about the game being the fifth one. Time to make my own theories then.

"Stay here!" Even though I hate following orders, I sit next to the mysterious girl. I don't want somebody taking advantage of the situation and killing her. That would suck. It hasn't even been a day!

The girl herself has silvery blue hair that reaches only to above her shoulders. It's sad to say that Yuki has longer hair than her. The girl is pale and has muscular arms. Everything else, though, is skinny. Too skinny in my eyes.

"Well, this is gonna be boring." With nothing better to do, I continue observing the body of my fellow classmate. Hopefully, she won't find this creepy. Her shirt is a gradient of two different colors of blue, fading as it reaches the bottom. It reminds me of the new filtered sea. Instead of red, the waves are blue and calm, finally matching the sky again.

"..." She makes no noise but her subtle breathing. She wears an open, sleeveless cardigan that reaches until her knees. It's silver and has a hood in the back. A silver necklace with a heart-shaped charm drapes around her neck. Like me, she has gloves, only dark blue. The stranger has a white and grey pleated skirt that only goes up to her thighs. Nothing can beat her footwear. Why? Because she has none. How this girl isn't dead yet is anybody's guess.

"Should I find a bucket of water or something?" I question myself. There's nothing like that in this room, so I would have to search the other rooms.

"Nope." The girl perks up. Her teal eyes open, and they travel their sights to me. Okay, now I'm confused.

"How are you awake?"

"Oh, I've always been awake. I was dying to see how you handle the situation! Ha, I can't believe you feel for something like that." She cleans some of the moss off of her.

"Okay...so who are you?" All I do is stare. The stranger returns her gaze back. Something about her seems to be nostalgic, but I don't know why.

"Name's **Hotaru Amemori**. I'm what they call the **Ultimate Dart Thrower**. I look forward to being friends. That's what the cool kids do."

* * *

 **Ultimate Dart Thrower**

 **Hotaru Amemori**

* * *

She has a beaming smile. A smile unlike the two I was with earlier. Yuki always has a stern look on his face, but Naoko has an innocent yet sad frown. Hotaru is different from the two of them.

"What's your name?" Hotaru jumps onto her seat. Her feet are already covered with all different kinds of things. Instead of answering her, I stare at her feet, trying to solve the mystery of how they aren't injured yet. "Helllloooo."

"Oh! I'm Akita. Akita Yamazaki! Ultimate Mediator!" My train of thought is always broken by somebody being loud. Great.

"Awesome! Your name is so cool! I haven't met anybody named Akita before...I heard it before though...It's a dog's name!" Hotaru yells. If my hearing stays after this, I will be the most grateful person in the world. Then I will finally go to shrines more often.

"...What am I getting myself into?"

"Why are you saying that?" she asks. I already know that this conversation is going to go somewhere...unpredictable. Of course, that means I cannot manage the outcome.

"This whole game..."

"Is a prank, right? A most elaborate prank. Think about it. There's no evidence that its real!" Hotaru gets out of her chair and looks at me. We are almost the same exact height, making our eyes meet each other. She then smiles even more and pats me on the shoulder. Okay, why does this feel familiar?

"We should find the others. Even if this is a prank, we're still in the middle of the forest. That means we gotta find a way out of here," I voice. Due to the little space between us, I take a step back.

"Yeah, there's nothing here but moss...and whatever that is." She lifts up one of her feet and frowns. "This will not be fun to clean off. Whatever, we've more important things to do!"

"Like what?" I question her. Somehow her smile grows even bigger. This is either a very good or very bad thing.

"Hmmm...not telling!" Hotaru responds. "For now, we should go somewhere else!"

"Yes, where should we-" Hotaru interrupts me by taking my hand. The next thing I know, we are running down the hallway, with Yuki and Naoko the other way. Both of our feet make little sound due to the moss absorbing their sound. Well, the only thing for certain is that these shoes are going to be worse than ruined by the end of this day. Really should have worn my tennis shoes.

* * *

 **Hope you like the chapter. I was originally going to have the intros be one chapter, but I promised this one way before. Yeah, that means future chapters are going to be way longer.**

 **Anyways, creators, if I mess anything up about your characters, just tell me. I'm still getting used to them. :)**

 **Hoped you liked this chapter. Hopefully, updates will happen more often now. Since Spring Break also had my computer dying, lots of homework and getting slightly injured.** **I had fun. XD**

 **...And now future!Requiem is back! More updates! This one is more of a re-edit, for not everything will be rewritten. If I did that, I would quickly go insane. :P**


	3. Prologue 0-2

**Prologue 0-2: Doors are Enemy Number One**

* * *

Again...again...again...again...Hotaru and I check each door we come across, but nothing will open. Of course. This only makes me want to slam my head over and over into one of these goddamn doors. That would cause one of them to open...probably...eventually. Maybe in the afterlife.

"Hhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmm." My companion suddenly seats herself on the floor. I cannot tell if she cares whether or not her clothes get ruined. "This is going nowhere."

"Maybe we should've followed that dick Yuki and Naoko..." I sit myself down too. My head still hurts from all the shit that has been happening to me. Of course, I still wonder about how the Hell Hotaru is not screaming in pain while walking down these hallways. She was walking around on her tiptoes too. I need to learn where Hotaru gets all her strength from. Does throwing darts make your feet like that somehow? Tell me your secrets.

"Aha!" Hotaru smiles and then reaches into one of her pockets, which is usually hidden by her cardigan, on her skirt. She frowns shortly afterward. Her body falls back onto the floor, and even her short hair gets consumed by the dirt on the miserable excuse of a floor.

"Good to know everything is-"

"Nope!" She then perks up again. Hotaru pushes herself against a random classroom door. The door does not move, but she stays determined.

"...Do you want me to help you?" I ask her. At that moment, the door she is pushing breaks. She falls with it, landing headfirst on the cold floor underneath her. "...Well...good to know that worked."

"...Ow..." Hotaru tries to stand up, only to fail miserably. She closes her eyes, which causes me to check her pulse again. I can hear Yuki making fun of me...again. Well, this is one less thing to try at least.

"What a despair-inducing sight. One of my precious little students got herself injured." A familiar laugh follows those words. I refuse to turn around, for I know Monokuma is there. "And the other student won't dare to look at me. You really are Bitch-chan. Why do my beloved students always hate me so much?...Except for Mikan...that rotten orange..."

"Why are you using outdated Japanese honorifics?" I interrogate him. He starts to sweat. How can teddy bears sweat? Onto the topic of honorifics though, they died out long ago, a few decades maybe, especially when the Japanese Future Foundation was taken over by the American World Restoration Committee. An organization that is more infamous than Hope's Peak itself. I hate both of them. Everybody has such a hard on with hope, and I really cannot see what is so great about it or despair. Seriously. They both lead to the same thing, just with very different goals and actions. Both of them caused the Tragedy, sometimes referred to as World War Three, to happen.

"Because teenagers these days don't understand the beauty of ancient Japanese culture!" Monokuma yelled. "I want to punish you brats for breaking down that innocent door, but you didn't know the rules yet. I'm such a merciful teacher. Truly, the door was the first victim."

"...The rules?" Even though we learn about the Killing Games at school, the only rule the teachers ever went over was the most infamous one. The rule of "Graduation". If you kill someone, become the "Blackened" and get away with it, you get to survive the Killing Game.

"Yes, you should know that every society runs on rules and principles. Even ones filled with despair! Here's a list for your enjoyment." I feel paper push against my back. That causes me to jump, not knowing Monokuma is so close.

"Are you gonna do anything to help Hotaru?" I question.

"I'll listen to you if you look at my beautiful face."

"...Hotaru, you're gonna owe me big time..." Giving into Monokuma's demands, I turn around to face him. He still looks the same as before. The same demented teddy bear who does not know when to shut the fuck up. How I would love tearing his little body into littler pieces.

"Oh! I feel so loved! Finally! Love love! I can confess my love to the one and only Bitch-chan!" His face turns red. Instead of wondering how that can happen on a robot...again, I grab the paper from his hands. That mystery would be solved with the one about Hotaru's feet.

"Why is this on a sheet of paper? Wouldn't it be easier to put everything on a pad of some sort?"

"You ask too many questions. Maybe not answering this one will cause you to fall into the depths of despair within your own heart!" responds Monokuma. He continues to talk, but I tune him out. It is all just nonsense about his beloved despair anyway. It is nothing like my beloved. By the end of this, I am going to be so sick of that word, despair. I decide to read the paper given to me by this psycho bear. Maybe calling him that is giving Monokuma too much credit.

 **Rule #1: You are only to be allowed in the school and up to five miles away from it. Any further and you will be punished by the school rules.**

 **Rule #2: Nighttime is from 11 pm to 6 am. Anywhere is open at night but please don't do anything reckless. If too many reckless events happen, this privilege will be taken away.**

 **Rule #3: You can sleep anywhere. This privilege will also be taken away if people abuse it.**

 **Rule #4: You are allowed to travel to open places any time in Hope's Peak, just as long as it obeys the rules. Breaking into rooms is not allowed and will result in a punishment.**

 **Rule #5: Violence against the headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited.**

 **Rule #6: Any destruction of school property will be punished. Also littering is not allowed.**

 **Rule #7: Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "Blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered.**

 **Rule #8: Once a murder takes place, a class trial will begin shortly thereafter. Participation is mandatory for all surviving students. The only exception is when a student is put into the "Hospital."**

 **Rule #9:** **If the guilty party is exposed during the class trial, they alone will be punished.**

 **Rule #10: If the guilty party is not exposed, they alone will graduate, and all remaining students will be punished for their crime.**

 **Rule #11:** **The guilty party may only kill a maximum of two people during any single "Killing Game." If a person somehow gets into another Game, then the death counter will be reset.**

 **Rule #12: If two or more people end up killing somebody in a certain period of time, only the first murderer will become the "Blackened".**

 **Rule #13: Additional rules can be added on at any time. Rules can also be changed.**

I take some time to read the whole thing through. Of course, we are taught to read and write, but not as much as before. That's what my grandparents tell me though. We are only taught the basics. Schools nowadays focus on different things, like how to build teamwork and survive in places like the forest. Who knew that class would actually come in handy? I didn't, for I skipped most of it. I am gonna to regret that decision so hard.

"...This is a lot of rules..." I notice afterward that Monokuma is no longer there. My eyes wander onto the very bottom of the page. There is something else down there, but I have clearly not read it yet. Duh. You are reading my narration! Am I truly the best narrator of all time? Hell no, that honor goes to the Ultimate Narrator of the second class of the second Hope's Peak, Rinka Fujioka.

 **P.S.**

 **Bitch-chan, can you give this to the rest of my beloved students? I need to take care of Hotaru. ^.^ Bye bye.**

 **Love,**

 **Monokuma-Sensei**

I have a burning temptation to destroy the paper and leave no trace of its sorry existence, but I take a deep breath. A much, much needed deep breath. Then I see that Hotaru is not where she was anymore. Even though I just meet her, I feel extremely worried. The only way to continue though is to move onwards. It is not like I know the layout of the school or where Monokuma took her. Being distracted by the letter and not even noticing that makes me feel like shit!

"...Well...damn...I guess I've to get to the other students..."

* * *

It is boring not having anybody around and continually checking all the doors. There is no sign of human life, and I literally feel I am part of a horror movie right now. Of course, that may be because I am actually a part of a Killing Game. This is Saw on steroids. Those stories used to feel like myths, like the legend of Hercules. Now I will not be surprised if Hercules comes running towards me and kisses me. Not surprised at all.

"Maybe I should go back the way Naoko and Yuki went..." My feet, however, disagree with me and keep moving forward. So much for that idea.

"...u-uh...um...u-uh...ahhh...ummmmmmm..." In that moment, along with the everything before, I realize that I suck at noticing things. There is a tall, slightly pudgy man at the end of the hallway. Even I, with my not-so-great observing skills, can notice that he is blushing.

"...Hey?!" With the sound of my voice once again echoing throughout the hallways, he hears it and runs away. Luckily for him, not me, I happen to not be the best at running. "...Dammit..." Today is just getting worse and worse as time goes on by.

"...ah..." Even over here I can hear him. Time to make my feet hate me even more and run faster. Great. This guy has to kiss my feet...no Hotaru's if I catch up to him.

"Just hope there's somewhere to rest here," I say to myself, sighing.

"Open the door, you piece of shit!" somebody yells. One of the doors of the classroom suddenly opens, and it slams directly into the shy man's face. Note to self, stay away from doors in this place. They are more dangerous than Monokuma. Doors: 2, Ultimates: 0.

"I feel like I heard that voice somewhere before," I comment. Afterward, I see another man coming out of the room. This is the moment I have been waiting for, so I finally decide to do the right thing. Run and scream at the top of my lungs. "Hey! I'm here! I exist!" The door closes. Now I just feel like shit. Really loving my class so far.

"Don't curse!" Now I hear another girl. She sounds like the girl that first talked back to Monokuma, but we all know how well that turned out. Poor, innocent soul is now in a Killing Game of life and death. Sometimes life can really suck.

"If I make it out alive, I'll be shocked." I begin to sprint. Not shockingly, I do not make it far. Turns out that I have two left feet and trip. My face collides with the floor, and now my scar is most certainly damaged. My doctor will kill me when I get out of here. There is no way to escape her wrath. No matter what, I'm so dead.

Even on the floor, and tasting whatever the Hell this is, hopefully, it is not poison, I continue onward. I push myself on my feet and just walk. Only if Hotaru was here and was not taken away by Monokuma. Hopefully, she is not dead. Monokuma may like forcing kids to kill each other, but I remember my teachers telling me that he is a bear that will not break his own rules. Breaking his own rules in against his morals, except when things get tough. It is not to that point in the Killing Game yet...it only just began. This is only the beginning of absolute Hell. Time to prepare for a person close to me to become the first victim.

"Time to move onwards." The door is farther away than I hoped, yet I reach it in about a couple minutes. My breathing is now crazy again though. Lungs, you have one job. One freaking job. I feel the knob and then turn it. It really is unlocked. What is this madness? Does this darkness have a name? When I look inside, I see five people staring at me. Another person in place on some of the desks crowded together as a makeshift bed. He is out cold. Two of the five people are with him, but, before I can seriously analyze both of them, they turn their head to the patient. Now their backs are towards me.

"Yeah! More friends!" The first person to meet me is, in fact, the same girl who stood up to Monokuma. She has the same brunette hair with flowers in it. From my research, I know who this girl is now, with a better look of her face. She is one of the foreign students, the female one from the United States, named **Rosalina Folium** , and she is the **Ultimate Florist**.

* * *

 **Ultimate Florist**

 **Rosalina Folium**

* * *

"Oh? So you're Rosalina Folium-"

"You're mistaken. That's not my name." I look more deeply at her, and she was definitely the girl the articles were talking about. Nobody, except for possibly an Ultimate Cosplayer or Imposter, could impersonate her. "Name's **Mirabilis**! And I'm a magical girl!"

* * *

 **Ultimate Magical Girl?**

 **Mirabilis...?**

* * *

She certainly fit a bill of a stereotypical magical girl. Sure, when I was little, we did not really have any TV, but my little sister now watches a lot of Sailor Moon. In the name of the moon, I will punish you!...somebody help me...This magical girl wannabe has brown hair that is littered with fake pink roses. There is a pipe cleaner shaped as a flower that holds her hair in a ponytail. She also has lilac eyes and fairly pale skin. The smile she wears is sweet and is going to eventually give me diabetes along with Naoko. That is something I do not want to deal with in this game. If somebody has diabetes, I highly doubt this place has any insulin, so they're screwed. The same can be said about asthma and severe allergies...we're gonna have the find a way to fix that. Maybe some of the moss can be used as medicine...?

'Mirabilis' has the same fuschia dress on as earlier. The dress also has puffy white sleeves, making her look like a pretty princess. Pretty sure the Ultimate Princess title is already taken though. Back in the old days of Hope's Peak, they allowed talent repeats, but now they do not. Don't know exactly why. Anyways, back on topic, Mirabilis has matching pink gloves and stockings. There are also red rain boots on her feet. Everything fits her perfectly, so, along with the fact I do not see any stores selling anything like that, I assume that it is home made.

"Well, I'm Akita Yamazaki, the Ultimate Mediator." I feel like I am going to introduce myself a lot. By the end of the day, I am going to be so sick of my damn name. At least I can make a decent first impression without that dick Yuki here. First Impressions are the key to a good relationship after all.

"Oh! That's a pretty name!" Mirabilis responds. If Hotaru was still here, I would be interested to see how those two would interact. Something tells me that would be a sight to behold. Wait, Hotaru!

"Guys! I need to show you something! Monokuma gave it to me!" I yell. Mirabilis, being the closest to me, is who I first give the paper to.

"...This is bad..." Then, suddenly, Mirabilis takes out a wand of some sort. I'm not even going to question it anymore. "No matter what you do, don't listen to that bear! I need to purify him."

"...Purify...?" Before I can say anything more, Mirabilis leaves. What is with these introductions and everybody leaving? It is almost like this is a story and the writer hates writing introductions. But that would be a story. This clearly isn't a story of some kind. Right? It is even worse thinking about the possibility of this being fan fiction! What if we are all dreaded OCs?

When she leaves, Mirabilis closes the door silently behind her. That means I have to meet the other people in the room. Great. Now to add the names of more crazies into my memory. Then again, I'll be fine, except if any of them are named Hideyoshi. The website showed there is nobody with that name, so I should be fine. Hopefully. Wow, I'm actually relying on hope. What kind of alternate universe is this?

First, I go up to the boy that got owned by a door. Now that I have a closer look at his face, just like Mirabilis, I notice that he is **Kyoto Kamui**. Looks like being an **Ultimate Strategist** does not give you immunity against doors.

* * *

 **Ultimate Strategist**

 **Kyoto Kamui**

* * *

He has hair that, while messy, looks better than mine in the beginning of the day. Trust me, I have the worse case of bedhead. Especially because some of my hair wants to stand up on top of my head. No ahoge for me. What do you take me for, an anime protagonist? Of course, I cannot see his eyes, since they are closed. Duh. Kyoto, or whatever the Hell he wants to be called, is slightly clubby, but not to the point of being severely unhealthy. His shirt has an icon of an old game, which I believe is named something like Personality? I am not a gamer, for that is really more of my sister's thing. She is inspiring to become the Ultimate E-Sports Gamer, which means she is more into competitive gaming though. I think it is a single-player JRPG. Back on topic, Kyoto also has cyan sweats. His outfit seems very laid back and casual, but I do not believe that is the case of his personality. This is a Killing Game though. I do not blame anybody for being out of their comfort zone. He also has white socks with blue and black Nike sneakers. Kyoto, just from his looks, seems a lot more normal than most of the people here. Including me, the very queen of weirdos. At least that is what Yuki thinks.

There is another boy right next to him. I could swear that there were two people here before. Oh well. The other boy looks like a nerd to be brutally honest. Not everybody has their photo on the internet (In fact, the only reason my photo got around was that I purposefully posted it on a popular blog website. Kyoto was known to enter various types of competitions and not winning a single one, being only second place, which means his photo is everywhere along with a surprising amount of fangirls). This man is one of these people, and I did not know him personally. So he either has to tell me or let me guess on my own.

The stranger has slightly long, wavy, brown hair that he pulls behind him in a green ponytail. Something tells me he will either love or hate Yuki's guts. His face is thin and has doe-shaped green eyes. Under one of those green eyes, the left one to be exact is a mole. Everything about him is lithe and pale. He probably did not go outside that much. This man is rather short, probably because he is still going through puberty. On his face are also black rimmed glasses. He has a dark green jacket with a bunch of grey swirls splattered on it. Underneath it is a striped green and white shirt. There is a small silver pendant that hangs from his neck. The jeans he wears are loose and mostly cover his brown shoes.

"Is he alright?" I want to make a conversation, so got to at least know if the poor soul is not dead. I could always check his pulse like with Hotaru...Hopefully, he will not end up like her. Just thinking about what Monokuma is possibly doing to her sends shivers down my spine.

"Oh...y-yes. I am not a medical professional, but he seems to be fine. Y-yes, he is breathing and should be okay."

"Thank whatever being is up above. Anyways, I'm Akita Yamazaki, Ultimate Mediator." This man seems to be normal compared to some of the other people here. At least I have one other person that is sane.

"Greetings, I am the **Ultimate Translator** , **Shinichi Fujimoto**. Strange title, especially nowadays, I know. It is a pleasure to meet you."

* * *

 **Ultimate Translator**

 **Shinichi Fujimoto**

* * *

Shinichi offers up his hand, and I take it. Being able to perform a simple action like handshakes is an important part of being a mediator. Especially since a lot of people can get really offended if you do not accept. More lessons learned the hard way. Especially if they are connected to a gang or the mafia.

"Translator, huh? Is your job hard with the World Restoration Committee trying to make everybody speak English?" I ask. It is much like the old Bible story, the Tower of Babylon. Humanity tried to build a tower that reached to Heaven, but God punishes them by creating different languages. Now we are trying to unite under one language again. I may not fully believe in God, but even I wonder what sort of interesting story this will create. What is our punishment this time?

"I guess it can be." I notice that Shinichi's cheeks are slightly red and his figure forced. "B-but sometimes they need translators like me to look over old documents. I was the one who finishes translating the story of Gilgamesh."

"Old documents? That's cool." Yes, it is good to make yourself approachable for people that you deem to be likable. Make yourself easy to talk to. They can always help you if they like ya. That's what I think. The idea has to be worth something due to my Ultimate talent. Also, I am just interested in mythology. Gilgamesh is the oldest story known to men, and, like the Bible and other holy texts, it is quite interesting to read and analyze.

"It really is not." Shinichi starts to blush more. He really does not talk much, and I am going to change that.

"Then why did you become a translator in the first place?" I question.

"The m-main reason is not that interesting. I have an interest in other cultures-" Just as I start to break him out of his shell, all of us hear something in the distance. All but two people turn their heads to see where it is coming from. One being Kyoto, for obvious reasons, and another being a different boy. He does turn his head after he sees all of us though.

"What in the world?" This day really does not need to get any weirder than it already is. I just want to go to sleep now.

"What. The. Hell." The familiar voice is back. I look over to her direction. Even though the voice is forceful, it still clearly belongs to a woman.

"Mitsu-cho...?"

"...Fuck." Mitsu-cho tries to run away, but I quickly catch her. She does not like me much. I do not care. For the rest of my life, I'll be in her debt. Her name is actually **Mitsuru Banda** , and she is like my angel. The complete opposite of that dick Yuki. The talent she has is the **Ultimate Sukeban** , a fancy old Japanese word for female gang leader.

* * *

 **Ultimate Sukeban**

 **Mitsuru Banda**

* * *

"..." The three other awake people in the room just stare at us.

"Oh! Mitsu-cho! How grateful I am to have you here!"

"My life is ruined," she sighs. Mitsu-cho averts one of her dark blue eyes away from me. The other, the left one to be exact, cannot move due to her scar. We are scar buddies. It is not every day that you find somebody with a scar on their face as big as ours, but we still found each other due to the power of love.

"Yep!"

My darling Mitsu-cho has naturally black hair, but she dyes it a hot pink. Her eyebrows give away everything though. She might actually be the first person here in any sort of uniform. They used to be everywhere in Japan, yet the World Restoration Committee has now made them optional in the school, and some work, environment. It is a dark blue and in the style of a sailor. There is a white necktie, knee length black skirt, and a blue overcoat. Mitsu-cho also has oversized blue socks and black heeled boots. On the back of her overcoat, she has the symbol of her gang, the Black Guard. It consists of a black shield with two swords behind it. So cool. My darling can even the most pathetic of outfits look awesome.

Mitsu-cho also has black glasses. There is a gold chain around her neck, and not even I know what is inside it. Trust me, I have tried to get the truth out of her several times, which only resulted in getting punched in the face real hard. Mostly because Mitsu-cho really hates me asking anything about her past. You might wonder how the Hell I know her in the first place though. That is because I have to mediate between gangs a lot. Make sure they do not kill each other, or any police, or get involved in the mafia, to keep my job as the best mediator for the Committee. Yes, I do work for the Committee. Always have, always will. Not because I like them or anything, but they do pay well. A lot better than most jobs nowadays.

"Is this an old married couple fighting?" another person asks. I cannot tell their gender at first glance. If being on Tumblr has taught me anything, it is not to assume gender. Or your life will end painfully. Being in a Killing Game would only make that worse.

"Yes~"

"Hell no!" she screams. I latch myself to her arm. I am only met with a punch in the face. It sends me flying into a couple of empty desks.

"Worth it," I respond. My thumb goes up, and I can feel the anger in the air.

"Shut up!"

"Yep. Old married couple." The stranger smiles. They are probably way too amused about what is going on. Not that I really mind though. If they ship it, I might stand a chance.

"How is this anything like an old married couple!?" Mitsu-cho yells. She then secludes herself. If I learned anything from my time as a mediator, it is to not mess with Mitsu-cho in this state. Once again, learned the hard way.

"It is everything like it, and ya know it." The person then stays quiet. They have an aura of coolness and confidence.

This new stranger has darker skin than most of us with messy black hair. Their eyes are a dark brown that almost looks black. It would to somebody that does not pay much attention to their surroundings...like me. I am observant around people, nothing else. They wear a loose black wife beater and tan cargo pants tucked into dark brown zip-up boots. There is a belt around their waist with two containers. One appears as if it is moving, but I dismiss that as part of my overactive imagination. After all, this is a stressful situation, and the mind can do weird things. The amount of times my head has been hit makes me wonder why I am not brain dead though.

Getting up, I ask the person, "what is your name? Mine's Akita Yamazaki, the Ultimate Mediator." Yep, I am already getting sick of my name, and there are a lot more students to introduce myself too. More greats are needed. Great.

"Hm...?" They then focus their attention on me. "Oh, kid, do ya need help to get up?"

"No, I just need your name." I have been punched by Mitsu-cho so many times to build up a resistance. It still hurts like Hell though. Do not underestimate the punch of the Ultimate Sukeban. I quickly get up, even though I would have preferred to stay down there. I really want to sleep now and dream of Mitsu-cho. She is the only one that I will use outdated Japanese honorifics for. Everything about me hurts much more than before. Now I wish somebody would take care of me. Mostly Mitsu-cho. A common fantasy for teenagers like me to be taken care of by their crush.

"Oh! My name. Ha ha, no problem. The name's **Yasu Matsushita** , the **Ultimate Engineer** , but just call me Yasu," they answer.

* * *

 **Ultimate Engineer**

 **Yasu Matsuhita**

* * *

As they finish their sentence, I see something pop out of their belt. It is very small and white animal...It is a rabbit...So the rabbit made the belt container move. Oh. Would have never thought of that.

"Oh, you've got a rabbit?" I ask. I do not see rabbits that often, for pets are more restricted nowadays. Mostly they are used for different kinds of therapy or protection. Even then, the most common ones are dogs and cats. They have always been the most popular, even since before the Tragedy.

"His name's Mochi. Mochi Matsuhita." They smile. The rabbit retreats back into his container. Now I am wondering how the Hell a rabbit can fit in there.

"How are we gonna take care of him in here?"

"The same way we take care of ourselves, kid..." We both then realize that neither of us has yet to find anything even remotely related to our survival. There is an awkward silence. "...kid..." Suddenly, Yasu falls onto the ground. It takes a few moments for me to get what is going on. I feel horrible for allowing them to violently fall onto the ground, even though I could have caught them.

"Why is everybody fucking falling!?" I yell out. I swear I am going to go insane if it happens one more time.

"..." Mitsu-cho stays silent. Shinichi is probably too overwhelmed by all the screaming to do anything. Well, I guess this means I have to check the last person here. I pick Yasu up finally, even though Shinichi and the other boy offer their hand. They are so light that I, of all people, can lift them up easily.

"Who's the other guy?" I question Shinichi.

"To be honest, I do not know," he answers. "He has not said a single word since we all awoke." Once again, I am eager to learn more about this man.

He looks quite simple, with the most notable thing being his large notepad tucked underneath one of his arms. The new, new, _new_ stranger has dark blue hair and black eyes. His skin is tan, much like Yasu's, only slightly lighter. This man wears a parka, that can probably be worn inside out by the looks of it, and now it is currently blue. He also wears jeans and shoes that are all muddy at the bottom. I cannot tell whether or not the muddiness is caused by the poor conditions of this place or something else. It looks kinda old though, more crusty than new mud.

The next thing the stranger does is take out his notebook. He begins writing on it, and both Shinichi and I look intensely.

"Hello, **Takara Miyagi** , **Ultimate Treasure Hunter**. Nice to meet you. Do you know sign language?" he writes as if he is speaking.

* * *

 **Ultimate Treasure Hunter**

 **Takara Miyagi**

* * *

Afterwards, I realize Shinichi doing a bunch of movements with his hands. Of course, he knows sign language, for he is the Ultimate Translator. Probably has to translate for the Committee whenever a deaf or mute person comes in. Actually, whenever a person that speaks another language comes in as well. I wonder if he knows all languages, even the dead ones. Probably. He did say that he translated the last known findings of Gilgamesh, which was written in a language long dead.

Takara continues to write, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Akita, Shinichi." He then puts the notebook back under his arm.

"Heya, Mitsu-cho~"

"Don't call me that." Well, at least it is a good way to bring Mitsu-cho back in the conversation. Time to get her out of that corner.

"But you need to read this. Remember, the rules? They're kinda important in this game. They're the reason why Mirabilis decided to randomly leave and hunt down Monokuma's ass. I think everybody forgot in this chaos." I smile as Mitsu-cho groans. Sometimes I just like bringing reality to people that have seemed to forget it. You should not forget that this is a Killing Game, and that means anybody at any time can kill anybody for any reason. Trust no one, even Mitsu-cho. Anybody can be tainted by hope or despair.

"...When is that damn Yuki when you need him?" Mitsu-cho curses under her breath.

"Chasing after the girl of his dreams," I joke. I catch Mitsu-cho off guard when I throw the piece of paper at her. Her eyes guide the paper, after she catches it, of course, reading it as quickly as possible.

"Aw shit." She just about tears the piece of paper up, but I stop her. If anybody gets to tear, it should be me. I am the one that was chosen by Monokuma to be the messager after all. First, though, everybody needs to read it. Then into the fire, this paper goes.

"This is no time for violence," I tell her while giving the letter to Shinichi. He takes from my hand slowly and begins to read it. Shinichi takes his time, allowing every demented word to sink in.

"...Th-this cannot b-be happening..." His eyes remain glued to the paper. Shinichi looks like a child that was just told that Santa Claus doesn't exist. Pure denial and anguish. He gives it to Takara with his hand shaking, who, for the record, is standing right next to him. As he reads, the same feeling of what I assume is despair washes over him. Takara hands the piece of paper back to me with a shaking hand just like the Translator.

"Well, shit, it is really happening," I say. "The best thing we can do is find the others and stay together, but something always has to go wrong."

"Aren't you the optimist?" Mitsu-cho notes. Her arms become crossed.

"...Life truly is a fleeting moment that can be taken away suddenly and violently. Nothing can stop death from knocking on our door one day-"

"Well, aren't we all just the happiest bunch of friends in existence?" Mitsu-cho interrupts Shinichi. He does not seem to mind though. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. Takara just stares at us. That boy probably thinks we are all weird, and I do not blame him.

"So what do we do now?" I know Mitsu-cho has some idea of what to do. From the time I have spent with her, I think she has good leadership skills. Being the Ultimate Sukeban would be impossible if she hadn't. Those girls underneath her can sometimes be the most difficult people ever. Her current second in demand, however, Mami Shikishima, helps her through it.

"You really want my opinion?" The three of us with her, that are actually awake, nod our heads all of the same time. "Well then, if you say so. First, we find the others that are here. Second, we tend to the downed. Third, we beat the shit out of that fucking talking teddy bear and get out of here."

"How exactly are we gonna do all those things?" I question. Not that I doubt she can do it, but, as one of her loyal followers, I am supposed to listen to directions.

"We explore this damn building and hopefully make some kind of map. There's the paper we need from those rules. All we need is a pencil and somebody remotely good at drawing. Hey, you two quiet ones, are you good at drawing?" To answer her, Shinichi and Takara both shake their heads. Though I notice that Takara hands her something, the pencil he used to introduce himself. That will actually be useful, along with his notebook. Too bad there is only a limited amount of pages.

"Oh yeah, you have a notebook."

"...You just realized that..." Poor Shinichi still does not know what to think. He is like a lost puppy stuck in the city while it rains heavily, and I want to adopt him...that sounds creepy. Just forget what I just said. That never happened. Never. Nope.

"Okay! Continue!" I look towards Shinichi as to say 'shut up.' Now he is way more confused than before, for the look in his eyes gives it all away. He is easier to read than a children's book.

"Our classmates have to be somewhere in this damn place. We find them and that missing asshole. There's only one evil demonic teddy bear so we beat the shit out of him. Then we all find a way out of here. A piece of cake...And that weird sound from earlier...we can do that after the teddy bear is dealt with."

"Amazing!" I cheer. Trying to latch myself onto her again, she knees me in the stomach. This is how Yuki feels with every girl that dumps him. Oh, that poor loser.

"Akita, can't you please stop doing that?!"

"Of course I can. I just choose not to." Yuki only wishes I act this way around him. You got to earn my loyalty like Mitsu-cho. If you don't, the only thing you get is a punch in the face. That is something I learned from my beloved herself. Punches mean love...but punches also mean hate. Goddammit, why does the world have to be so confusing?

"I-I've q-q-questions..." Once again, I stare Shinichi down, making him easily retreat.

"..." Takara is just observing us all. To be honest, it is kinda creepy. Just watching us with his all seeing eyes. His eyes look too normal for this situation. Okay, I think I just sent a shiver down my own damn spine. Dammit, Akita.

"Should we go onwards, Mitsu-cho?"

"For the last time, Akita, stop calling me that." She sighs heavily. I notice that she is staring intensely at her locket. Over time, I have to come to learn that is something she does often in situations like this, but I still have not found a single answer why.

"But are we?" I continue on. She really should not mind me calling her that. She told me that is what her friends call her, so that is the name that I use. Simple.

"Yes, we are." She then goes up to both Kyoto and Yasu, throwing them both effortlessly on her shoulders. "We need to hunt down that fairy idiot too."

"Yeah...and this girl named Hotaru, Ultimate Dart Thrower of all possible things, kinda got taken by Monokuma. She was kinda weird. And Yuki chased after Naoko-"

"Holy shit, he actually did chase after a girl-"

"Yes, Mitsu-cho." Shinichi probably feels pressured to come with us, and Takara...truly, I have no idea what Takara is thinking. With a possible wild card, it is good to keep him close by. He can be easily faking.

"This place is gonna be the end to my sanity," she comments while trying to sound as cool as possible. Too bad I can see right through her using the power of true love.

"Oh~does that mean I get to take care of you-" The fantasy of sickness can also be the other way around. I really do not mind, as long as it is with Mitsu-cho.

"Kill me now." She hurries out of the room, but I chase after her. Hey, I might not be that good at running, but I will do anything for her. The boys just stare at us.

"...U-um..." That is the last thing I hear Shinichi say before I am too far away to hear anything. He is still as confused as ever, poor boy.

 _Just like yourself, you hypocritical bitch._

* * *

 **Isn't Akita such an interesting person? XD**

 **Anyways, I get out of school soon (Monday is my last day of all of high school) and almost have my computer backroad normal. Yeah. :) This means updates will hopefully be more frequent. Or the chapters longer. Whichever you prefer.**

 **Yeah, and I also chose all the characters I've the most trouble writing to write this chapter...yeah, I'm kinda an idiot (don't worry, I'm joking). :P Anyways, remember, if I get your character wrong, contact me. Truly, I want to write all these amazing characters to the best of my ability. :)**

 **Until next time, this is your friendly neighborhood Requiem. ;)**


	4. Prologue 0-3

**Prologue 0-3: I'm Surrounded by Idiots**

* * *

 _"Are you alright?" A hand reached out to mine. Once I felt it in my own hand, the warmness gave me hope. Hope that I have not felt ever again in my life. That smile was so beautiful. This was the only moment that made me understand the constant battle stupid people keep on having for a simple, unimportant thing._

 _"..." The angel was so breathtaking that she took my breath away. Back then, she still had her black hair. It was much shorter, and her face looked so much, much younger. The most telling thing was that it did not have a scar. I, too, had a face without the mark of those despair loving freaks._

 _"My name_ _is Banda. Mitsuru Banda," she told me._

* * *

And now I am chasing that same girl down a hallway. Lucky for me she has to carry two people on her shoulders, or I would have lost her a long time ago. Even the straightness of the hallway would not help that. I did just have a flashback, so I am not really sure how long it has been. How long could a corridor be? Then again, I have been told I am bad at keeping time. I feel like this is way too much like a bad video game level. A level that is linear and has the same things appear over and over again. Worse of all, this is real life and there is not an end in sight. Great.

After a couple of minutes, we both stop. That is when we both realize that there is actually a wall in front of us. Well, at least we know there is an end to this place. It is not just an endless Hell. What I find weird is that this is nothing like the building we saw at first. It is too weirdly shaped. The school from before had multiple stories and not just one singular corridor. Even I can tell there is something fishy here. And I'm stupid.

"Let's stop," I say to Mitsu-cho. She sighs and kicks the wall in front of her.

"If you stop making all those creepy comments."

"Your wish is my command." I was about to bow, yet I know she finds that creepy. It is better to not do that. Pleasing my beloved should not involve her freaking out. That is the exact opposite, except for those who are into that kind of thing. Yeah, I'm into interesting things though. I can experiment.

"That is what I'm talking about. I'm not Hideyoshi," Mitsu-cho responds. I freeze. How could she bring up Hideyoshi like that so easily in conversation?

"What are you implying?" I can hear my own voice becoming deeper without any of my input. My body begins to shake, and I feel my own eyes dilate. This is one way to change the mood and escalate the problems. It is almost like the author of my life wants more suspense...but that would be stupid.

"You know what I'm saying. You've been acting weird. Do those damn Despairs have anything to do with this? We're not with anybody else. Tell me."

"How should I know?" It would make sense, but it would be too easy. Just put blame on the easiest target. Trust no one in the Killing Game, even my darling Mitsu-cho. She could be using this opportunity to get rid of one of her rival gangs, a bunch of lowlives who call themselves the True Despairs. They used to be called the 72s, but their new leader changed their name and focus. And, you guessed it, this bastard's name is Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi Anno to be exact. A man the Committee wants more than anything else.

"Whenever somebody brings up Hideyoshi, or, God forbid, somebody with the same name as him, you get this way! Even around me! Aren't I supposed to be your beloved or some stupid shit like that?"

"The same happens with you and Yuunagi!" Mitsu-cho stops and prepares her fists. She takes a deep breath, but her eyebrows are still lowered. I know what that means.

"Shut up!"

"Except I have no idea what happened. Hideyoshi and Yuki both told me that name, so who the fuck is he? Answer me, dammit! You just had to luxury of experiencing what happened."

 _Right, make your angel cry._ That is the second time I hear this strange voice in my head. It hurts like Hell again, and I want to scream out in pain. I have enough experience in this world to know that this isn't a good thing. Goodbye mental health.

Anyways, Hideyoshi and Yuki are cousins...I think. Maybe. Perhaps they have the same last name? It would be cooler if they are brothers and have an epic sword fight...That is all the important information right now. Not even I know that much, even though I am stuck with Yuki a lot. The Committee makes us a team. A team they say can solve any crime but want to murder each other. That is pretty much right. Unlike that other godforsaken team of idiotic monsters. Yuki might want to watch his back. If it would not cause all the others to die, especially my darling, I would have done it already. The moment I received the paper, I would have hunted his ass down.

"What?! You want to repeat that again, you piece of shit!" Mitsu-cho attempts to knee me again. This time I am smart enough to move out of the way. She really should have done that while I was deep in thought.

"Oh, can you just feel the love-"

"Shut. The. Hell. Up," she commands. When she gets like this, Mitsu-cho usually scares everybody away. You can tell a gangster is weak by the way they react. Most of them run away like absolute cowards. But I cannot fear my beloved, so it has no effect on me. She has to try harder than that.

"The only way you can do that is to kill me," I tell her.

"Don't give me ideas." Mitsu-cho begins to walk off, and I just stare at her. Trust nobody in this game, even myself. Well, that makes the mood even harsher than it already was. Guess I am all by myself again. Time to find the next batch of characters. If I don't, I feel like I will actually lose my shit.

* * *

I just sit there for a while, wandering the abyss of my own mind, until continuing onward again. Now I know not to talk to Mitsuru until the situation has become less tense. She has a habit of making things go to zero to one-hundred real fast. Probably because that is how things are in the gang world, but that kind of thinking will not do her well in a Killing Game. She is smart enough to realize that. Hopefully.

"Look! I told you there will be other people here!" a female yells while pointing at me. Good, I do not need to go out of my way to find them. Really, my feet have struggled enough. Along with her, I notice there are three men that I have not meet before. One looks like a business man, another a Prince Charming wannabe and the next a slightly normal person. The woman looks all glammed up except for all the dirt now on her. She is adorable like Naoko as well. Cute girls like them are my weakness. I am trying my hardest not to go up to her and hug her like a teddy bear. Just imagine that bear is Monokuma and it is all good.

"Why is she on the floor? Does she like feeling sorry for herself?" The slightly normal one asks. No, I do not! I think. Dammit, I listen to emo music, so I might. The slightly normal guy makes me realize that I might be emo. I hate this Killing Game.

"I cannot fathom why anybody would do that to themselves. The dirt is filthy for a noble like me." Already, I could tell that this 'prince' character will be interesting. Whether or not it will be an interesting way is up in the air.

"Let us not fight here. We should not jump to any conclusions until we meet this person." So far, the businessman seems the sanest. I never thought I would ever think that, but, here I am, clearly thinking that. Goddammit.

"...But! But at least she's here. We're not alone!" She is adorable. I might not know who any of these people are, but they all seem to not be like Yuki. That is always a plus.

"Hello my-"

"What if she put me in this situation? She could be planning on ruining my family name using something as low as stuffed animals!"

"I don't think she's in charge of any demonic teddy bears," the normal guy responds to the prince. The prince who so rudely interrupted me.

"You mean Monokuma?" They all turn their heads towards me. It is almost like they just remembered that the person they are arguing about is right in front of them.

"Monokuma? You mean the bear Ms. Enoshima used in the Tragedy?" The businessman questions. I really need to learn their names soon.

"More evidence that this person is who put me here-"

"Shut up, wannabe prince. My name is Akita Yamazaki, the Ultimate Mediator. I did not put you here, and, to be honest, I have no clue who is behind this. This person, however, gave me this note after taking a girl hostage." I try to give the rich snob the paper. He refuses, which causes the salesman to get it instead.

"Please excuse the behavior of Lord Cassius, for I am sure we are all just stressed out right now. My name is **Hayato Akimoto**. I'm the **Ultimate Salesman**. It is an honor to meet you, Miss Yamazaki."

* * *

 **Ultimate Salesman**

 **Hayato Akimoto**

* * *

Hayato looks like the standard salesman. He is thin, but that, as evidenced by most of the people here, is the norm nowadays. There is mostly only fish and rice, with other foods being reserved for the richest of the rich. These foods are only given to commoners on holidays and other important dates. At least in Japan. I will never forget how sweet candy tastes. Whenever a holiday comes, I take all the food I can and either eat it or put it away for later. He also has eyes as green as mints. Now I am just making myself hungry. His chocolate brown hair is parted to the side. Hayato's black suit matches his black shoes. Underneath, he wears a white shirt, which reminds me of an Oreo. There is a red tie around his neck. Then, to make everything come together, there is a brown belt around his waist.

"Wait, you two know each other?" The normal guy asks. 'Lord' Cassius nods his head in a slow yet somewhat elegant way. How can you even do that with a nod? Cassius, which does not sound like a real name, stands way too straight to be considered normal. Even people in the military will look at him funny.

"Yes, Lord Cassius' family happens to be a good client of mine. They might be in England, but the amount of money they pay makes the trip well worth it."

"Dude! That's like thousands of dollars!" His eyes begin to sparkle. "Teach me your ways!"

"Gosh! I could make all the necklaces in the world with that money!" The little girl's eyes follow the normal boy's. They look like little children, and I want to pinch their cheeks so badly.

"I do not think I am up to the role of mentor. You two seem like smart kids, so I'm sure you can figure it out in no time." Hayato flashes a smile. It is pretty hard to tell whether or not it is fake.

"I'm pretty sure we're the same age-"

"Alright, what are your names, kids?" I could tell that my eyes are sparkling like theirs.

"We're not kids-"

"Okay, I assume you want to know me, Akita. First off, don't call me kid! My name is **Kira Iwata** , the **Ultimate Jeweler**. And I'm no kid!"

* * *

 **Ultimate Jeweler**

 **Kira Iwata**

* * *

"You said you weren't a kid twice-"

"...aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhhh!" Kira screams. She looks like she is about to explode. Note to self, do not call Kira a kid. Though, somehow, she is more adorable when pissed off. The way her cheeks puff up makes me slowly die of diabetes. Somebody, please give me some insulin! Hmmm...okay, I'll keep calling her kid. And this is the reason why Yuki thinks I'm an asshole. We all know he is the true Ultimate Dick.

Kira is pretty short like I noted earlier. If I have to guess, she is only slightly shorter than Naoko. Her skin is a fine shade of cream. She, like Hayato, has green eyes, but hers are darker and match the moss all around us. There is a ponytail that keeps up her long, ebony hair. I believe the ponytail, or whatever you call it, is in the style of French plait...whatever that means. My sister is also really into hair, mostly to try to cosplay her favorite video game and anime characters. She would scold me for not knowing even the basics. One time, she wore her hair exactly like Kira's and called it a French plait, so it must be one. Hopefully. This is why I keep my hair down. I don't know shit.

Her blouse is also cream, but slightly darker than her skin. Kira has a brown skirt and cream, once again, leggings. The shoes on her feet, which are flats, are aquamarine that matches her earrings. From the amount of jewelry she has on, I am not surprised about her being the Ultimate Jeweler. She also has diamonds on her blouse. There is a silver necklace that hangs around her neck. Everything looks so nice that I am shocked that she wants more money. Pretty sure she could pluck some of those diamonds off her shirt and get some airline tickets.

Now Kira is giving me a death glare that is less cute. She is kinda scary. I rather take this little girl's wrath than Monokuma's though. Not messing with Monokuma is the best way to get out of this time. It should be a fact to not piss him off. Now I'm sure somebody is going to be an idiot and piss him off. Everybody in this building is an idiot, including me. We are all still teenagers after all. Mitsu-cho might be eighteen, but she does not have the mind of an adult yet.

"How dare you call me a kid too!" Poor boy does not know acting this way only makes his situation worse. Sure, he is taller than me, but that has not stopped me before.

"Now, come on, let's-"

"Akita Yamazaki, state your rank!" 'Lord' demanded. I glare at him like he is a crazy person. Oh wait, he is.

"Ultimate Mediator?"

"Your rank, not your title. Any simpleton can get that name!" This character clearly does not understand the hardships of being a mediator. I will not be crying when he dies.

"Simpleton?" I answer, not knowing what to say. Be honest here, most people will not know what to do. If you say you do, you are either lying or Hayato. I highly doubt Hayato has any clones, yet you never know.

"Good enough, simpleton, I am the great **Lord Cassius Ambrose Irvine Jacobson III**! I give you permission to address me as Lord Cassius given the impressive length of my noble name, however." Holy sweet Jesus, that is his actual name. I do not know his talent though, for I literally have not heard of him. Rosalina was supposed to be the only transfer, right? No, I remember them discussing another but not releasing his identity. Now I know why.

"What's your talent?" I would love it if he is the actual Ultimate Dick. It would make being stuck in a Killing Game worth it.

"I was getting to that, simpleton, for there seems to be a problem here. That thief Kira Iwata has stolen my other noble name of the **Ultimate Jeweler**! Such a crime against my family name is unforgivable!"

* * *

 **Ultimate Jeweler?**

 **Lord Cassius Ambrose Irvine...blah blah blah**

* * *

"Um, Hope's Peak only accepts-"

"What?! First, a child! Now, this! How can everybody be so mean to me?" Kira begins to cry, but I cannot tell if she is faking or not. Her skin becomes a sickies green color as she begins to run away. What is with the short, cute people and running? Shortly afterward, she turns for a moment to stare down Cassius. There is no way I am calling him Lord inside my mind. Hmm, how does Lord Mitsu-cho sound?

My head, however, cannot find a single logical answer for two jewelers. Maybe Hope's Peak was trying something new? The old school had repeats, but they were never in the same class. It is a good sign for the economy for two jewelers, but the economy means nothing to Hope's Peak. They were kinda the cause of it collapsing again and creating another Great Depression. Two jewelers can mean so many things! Argh! That's it, I am going have to add this to the mystery list. Hotaru's feet, Monokuma's sweat and the overpowered doors are also there. Don't mess with the doors, people.

"Come back here and prove your worth! Do not run away after disgracing my family's name!" Cassius goes going after her. Wait, I still need to break down his appearance!

Cassius is actually quite handsome. He has a toned body, oval head, and angular face. Too bad his pretty face can't hide his shitty attitude. He, so far, has been the definition of a brat. His eyes are also green like everybody else's. This group should be called The Army of Green Eyes. The wannabe prince has nicely layered, wavy brown hair. I swear you could see your reflection on his shiny, pale skin. Cassius has a long sleeve button up, grey shirt, which is clearly fitted. His black dress pants are real nice and are held up by red suspenders. Like the other jeweler, he has a lot of jewelry, mostly silver rings. There are a lot of silver rings, trust me. A silver watch is on his wrist, out doing everything else on him. Okay, I am done with your appearance breakdown, you can go now.

"Okay, young one, now those two are off to kill each other, can you tell me your name?"

"Don't call me little!" If this boy happens to be an Ultimate Jeweler too, my head will explode. That will not be easy to clean up.

"Stop calling him that, Miss Yamazaki, for you are making the situation worse. Being a salesperson and mediator are surprisingly similar. You help out in business a lot, correct? Calling them by names will only make things worse. We must stay neutral. I am truly sorry, classmate, for starting this. Can you please tell us your name now?" Damn, Hayato is good.

"You want to know who I am? I'm the **Ultimate Chess Player**! **Akemi Nakatani**!"

* * *

 **Ultimate Chess Player**

 **Akemi Nakatani**

* * *

"Chess Player? Good to know there aren't eight billion jewelers here," I laugh. Chess has become a lot more popular ever since the Committee took over Japan. Shogi used to be the most popular. And that is literally all I know all shogi.

"I can kick your ass in chess, you know?" Akemi threatens. It literally does nothing to stop me. The poor boy is trying way too hard to be what he views as an adult. See, all these kids are truly just making their situation worse. Accept that you're a kid and deal with it. Hayato sighs. He must be trying so hard to stop himself from slapping me.

"Miss Yamazaki, please stop making this harder than it has to be," Hayato berates. He will not stop sighing. The amount of sighs he does is making them really annoying.

"Hey, you are the ones that didn't introduce yourselves before running into me." That made them both stop and look at each other.

"You do bring up a good point, Miss Yama-"

"Just call me Akita, okay? None of this Miss bullshit."

"Okay, Yamazaki-san." I want to bang my head on the wall and end up like Kyoto or Yasu. Being carried by Mitsu-cho until we reach safety. Though, the pure amount of people using old Japanese honorifics shocks me. I knew that people still used them, but I only thought it was old geezers and Mitsu-cho.

"I am still here, you know?" Akemi shouts in our ears. Well, my ears are gonna be ringing for the next couple of days.

Surprise, surprise, Akemi has green eyes! Gasp. Another member of the Army. He also has very slick black hair that is short even for a man. I could see a little water drop tattoo behind his left ear even! There is a mole on the left side of his face as well. Everything special goes on the left, everything else the right. His jacket is brown and appears to be too big on him. It is open to reveal a simple, plain, grey t-shirt. Also, he wears blue jeans and brown, worn down sneakers. Akemi really does look like a normal guy you can find on any street in Japan. Clearly, he is not, due to his Ultimate status.

"We did not forget about you-"

"I'm going after Kira and Cassius. I really don't want to clean up the mess after they kill each other!" Before the two of us could reject, Akemi goes rushing off. He is really fast for a kid as skinny as he is. Maybe because he has long legs?

"Look at that kid go. He makes me feel so old."

"Oh, Yamazaki-san, I am wondering what is in this paper you have given to me." At that moment, I remember the paper is I'm Hayato's hand. We really need to stop forgetting about. "Didn't you say earlier that this was given to you by the mastermind?"

"Yes, after he took a girl named Hotaru. I still have no idea where she is," I respond. Hayato begins to read the paper. The moment sweat starts to run down his face, I can tell he read it all. He gives the paper back, but, unlike Takara, Hayato is not shaking.

"Should we take this to the others? Maybe they ran into our other classmates?"

"So you meet others. For us four, we only ran into ourselves and you. Can you please tell me more about them?"

"There's me, Yuki, Naoko, Hotaru, Rosalina-"

"My name is Mirabilis!" Suddenly, I feel something bonk me on top of my head. Mirabilis is truly here in all of her magical girl glory. The wand she has surprisingly hurts. I would not be shocked if she killed anybody with the damn thing. "And I am a magical girl!"

"I know that..." Mirabilis takes a bunch of rose petals out of somewhere in her dress and starts to surround me in them. Hayato just stares at the both of us. I do not really blame him. He is trying to make sense of a girl that literal runs around all over the place and calls herself a magical girl. I pity souls like his. Forever stuck in their own Hell trying to find a logical reason for everything. The most logical thing to do is to accept that some situations don't have it. By some situations, I mean situations involving magical girls with identity issues.

"Miracle rose purification! Flores mundantur uirtute!"

"...What...?" Mirabilis starts to pick up all the rose petals. After picking up each one, the magical girl wannabe counts them on her fingers. All of them are picked off the floor as Mirabilis stands up. She then begins to run away again.

"You've been purified! Now for Monokuma!" Mirabilis says. Then, like before, she fades away from my view. And now I am even more confused than I have ever been in my life. Wow, that truly came out of nowhere.

"What?" Hayato asks. His sanity is somehow still in place. Somehow. Don't ask me how. Please.

"Your guess is as good as mine."

"So-"

"And then there was Shinichi, my darling Mitsu-cho-"

"Are you really-"

"Yes. And, oh yeah, there was that boy Kyoto! Then Yasu and Takara. That is eleven including me. There is supposed to be twenty-one us. Your groups adds another four. So there's should be about six more of us."

"That is good to know, Yamazaki-san. But you did the math wrong, for there are seven left." Hayato's correction makes me stop in my tracks. He probably knows much more about math than me, since, like reading and writing, it is still taught just less so. I hear that kids use to hate math. That class for us is sewing. Yes, an entire class to learn how to sow. A year long class. I know it is important, but even the teacher, Ms. Torr, the only immigrant teacher I have ever had, seemed bored of it. Truly, Ms. Torr had a hard job. Unfortunately, she died of cancer, and that was only when the class was filled up with a bunch of thirteen years old. This bitch took over and made the class Hell, a teacher everybody called Pain, due to her name being Ms. Payne.

"...Yamazaki-san, you dozed off for a bit."

"Don't mind me, I was just zoning out." Gosh, now I cannot stop thinking about Ms. Torr. Goddammit, Hayato. She also taught my sixth-grade Ethics class and seventh-grade Cooking. Her being awesome was the only why I did not skip those classes or a single day of sowing. Those classes I actually cared about, and she treated me and the rest of her students like actual human beings. Until this day, her classes were the only ones I got A's in. Her death was the first time I felt true despair. I never want to feel it again.

"Are you fine? You seem to be zoning out quite a bit."

"Yes, it must be the stress of the Killing Game. Let's go." I hurry down the hallway as Hayato rushes to catch up to me. God, I just need something else to think about. Think about happy things, Akita.

 _You don't deserve happiness. All you need is despair._

* * *

I see a slightly ajar door in front of us. Both Hayato and I decide to poke our heads in there. Of course, I convince him to let me go first. The moment my head enters the room, I see two familiar faces. Just seeing those faces again makes me forget about Ms. Torr. Or, her first name, Nicole. Nicole Colette Torr. Okay, they have not stopped my thoughts yet.

"Akita-chan!"

"Oh shit!" I quickly slam the door. Only if there is some kind of way to lock it from the outside.

"Yamazaki-san, what was in there?" Hayato's eyes keep shifting focus from me to the door. Once again, I feel sorry for dragging the poor soul into this kind of mess. I seem to have a habit of doing that.

"Absolute horror!" I answer. I can feel the person behind the door slamming hard. It takes all my strength to hold the door. Finally, Hayato joins me, but we can still both feel it. Neither of us is what you call physically impressive.

"Ayano, love, can you help me?" the monster demands his slave. "Akita-chan still doesn't like me."

"Sure." His slave follows everything he says. I feel sorry for the poor girl, but she is the one that out herself in that situation in the first place. Just seeing the monster's face should be a sign to run and get out of there. This girl decided that she was going to be Beauty, and the monster the Beast. She should have realized sooner that life is no fairy tale. We are not in a story. What does she think this is, fan fiction? A story where only good things happen and no misery. Sorry, princess, but this is not one of those stories.

"I rather spend all of eternity with Yuki than see your face again!"

"..." Hayato then stops helping me. With the weight of two people, I easily get overpowered.

"What the Hell, Hayato!"

"I am truly sorry, Yamazaki-san, but it seems like you have a bias against these two. People like us should learn how to stay neutral," he responds. Hayato brings his hand out for me, but I get up myself.

"It is not a pleasure to see you, two shitheads, again." The first one, the monster, is named **Kazuhiko Hiroka** and his slave is a girl with the name of **Ayano Nishiki**. They, in order, are the **Ultimate Journalist** and **Hacker**.

* * *

 **Ultimate Journalist**

 **Kazuhiko Hiroka**

* * *

 **Ultimate Hacker**

 **Ayano Nishiki**

* * *

"See, Akita-chan is still mad at me! Come on, Akita, it was just one scoop!"

"Yes," Ayano answers in her usual monotone voice. She looks bored whenever looking at anything that is not related to computers or Kazuhiko.

Kazuhiko looks like he was ripped straight out of 1940. He has a stupid grey vest over his white long-sleeved dress shirt. There is a white tie around his neck, for ties just seem like the thing nowadays. A grey hat with a black strip is on his head, hiding most of his black hair. His eyes are a dark brown just like his shoes. Always told him black or grey would look better, but he would never listen to me. The pants he has are also grey. At least Yuki knows what time period it is. They both look like they are dressing up for Halloween.

Ayano, on the other hand, looks like a hipster. Her long, blonde hair reaches to almost her butt and the tips are dyed red. There is a red beenie on her head, for she and Kazuhiko are hat buddies. She wears a grey jacket with a singular black strip that is falling off her shoulders. Her jacket is open to reveal a black tank top. Ayano also wears black short shorts, held up by an almost invisible black belt. There are red converses on her feet and knee-length black leggings. Around her neck, there is a red choker. Her lip even has a sliver ring on it...for some reason.

"One scoop or not, you two are assholes!" This team is the other popular team that works for the Committee. No, I do not hate them due to us being rivals! They work on gathering intel and giving the world the truth while Yuki and I solve crimes. Two completely different things.

"I may be an outsider here, but can you tell me your situation?"

"Oh, I am Kazuhiko Hiroka, the Ultimate Journalist, and this is my love, Ayano Nishiki, the Ultimate Hacker. No, you cannot have her!" He introduces himself. Typical.

"Hi," Ayano follows.

"I am Hayato Akimoto, the Ultimate Salesperson. A pleasure to be your classmate, Mr. Hiroka, and Ms. Nishiki."

"For our situation, all you need to know is that these people are assholes." My harsh words do nothing to phase them. Just as long as I don't insult the Committee or Ayano specifically, everything is fair game.

"Akita doesn't like us over something silly we did. Nothing to really worry about. Maybe you can finally be a neutral party, Hayato!" Kazuhiko is way too happy thinking about it. He claps his hands together and stares into Hayato's poor, poor soul.

"I would love to. Explain everything in full detail-"

"Anyways, assholes, read this." They grab the sheet of paper at the same thing. Their expression, unlike everybody else, does not change. Kazuhiko smiles through the whole thing like the creep he is.

"You know what this means Ayano! A new scoop!"

"Yeah." Ayana's face literally never changes. That is the creepiest thing about her, besides the clear Stolkholm Syndrome.

"If anybody hurts you, I'll kill them!"

"Same." They turn to face each other. Knowing what happens next, I take Hayato's hand and get out of there. Those lovebirds make me sick. Why do they, of all people, have to be here? Their names literally did not appear once in any of the blogs I read! That is when I realize that I left the paper with them.

"Dammit!" I yell out. I almost punch the wall, but Hayato stops me in time.

"What is wrong, Yamazaki-san-"

"Stop calling me that!"

"Akita Yamazaki, there is something on your mind."

"I left the damn rules with them! I don't know what those freaks will do with them," I tell him. Hayato sighs as he lets my hand go.

"There is something else going on, but you will not tell me. Sorry, Akita Yamazaki, but I am going back. I will make sure everybody reads the rules." I try to reach out for Hayato, but he is gone. What is worse is that he left me for those maniacs. They take crazy in love to a whole other level. And this is me we are talking about!

"Dammit!"

 _And just like that, you are alone again. Nobody to talk to, nobody to care. It has always been this way-_

 _"_ Ahhhh!" Just like that, I really punched my hand against the wall. I cannot tell whether or not I am crying. To be frank, I do not even care. Nobody will see me anyway.

"Hello?" Another girl calls out. I am too scared to look behind me.

* * *

 **May 24th was my birthday and I am now an adult...how...? XD**

 **I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. This is not because Ayano is my spirit animal...she's my sister's. :P Anyways, like always, please point out if I write your character wrong or have grammar/spelling errors. I really should get a beta.**

 **Since there are a lot of guess reviews, I shall reply to them in the author's note. Because this is what other authors do. They are shorter than other PM replies though.**

 **0B13-Indeed, I am alive...I think. Doors are the true mastermind. Akita is so bi. XD Somebody help her. Thanks. I promise that reunion will happen soon.**

 **Harukawa Ayame-Yeah, people seem to prefer the longer chapters. The rules are interesting (I actually forgot something, silly me, and added it XD) and Hotaru is not in a good situation right now. Everybody is boarding Akita/Mitsuru, or MiTa. Sorry Yuki. And Mochi is best character. Thanks. :)**

 **CrayonPencil-Thanks. It always bothered me in some other SYOCs or alternate cast fics. Yukiteru...I think autocorrect watches too much Future Diary. Thanks again. :) Yeah, even in this review section there is already a diverse range of ages.**

 **Shadedlyht-Thanks. :D I am not gonna leave this story. My ideas are too awesome. XD You all are gonna hate me by the end of this. Yeah, I like that about Akita too. Not because I made her or anything. :P Well, history is important. Thank you. :)**

 **Already Reviewed-Yes. XD Commander is our true commander in all things shipping related.**


	5. Prologue 0-4

**Prologue 0-4: Cast of Snowflakes**

* * *

Quickly, I wash my face for any possible tears. My scar feels like shit and probably has to be cleaned out soon. I have to look good for my first impression. Though I do not have any cleaning tools with me, and I highly doubt Monokuma will give them up for free. Wait, I already gave my first impression to this person by punching the wall and screaming like a crazy person. That probably was not the best. Goddammit.

"..." I do not know what to say. With the fakest smile of all of my existence, I turn around to see the person behind me. Their face tells me everything I need to know. Ain't fooling anyone with this. Gotta take some lessons from Hayato. "...Um..."

"Right, okay, this is an unusual situation." The stranger shifts her feet meanwhile still having an aura of confidence. Probably because of the way that she stands. She stands up straight, but not to the point of being mistaken for somebody that is part of the military (one of her hands is on her hip, and that's probably a big no-no for a soldier). Although most people with jobs now are in the military, or at least connected to the government. Of course, most of the Ultimates here are the exception to the rule.

"...Yeah, my name is Akita Yamazaki. Ultimate Mediator. Can you forget what just happened now?...A dick left me for two bigger dicks." It is the truth. Sure, not all of it, but it is better than nothing. A half truth is better than no truth at all.

"...Sure...I'm **Tsukiko Oda** ," she introduces herself. Tsukiko reaches her hand out and I take it. I feel like I have heard her name somewhere before. Maybe she is one of the students that were mentioned on the blogs only a couple of times.

"What's your talent?" I ask her.

"Oh! Yeah, I should tell you that. As the manager of First Light-"

"First Light!" I usually do not like bands that are popular, but my sister made me addicted to them. Their songs are like drugs. Although rock concerts, and most rock music, has been banned, there are still bands out there, mostly for other genres. Especially country for some reason. First light, though, is fringe and fairly risky compared to most music. That is one of the reasons why they are so addicting. They are all we have left of a genre of music society is trying to forget.

"Yes. I've been-"

"That's so cool!" I scream out. It takes all of my willpower not to hug her in this instant. God, this Killing Game is making me realize how little and much self-control I have. And we aren't even to the killing part yet! I'm so screwed.

"...I've been given the title of **Ultimate Band Manager**. Nice of them, right?"

* * *

 **Ultimate Band Manager**

 **Tsukiko Oda**

* * *

The first thing I notice, other than her posture, is Tsukiko's short, brunette hair. It is a darker brown, wavy and brushes against her shoulders. Two clips hold her hair to keep it from falling on her face. Tsukiko's eyes are dark grey and are oval-shaped. Everything about her looks clean other than the clearly new dirt stains. Her nails are newly manicured, so I feel sorry for her wasting all that money. Don't think going to the Suicide Forest was part of her agenda. Overall, Tsukiko looks mature for her age, for any stranger would place her somewhere in her twenties. But, clearly, she is a high schooler and probably not that age. The oldest would be eighteen, which seems right for someone like her.

Tsukiko's outfit fits her talent to the T. She wears a pastel blue dress with short sleeves and an A-line skirt. Underneath the skirt, there are knee-long leggings that are black. Her shoes are gladiator sandals that are a dark grey. The nail polish on her fingers and toes, since the shoes are open-toed, match the blue on her dress. Surprisingly, none of the polish has been chipped. There is actually a lot of makeup on her face, with a light amount of mascara to a rose pink lipstick. Then there is her open, black leather jacket. Usually, things like that will clash, but Tsukiko finds a way for it to work. Tell me your ways.

"Um...I know this is weird given the circumstances but..." Tsukiko searches everywhere for something. She does not give up, even after she checks everywhere. The girl just keeps on going and going.

"What are you looking for?"

"My business card. It would help us help in contact with each other after we get out of here. This is such an unusual situation. I did not hear about this happening into the other classes." As Tsukiko continues to search, I think about a possible way to explain everything. Just saying there is a Killing Game without any evidence will make me look like a crazy person.

"Um..." This conversation is already awkward due to everything else, mostly due to me. Yeah, not gonna lie, my personality changes way too often to be considered anywhere near normal. I feel sorry for the people that have to deal with my bullshit, but it is just how I am. Deal with it. Now to make this even more awkward.

"My phone! Where is it? Well, this is no time to panic. Just need to think carefully."

"Wait! Tsukiko-chan!" Hearing that voice down to hallway makes me cringe. If there is someway to outrun them, I would have already.

"Oh? Kazuhiko, you are part of this class?" She stops looking and turns her attention over to Kazuhiko and Ayano. Surprisingly, there is a lack of a traitor with them. I take this opportunity to slowly inch my way out of there. Maybe I can find the classroom Shinichi and Takara are at again.

"Indeed I am. And here is a little something from Akita-chan over there." Kazuhiko points over to me. Sighing, I stop moving away but remain where I am. Not going to be anywhere near those assholes again. Being this close even makes me cringe.

"Here." Ayano, like the good little dog she is handing over the paper to Tsukiko. Tsukiko takes it from her hands and begins to read it. Then the horror hits her like most of the others before her. The only ones who are not horrified are Kazuhiko and Ayano, but they are a special case.

"How...why would anyone do this?" Tsukiko takes a deep breath. She quickly reads it again before handing it back to Ayano.

"Ayano and I think it is somebody trying to sow the seeds of despair back into our beautiful world. Somebody trying to go against the hope of the Committee!" Despite being a journalist, Kazuhiko is the Committee's bitch. Aren't journalists supposed to question authority? Then again I am not the exact image of a stereotypical mediator. I may like neutrality, but Hayato goes overboard.

"Right."

"We think it is a gang that calls themselves the True Despairs. Their leader, Hideyoshi, has to be the mastermind. Of course, this is only just a theory." I know it makes sense, but why is everybody bringing it up? Even without evidence, everybody thinks it is them. But why am I being this defensive? Maybe it is just how my mind works. We cannot point fingers at something without knowing for certain that we are right.

"Mitsu-cho thinks so too," I add. I am trying to best to keep my anger bottled up. Exploding in front of Tsukiko again is probably not a good idea. It might cost me a chance to actually see First Light in person. And that would suck. Maybe I can convince her to bring my sister along too. That little shit needs to learn how cool her big sister can be.

"Mitsu-cho too? That's a good sign, Akita-chan! She knows way more than any of us about gangs. Having her testimony in the article would make it work!"

"Once again, you get way too excited over these things," Tsukiko comments.

"Nobody ever trusts the testimony of a journalist. They-"

"How do you even know each other?" I ask, trying to change the subject. Kazuhiko does know a lot of people (and I mean _a lot_ a lot), and even I have to admit that most of the stories are interesting. Only for the people, he knows though! He has even met the Ultimate Hope himself, Matoko Kirigiri. His ties to the past survivors might prove useful now.

"She is the band manager of First Light. They create a lot of controversies, yet they are loved by many. How can a journalist miss a chance to interview everybody related to that? Without Tsukiko, there would be no First Light!"

"...And we had the same class in the second year of middle school."

"We never talked to each other though. Only if I knew what would happen next!"

"Yeah." Ayano still looks bored. I have no idea what she thinks about the Killing Game. "Back on topic." Wow, more than one word. I did not know she could do that. At least she still has her monotone voice, or things would get weird. "How do we get out of here if the True Despairs are involved?"

"We can't go through the forest. Getting punished might end in death," Tsukiko says. "But we can't kill anybody either. We can't give into the demands of this bear thing."

"That bear thing is-"

"The Committee is going to come looking for some of us," Kazuhiko tells us. "It might take awhile for them to find us, but I do believe that they can get us out of here."

"Really? Remember the first Killing Game? One of the reasons why the trapped were, well, trapped was because of security from the Ultimate Despairs. The True Despair is their wannabes, so it is safe to guess that a bunch of them are at the five-mile mark, ready to kill what comes their way. Kazuhiko, you idiot!" There is nothing I want to do more than punch this man in the face. A fifth grader would know this.

"Still-"

"They will lose too many members. They don't give a shit about us. If we die, they just can train someone else in our talents," Ayano, out of all people, notes. Somehow still using her monotone voice. The girl must have had lessons in how to sound like that at every waking moment. Kazuhiko could die, and her voice would remain the same. It is kinda creepy actually. And that I was about to say the same thing. Yep, that just makes the creepy get more creepy.

"We have to find everybody else and be in the same space." Tsukiko's hand leaves her hip. The next thing I know, she is pointing to me. "And you are coming with me, Akita!"

"What?"

"Kazuhiko and Ayano, you take that side," Tsukiko points to the side with the dead-end. "Akita and I will do this side." I severely hope that Tsukiko knows this is the longer side. Probably not. Dammit.

"Hey, you piece of shit, where did that bastard Hayato go?!"

"With you? I'm actually quite shocked that he isn't with you right now. I've only met him today, yet some of my clients like him a lot. Good to have a face to a name." Okay, that is weird. Kazuhiko may be a monster, but, no matter what, he speaks the truth. How can a person so pathetic be so honest? And write absolutely true shit.

"What?" Something tells me I am going to be thinking that a lot. Because this is a mystery. And I'm surrounded by idiots...I feel like I said that before. Since it is true.

"Yep." Okay, Ayano is back to normal. Normal being an emotionless robot with Stockholm Syndrome.

"Let's concentrate on finding the others! Kazuhiko and Ayano are pretty reliable, so they can hold their end of the bargain. Time to get going!" Tsukiko latches her hand onto mine and starts running. If I had to tell my past tell anything, it would be to wear tennis shoes.

* * *

The hallway is just as I remember it. Long and filthy. Nobody's shoes will be spared. There is a dead end on the other side, so this way has to have the way out. Whether or not it will take days or weeks or even years to reach, I cannot tell. The only thing I know is that my feet and head and, well, everything hurt.

"Outside?" Tsukiko finally lets go of my hand. Surprisingly, the door on this side is open and is allowing sunlight through. The warmness of the rays makes me realize how cool it is inside the corridor.

"This has to be some kind of trap," I accidentally think out loud. Everything is too good to be true. Next thing you know, Monokuma will be defeated by a magical bunny that wants us to make friends with each other. Or we could be given a button that causes us to leave the game early. All of us alive and happy except for Yuki and Kazuhiko. And I get free tickets to a First Light concert.

"No way to know unless we try it out." Tsukiko takes a step outside and does not die. Her sandals land onto the uneven grass safely.

"Well, that was easy." It is disappointing to think that it was that easy all along. All that hardship just for an open door. Sure, we are still inside the Killing Game, yet not in that disaster of a building. I follow Tsukiko afterward. Just stepping on the grass feels surreal.

I see the long corridor we were just in behind us. Outside it looks small. Way too small. It almost looks like a storage shed that got extended in all the wrong ways. Everything is falling apart, and that is putting it lightly. Somehow the exterior is worse than the interior! Just because it is in a forest, not only that but an infamous one after the end of the world, somebody forgot to clean it. And now it looks way worse the worse shit ever convinced by man.

Then I see the wannabe Hope's Peak building again. Now that I get a better look at it, it is only three stories tall. May or may not have a basement. The more you look at it, the less like Hope's Peak it becomes. The original is a grand building, while this one is struggling to stay up. Vines and other plants cover the walls instead of paint. All the windows are nonexistent, but there are bars. For some reason. They do realize that we can go outside through the door, right?

"Hm, but we still need to figure out-"

"Hello, my beautiful students~" Monokuma pops up from nowhere just to ruin my day once again. Though, this time, I notice the bear has somebody else with him. Somebody who is way too big for him to carry...Wait a minute...oh shit.

"Minato, what the Hell!" Yep, there is my good old friend, **Minato Ueda** , **Ultimate Traveler** , in the hands of the enemy. Literally.

* * *

 **Ultimate Traveler**

 **Minato Ueda**

* * *

Now that I think about it, I really shouldn't be surprised. The human teddy bear is known to get lost. If I remember correctly, this isn't even their first trip to the Suicide Forest. Minato really has one talent: getting lost. And, oh boy, I have to cover their ass a lot. The Committee gets so many calls that they know everything about them. I can even spell their name backward. Adeu Otanim. That sounds like a reject Latin phrase.

Minato is tan, maybe because of the hot places they find themselves in. You can take that however you want. Every inch of their body is covered with freckles. They have brown hair that is tied in a ponytail. The hair reaches all the way to their elbows, which is about the length of mine too. Their eyes are a deep blue that matches the new waves of the ocean. And their body is made to hug. Minato is perhaps the thicker person here, but it is more to love. When I said he is a human teddy bear, I mean he is a human teddy bear. A crisp, white dress shirt is underneath a thick tan jacket. Their jeans are a dark blue. They wear sneakers, gloves and a scarf that are all a shade of black.

And then I realize, besides their scarf, there is something else around their neck. Something that Monokuma is holding the opposite side of. It is a chain. There also seems to be some kind of bracelet on them. It is over their gloves, and it is also black and bulky.

"...What the Hell...?"

"Hey, Akita, I got myself in a bad situation again," they say while still smiling like a dork. Sometimes I wonder how they can be older than me and act like this.

"What?" Tsukiko asks. Good to know that other people don't know what's going on.

"Oh, hello there! I didn't see you there, sorry about that. I guess I should introduce myself. The name's Minato Ueda, Ultimate Traveler."

"I'm Tsukiko Oda, it's a pleasure to meet you. My Ultimate is being a band manager."

"And I'm Monokuma. The Ultimate School Headmaster." I cannot believe I almost forgot that the psycho bear is here. My mind is still trying to figure out how he can carry someone as heavy as Minato without being crushed.

"...I'm Akita Yamazaki, the Ultimate-" What? I felt left out. By this time, I am used to introducing myself. Might as well.

"Protagonist!" Monokuma shouts out. Protagonist? I view myself more as the reluctant narrator. Narrating everything that these idiots are doing. No escaping our own stupidity.

"Now Minato has been a bad student. Since Idiot-kun didn't know the rules, I decided to only give him a light punishment." If having a brand new chain around your neck is light punishment, then Monokuma must be into some very kinky stuff. Fifty shades of Monokuma.

"Oh God, Minato, what did you do this time?" I question. Maybe if Monokuma can listen to me, I can use some of my skills. Monokuma is too smart to let that happen. Hey, there's a reason why I'm here! And it is not just because I am lucky.

"First Hotaru, then Minato. You sure have some troublemakers as friends, Bitch-chan. Come talk to me, I am worried about your future."

"..." Really saying anything would only fuel this sadistic bear's fantasy.

"We won't listen to you!" Tsukiko yells out. "Let me tell you this, Monokuma, I won't let anybody die!" She drops down to Monokuma's level and glares at him. He just smiles.

"People who say that usually don't last long. I don't want any of my precious students to die, so maybe you can be taught too." Monokuma starts laughing while he drops Minato to the ground. Minato is barely affected. Suddenly, they rush towards me and begin to hug me. Yep, this is Minato. They are a teddy bear that does not realize that their hugs are slowly crushing me to death.

"Okay, Minato, what did you do?" I can hear Tsukiko in the background talking with Monokuma, but I chose not to pay attention. Minato lets go of me, and I can feel a great weight being lifted off my shoulders.

"I woke up and started walking around. Then this teddy bear comes out of nowhere and puts a collar and bracelet on me," they explain. I understand the collar, but the bracelet just is random. Or is it? Didn't Monokuma put bracelets on the Future Foundation members during the second Killing Game?

"What's the bracelet for?"

"Bitch-chan, that's for Idiot-kun's forbidden action," Monokuma shouts. Tsukiko, sighing, decides to leave Monokuma and walk towards us. She examines the bracelet along with me.

"What's a forbidden action?" we both ask at once.

"A forbidden action is a forbidden action," Monokuma answers. I did not pay attention to most of my classes. When my teacher went over the second Killing Game, I skipped. Don't skip class, kiddies, or you're going to regret it. What? It wasn't taught by Ms. Torr, and I already heard about the first one. Turns out they were completely different. Even though they were created by the same group of people. Now to slap my past self in the face. The amount of times Yuki teased me for things like this would make time travel worth it.

"Oh!" When Minato presses on the bracelet, red letters in Japanese appear. Too bad that none of us know how to read Japanese. I only know how to speak some of the words thanks to the people around me.

"Maybe we should cut it off? It isn't connected to anything important," I suggest. Minato quickly grabs their hand and pulls it away from me.

"We don't need to do anything that drastic. That should only be done when necessary," Tsukiko responds. "Plus, Minato's hand is important. You never know when we might need it." Well, that is right. Minato is strong, so we might need them.

"Thank you." Minato relaxes themself while taking a deep breath. "Akita can be a little rough sometimes." At that moment, we all realize that Monokuma is gone. How he can be so loud yet leave so quietly is another mystery waiting to be solved.

"I'm sorry. I was out of line."

"What is this? Are you actually apologizing?" Oh God, I did not need him right now. I was happier with Minato here, but, of course, something has to go wrong. Yuki has a habit of being that wrong thing. Because he is a piece of shit.

"Wait! Yuki, we need to talk alone!" Suddenly, I take his hand and run into the edge of the forest. He, surprisingly, allows me to do so.

"Okay, Akita, what do you want?" Yuki questions me. He starts to examine the forest around him while still focusing on me. It is just standard trees, overly sharp grass and lots and lots of dirt. Of course, Yuki, if he heard that, would insult me for being so stupid.

"First, how is Naoko doing?" I am shocked that she was not with him. Being a private investigator, Yuki is good at tracking people down. Personal experience is what makes me know that.

"Good. I left her with the three others over here." Even though Tsukiko, Minato and I make three, he is clearly not talking about us. Time to meet the next group of people in this cast of snowflakes.

"Three people-"

"Now what did you really bring me here for?" he interrupts me. Now his focus is entirely on me. Yuki's bright blue eyes stare into my soul. Which happens a lot. I know that pressing the question about the three others right now would only end in unclear answers. Yuki can tell what I'm thinking most of the time anyway. Instead when I try and do, to punch him.

"Hideyoshi," I tell him. "Mitsu-cho and Kazuhiko think that he has something to do with this." Just saying that sends shivers down my spine. Yuki bites his lip hard. With that, I know what he is going to say. I may not like him, but being his partner makes me know him better than most people. That is partly the reason why I hate him so much.

"What does Hideyoshi have to do with this? You better not be pulling my leg again!"

"Yuki, this is a Killing Game! He is the leader of True Despairs!...Things make too much sense." Hideyoshi is not as smart as somebody like Junko Enoshima. Last time I checked, he is not an Ultimate like his cousin.

"Goddammit." Yuki begins to start pulling out some of his hair. He probably needs less of it anyway. "Of course they will say something like this!" He then storms off with his fists clenched.

"...Alright...Time to meet the people." Taking a deep breath, I leave the forest as well. I see that Yuki has been stopped by Tsukiko and Minato, so I walk away. The math reveals that these are the last people in our class. Plus, it would be nice to see Naoko again after a couple of hours.

* * *

It takes me some time to find the rest. Just using my first thought, I decide to walk across the edge of the school to the other side. That would most likely be the place all of us were when this thing started. The school is large, but nothing like the real Hope's Peak.

"Hey! Another person!" With that voice, I look over to see three other women walking towards me. One of them is Naoko, and the other two are people I do not know.

"...Hello, Akita." Naoko tries to hide her face but fails.

"Oh! So your name's Akita. Mine's **Namita Nakahashi**. Pleased to meetcha!" Namita extends her hand out, and, like with all the others, I take it. I glance over to the other girl and she remains silent. Something tells me she is a more sane Ayano. Her and Naoko just look at Namita and I. It feels kinda invasive actually.

"My full name is Akita Yamazaki. I have been given the title of Ultimate Mediator."

"Cool! I'm the **Ultimate Event Planner**."

* * *

 **Ultimate Event Planner**

 **Namita Nakahashi**

* * *

"Alright! Time to figure out what is going on," Namita continues. She puts her hair in a ponytail but quickly pulls it out.

Namita has tanned skin, but not to the level as Minato's. She is also narrow and thin. Her hair is wavy and long, about the length of Minato's. Speaking of her hair, it is a gradient. It starts off as a sky blue at the top and becomes lavender at the tips. The color of her eyes is a soft grey. It must be a pain to match clothes with her hair. Namita wears a long, black halter top accompanied by a half-length jean jacket. Her dark blue jeans are mutilated, to the point that her knees are completely exposed. There are a lot of elastic hair bands and scrunchies on both of her arms, and they make her more colorful than she would have been without them.

"I'm just gonna be blunt with this now. We're in a Killing Game." No more beating around the bush.

"What? A Killing Game? Whatcha mean?"

"A game of senseless killing will be most unfortunate. Do you have any evidence to back up this claim?" the other girl finally speaks. She puts her hands around the sheath of her sword. Automatically I know she is not someone to be messed with.

"Akita...what do you mean?" I remember that I meet Naoko before receiving the letter. She, like all of us, probably heard about the Killing Game from Monokuma before the game officially started, but nobody wants to believe a memory of being barely conscious and being told by a psycho bear that they will have to kill somebody to actually get out of here alive. Okay, Monokuma didn't say that exactly but point still stands.

"I-"

"Oh, Bitch-chan, you still prove to be my faithful student." Like always, Monokuma appears out of nowhere. He is right next to Naoko, which causes her to jump. "Maybe those bad influences are good for you."

"Fuc-"

"Bitch-chan, you shouldn't curse like that to your elders. It is considered rude," Monokuma hypocritically berates. Only if punching or kicking him did not mean certain death. Then I would borrow the scary girl's sword and cut him in little robotic pieces. Probably laughing like a maniac while doing so. Because I can say whatever I want!

"Huh? What are you? A teddy bear?" Namita picks Monokuma up. Instead of killing her, Monokuma smiles. This is probably what causes Namita to slowly put him down. Very, very slowly, to the point both turtles and snails are laughing at her.

"A teddy bear from the proud Bear Kingdom," he answers her. How Monokuma can take anything he thinks seriously is beyond me. Maybe that is why he has many fangirls in this world, even though he destroyed it. A desire to understand turning into an unhealthy obsession.

"...W-What's the Bear Kingdom?" Naoko asks while inching closer to the stranger. She then hides behind her.

"A place where good men go to die," I respond. I cross my arms while glaring at our headmaster. He crosses his arms afterward, looking directly at me. Oh, my God, I hate this bear.

"Only bears are allowed in. The toll for humans and other critters is death. Especially mice!" Monokuma starts to sweat. Okay...now I know one of our captor's weaknesses. Mice. I am actually surprised we have not seen any mice or bugs. Pretty sure there should at least be an ant or two here.

"Such ruthlessness will only harm you in the long run," the stranger sternly advises as she moves to cover more of Naoko's body. "Only raise your sword when you need to."

"Enough with the chit-chat, here's the real reason I came. Here you go." Monokuma pulls out a piece of paper from...somewhere. He hands it to the mysterious woman, who takes it. She gives Monokuma a look oozing of suspicion before reading it.

"Huh? What's your reason?" Namita, once again, plays around with her hair using her endless supply of hair ties. She picks a random one each time, but her hair is always in a nicely done low ponytail.

"It is a game. You don't have to have a reason." If you did not need a reason, why are there motives? Bear doesn't understand his own game. Except if this game does not have motives, yet that would be stupid. Wait, there are already connections throughout the class...Expecting a complete Killing Game just out of that would be idiotic as well. We just need to watch to see how this plays out.

"...This is no game. It is a crime," the girl says. She hands the paper back to Monokuma.

"Who says a game can't be a crime."

"Games are supposed to be fun-" What is with Monokuma and interrupting me? It is getting really annoying.

"And crime is fun!"

"...Not for most people," I sigh. Trying to make Monokuma not love despair is like trying not to get wet in water.

"Kids love violence, right? Wouldn't be putting into a violent video game be your dreams?" All of us there only stares at Monokuma. An awkward silence follows. "...Namita! Read this!" Monokuma blushes.

"Sure..." Even Namita seems confused. Because blush shouldn't appear on stuffed animals!

"U-um..can I ha-ave it next?" Naoko asks while peeking out from behind the stranger. Really need to learn the girl's name, but Naoko is too cute for that right now. Can I just have Kira, Akemi, and Naoko be my children?...That is a weird thought...Akita, stop thinking weird things! This is not the internet. No more Tumblr for you.

"...No..." Namita throws the paper to the ground before messing with her hair a billion times. "Sorry. I need to go." Suddenly, she walks off, leaving the three of us with Monokuma.

"..." Now Naoko stares at the paper in the ground. The next thing we all notice is that Monokuma is gone. Again. Gonna totally print out a picture of him and glue it on a punching bag. Then give that punching bag to all the different members of Mitsu-cho's gang. Sweet, poetic justice.

"Well, wanna read it?" I move slightly closer to the both of them.

"...I-I guess," she answers me. Naoko's hand shakes as she picks the paper off the ground. Being a prodigy, Naoko reads through the whole thing faster than anybody else. This does now affect the outcome, however.

"Do not let the words of a madman get you down. Becoming paranoid is the best way for Mr. Monokuma to win in this sad excuse of a game," the girl advises. Well, this is the perfect time to get her name! Of course, she is most likely the female samurai girl I have been hearing on all the blogs.

"...Why...?" Once again, Naoko goes off running. And, once again, the paper falls onto the ground, waiting for the wind to pick it up. The girl goes after her, yet I grab onto her hand. She tries to get me off, which succeeds.

"Naoko needs some space! We should leave her alone!"

"How can you be so sure?" the stranger questions me. Even though she has a scary aura, I want to learn more about her. Something about that kind of aura attracts me to people. Most likely because these people are never who they seem.

"I don't. Even if she needs somebody, there are people over there that can do a way better job than us." After that, the stranger remains silent. "Well...I am wondering what your name is."

"I do not see how that relates to the subject at hand, Ms. Yamazaki. My name is not of importance." Great, more people who don't call me by my first name. Some people don't realize that other people don't like that!

"Just call me Akita." The boards on the internet had no idea what her name is either. All they know is that there is an urban legend female samurai that protects people who call for her services. There are multiple stories with multiple things like origin stories and motives, but there were always glimpses of her. I did not imagine a fabled samurai to be so short, about the same height as Naoko.

"If you so insist, Ms. Akita." It is better than before. Unlike Hayato, she actually listened to me. I like her.

"Anyways, can I please have your name? Can I guess it? Or even your Ultimate?" If I could get the name of an urban legend, and evidence that she does exist, I would live on through my blogs forever. Forever known as the girl that cracked the code of the female samurai.

"Since you desire it so, my name is **Miyuki Kobyashi**. Hope's Peak assigned me the title of **Ultimate Onna-bugeisha**."

* * *

 **Ultimate Onna-bugeisha**

 **Miyuki Kobyashi**

* * *

Miyuki bows as she introduces herself. She is way too damn formal for her own good. Maybe I should give her and Hayato lessons in how in become informal.

The Onna-bugeisha, which I am just assuming means something close to female samurai, looks the part of her Ultimate despite being short. Miyuki would be adorable if not for her aura and overall stiffness. The girl needs to learn how to calm down for a second. Anyways, her hair is a dirty blonde, and it looks natural. It, the hair, is long and tied up in a braid. Her eyes are a bright red that matches the color of a brilliant ruby. Like most people here, Miyuki is thin and pale, but she is a lot more muscular. There are several scars on her body, with the most prominent being on her left cheek and collarbone. Most of her minor scars are on her arms. Miyuki can join me and Mitsu-cho in the scar club. We can clean them together, for it will always be a pain in the ass. You never know true anger until trying to clean out these scars.

Thank God my sister is into cosplaying, or I would not know the terms of over half the things she wears. Miyuki has a dark grey go top and a long, black skirt with a white flower pattern. A red, the same color of her eyes, ribbon is tied around her waist. There is a black scabbard with painted on white roses is tied to Miyuki as well. Her sword rests safely in the scabbard. And I sure hope that it stays in there. She also has black jika-tabi for her shoes.

"So you're a samurai!"

"...In a sense, Ms. Akita, I am what most people call a samurai." Suddenly, her hand is near her sword again. "Ms. Akita, I am sorry to inform you that you are in danger."

"Ha, I do not mean any harm. How can I injure such a beautiful face?" somebody, a man, responds from behind me. I turn around to see a person that has an uncanny appearance of a certain blonde bartender in a certain anime.

This man, who is clearly a bartender, or a wannabe, is wearing a black suit. He has a white undershirt accompanied by a black tie with small, blue stripes. Everything that he wears is fancy and formal. Even his shoes, which somehow do not have any dirt on them, are black and are dress shoes. His hair is blonde and slicked back. The color of his eyes is a deep, chocolate brown, but they still seem to sparkle like the ocean. Yeah, that is caused by this particular stranger being faced to the sun. His appearance is so less complicated than Miyuki's.

"Dude, half of my face has a scar," I sigh. No matter the amount of makeup or surgery, it remains, forever haunting me.

"Both of your faces have scars, but the beauty of a female face cannot be changed through such things like scars! Women-"

"Okay, already annoyed with you." Picking up the paper (because littering is bad, kids), I walk the other way. Miyuki follows behind me, still keeping her hand ready on her sword.

"...Hm...you're Akita Yamazaki, right? Ultimate Mediator? Do you mind if I call you Aki?" he shouts, even though we are not that far away. I may not like being called by my last name, but rather that than a nickname. Yuki has soured the experience of being called something cute.

I wonder how he knows my name, but he must have overheard some of the conversation all of us girls were having. He is trying way too hard to sound more cool or mysterious than he actually is. From experience, I know that those kind of people are the biggest dorks.

"Yes-"

"The name I go by here is **Satoshi Nakajima**. I might not look like it, but I'm the **Ultimate Bartender**."

* * *

 **Ultimate Bartender**

 **Satoshi Nakajima**

* * *

Why do some many people have a last name that starts with 'Naka.' First Akemi Nakatani, then Namita Nakahashi and now Satoshi Nakajima. Must be a rise of those names after the Tragedy ended...actually, that is the most unlikely answer. God, it is just like the absurd amount of people here with green eyes!

And the poor idiot does not realize that he looks exactly like the stereotypical bartender. And like that character from the anime I a forgetting the name of. I think it is something like ddddddrrrrrrr.

"Miyuki, I think we should go faster," I whisper. Although I could be speaking loudly and cannot tell thanks to Satoshi literally shouting loudly in our ears. The fact that my ears are not ringing shocks me. Miyuki nods her head as both of us run off. Satoshi is left there, with only himself to talk to. Good, because I don't like him.

* * *

 **Finally, the intros are done. Doesn't mean the prologue is over though. XD And long author's note.**

 **Remember, if I got your character wrong, just tell me. And please tell me my mistakes. I actually have betas, but now they are correcting the prior parts before this one. In the next part, I shall credit them. When the prologue ends, there would be a little break from this story to allow the betas to catch up and for me to work on my FictionPress story. It will only be for about a month though (but, knowing me, I'll probably upload chapters during the hiatus XD).**

 **I will be making a poll sometime for which characters should have free time events (another reason for hiatus is fully writing all of the free time events...all 100 of them). It will be posted on my profile after some time.**

 **Now for responses to guest reviews again. Because fanfiction is acting weird. Again. Should we really be surprised by now?**

 **CrayonPencil-Kira is a girl. XD Cassius will become the great and powerful CASSIUS! Akemi is not good at making good first impressions. Poor Kazuhiko, being called a monster. :P Ayano is actually a monotone Ouma in disguise.**

 **HyperBrachydios-Hayato is here! Hallelujah! Kira will get more pagetime later. Cassius is Cassius. Not spoiling. ;) Akemi, the secret love child of Fuyuhiko and Hagakure. Get ready for the pain train. This cast of snowflakes is gonna break your heart...because I'm a sadistic author. Hayato has an interesting parallel to Akita. I need me some foils. XD Surprise surprise, there are more snowflakes to love and cry over!**

 **Shadedlyht-They are the emotional and the emotionless. Kazuhiko is the heart and Ayano the brain. Thanks. :D Well, you already got some of Akita hating on Hayato here. The power of the foil is strong in this one. Everybody is an idiot and Hotaru kidnapped (because of being an idiot). Spelling is my worse enemy. Thank you. :D**

 **Kokushoku-Thanks. Get ready for cuteness overload. The plot is true despair. Along with doors. Kira is adorable. :D Hayato is Akita's neutrality taken to a hundred. Yes, ship BLINGBLING. Akita can see through Akemi. XD Or just like calling people kids. Mirabilis needs to purify all the doors. Yep, Kazuhiko gets more game than all the other DR characters combined. And lots of hate. Ayano is my fav so...yeah. Take that as you will. Akita can get that way. Thank you. :)**

 **Totally not Tobi-Yes. :D Thanks. I just imagined Cassius as a bratty Armstrong in his teenage years. XD This is a cast of snowflakes after all. Yes~slowly die inside. Thanks. :D**

 **UltimateShipper-I shall worship the ground you step on. Our new lord and savior, people.**


	6. Prologue 0-5

**Prologue 0-5: Teenagers Scare the Living Shit Out of Me**

* * *

When both Miyuki and I return to where I left Tsukiko and Minato before, I notice that there are a lot more people. Everybody but Miyuki, Satoshi, Hotaru and I are gathered around Monokuma, staring at the both of us. Satoshi and Hotaru are the only ones not here. Both Yasu and Kyoto are placed on the grass, outside of the wave of students all cramped against each other. They look so peaceful in their sleeping state. When they wake up, the truth about the Killing Game has to come out.

"Late again, Bitch-chan? We seriously have to have a conversation about this. I'm worried about you," Monokuma laughs. All I do is spit on the ground near him. Hey, it ain't attacking him, so it shouldn't be punished. If I die for such a simple action, it would be worth it.

"Better late than listening to anything you have to say." Miyuki and I join into the crowd. How can an area be so vast yet so small at the same time? Oh yeah, a bunch of high schoolers. Gggrrreeeaaattttt. Living with all of these people is going to be a drag. Especially when we have to eat together. Teenagers really do scare the living shit out of me.

"Oh, snap!" Namita shouts out. Good to know that she is feeling better.

"I'm gonna purify you, Monokuma!" Mirabilis yells. She tries to get to him, but a few other classmates, Mitsu-cho and Yuki, stand in her way. Guess they don't want her to die a horrible, painful death. Monokuma will take anything as an attack against him to induce the most despair possible.

"What's there to purify? I'm an innocent little bear trying to help his bastardy, precious students."

"I, Lord Cassius Ambrose Irvine Jacobson III, son of the Duke of Lancaster Cassius Ambrose Irvine Jacobson II, demand to know why you place me in this barbaric Killing Game! With a person that has the audacity to steal my talent!"

"No, I did not!" Kira and Cassius glare each other down. Luckily, both Tsukiko and Minato are between them to stop them from killing each other. Something tells me that would be an easy mystery to solve. If you see somebody kill somebody, then they must be the murderer. What a shock.

"I can tell you that my client would not lie about something like this," Hayato states. He is by Cassius. When this is over, I am going to have a serious talk with that man.

"But Kira-chan also is very known for her jewelry," Kazuhiko steps in. "For all we know, he is paying you extra to say this. Salesmen aren't exactly the most trustworthy people in the world, but this is coming from a journalist with a hacker girlfriend. Talk about suspicious." Ayano is right next to him, nodding. She is still her usual self. I notice that Yuki is slowly inching away from the duo. Mirabilis, seeing this, tries to take a chance, but Mitsu-cho grabs her dress collar before it gets too bloody.

Takara, in the back with Shinichi, just watches with him. Both of them are being silent. Akemi is sitting right next to both Yasu and Kyoto, for he is on watch for some reason. Really, guys, you pick him when there are way better people for the job? The chess player! There is literally a samurai and a gang leader right there! At least he does not look too fond about the decision. Miyuki is also watching, yet she is closer to the fray. Just in case something weird happens, it is good to have a samurai nearby. Naoko is somewhere in the middle, looking overwhelmed. And I am stuck near Monokuma. It takes all my willpower to not try to kick him to the roof of the school. Because it would be funny to see that.

"I know who are the smart people here are now," Yuki comments. "I don't feel like dying today, so I am-"

"Attention, students! Your headmaster is speaking." Monokuma looks so proud of himself. Even though all of us are literally towering over him, waiting for any time to strike. You know what, maybe Mirabilis should be allowed to purify Monokuma. "Today-"

"Aki, Yuki, I'm back!" Satoshi is truly an idiot. He ignores Monokuma, almost running into him, while trying to reach me. Yuki stares at him confusingly. "Oh, the other Yuki!" That only causes Miyuki to give him to same expression.

"Please don't call me-"

"Your headmaster is speaking. Are you this rude to your elders? It makes me want to cry. How can anybody raise kids to act like this!"

"Says the bear created by Junko Enoshima, a person who was known the abduct children from the elementary school connected to Hope's Peak," Tsukiko, of all people, interrupts. She must have paid attention to school when they talked about the incident in Towa City. Now, because it was destroyed, Towa City has been rebuilt as a landmark to honor the people who died during and after the Tragedy. All of their deaths caused by Junko Enoshima and her sick despair fetish.

"As I was saying, before I was oh so rudely interrupted, you all are now in a Killing Game! Where the only way out is to kill someone and get-"

"We already know this, you little shit!" Mitsu-cho shouts. Afterwards, Mirabilis, still being held by her collar, tries to bonk her head with her magical stick. Clearly, arms do not go that way.

"Do you all want to get executed or what?" Monokuma's red eye is now glowing. He points one of his paws at us to show off the claws that popped out. "Now, excuse me, I will not be interrupted again, or somebody is going to have a very bad time. And that somebody will be Bitch-chan." I had a desire to ask him why, but I already knew it. Getting killed is also not on my to-do list. My preferred way is in a comfortable bed, next to the person I care about the most, Mitsu-cho. Oh, how that would be pure heaven! Can I please have that? I don't care if Mitsu-cho would have a severely bad time. Sometimes you just need to live out your strange little fantasies.

"...As Bitch-chan lives out her fantasies, I get to do more info dumps. Here's something that will be very valuable to you kiddos." It amazes me how Monokuma can throw us these weird pad things so fast. Literally, even Yasu and Kyoto had one fall onto them. Akemi's had his fly in his face. The only person who does not have one is Ayano, who is now observing Kazuhiko's. "These are you e-Handbooks. There are no replacements. We're in the middle of a forest, understand? This is the only technology you'll have outside of certain...situations." Okay, now I'm scared. Ayano raises her hand. "Oh, Ayano, great to have you speak."

"Monokuma, why the Hell don't I have one?" From everything that comes out of Ayano's mouth, I get to understand why she usually only has one-word replies. And somehow Ayano can make her voice still monotone. Somehow Kazuhiko looks like the emotionless one now.

"Because you're a hacker. I'm not stupid enough to do that. It would only take you a snap of a finger to contact the Committee." Shockingly, Monokuma moves toward Ayano. Nobody moves. Like usual, we just stare. I try to hold my laughter in because of the weirdly cute way Monokuma waddles. Pretty sure I hear somebody else failing miserably at hiding it.

"But..." Ayano's words stop in their tracks as Monokuma places something on her wrist. It is a bracelet that is exactly like Minato's.

"No...not you too." Minato tries to get closer to her, probably to become evil bracelet buddies. However, the end of their chain gets stuck under the feet of all the people rushing to the scene, including me. Sorry Minato. I have to make it up to them later. It is just sad to see them in this way. Where is that smile? Sure, this is not the situation, but I think we all need that now.

"You really are a piece of shit!"

"Stop cursing! I might need to purify you too!" Mirabilis demands, still not realizing she is not in a position of power. Mitsu-cho sighs. It is amazing how my darling Mitsu-cho can be faster than most of these other fools when still carrying a little brat that views herself as a magical girl.

"...Please, Mitsu-cho, you don't want to be purified," I whisper. Of course, Mitsu-cho did not hear me, but hopefully, she will be smart enough to avoid the sad fate I had suffered. That wand is dangerous. More dangerous than a murderous teddy bear with delusions of grandeur.

"...I'm just staying back here..." Akemi's hand covers the part of his face that was stuck. The e-Handbook is in his lap with the screen partially broken.

"Okay, I am leaving." Satoshi, being the coward that he is, runs back to where Miyuki and I meet him before. I desire so much to punch, or, better yet, make Mirabilis purify him, that playboy wannabe in his strangely attractive face. Curse the beauty of bishounens!

"Crap! What is happening?" Namita shouts out. She is not that short, but all the really tall people are blocking her way. I can see that multiple people, Yuki, Naoko, Hayato, Kira, Akemi, the two people he is surprisingly looking after, Satoshi, Shinichi, and Takara, are being smart and staying out of it. Miyuki is in the crowd, but mostly to make sure nobody gets killed. Right now, she is trying to help Minato get their chain free.

"As the future head of the Jacobson family, I demand you to never put that...thing on me!" Cassius still deserves a well-deserved punch to the face. Can Kira please do that to him already? In the great jeweler war, I side with her. Anyways, with all that is going on, I am shocked I can keep up with it all. Maybe since I am being an observer and not really taking part in it. Just in the crowd so I can narrate what's happening. Don't mind me.

"We all need to calm down!" Tsukiko exclaims. "We can't-"

"What did you do?" Kazuhiko asks as he quickly grabs a hold of Ayano's wrist. He observes it carefully. Even a monster can a little bit of a heart. "Does anybody here know how to read Japanese? I can only speak it."

"I do," Shinichi states. The crowd breaks for him, and Shinichi runs to Ayano. "U-um...is there anybody else? J-just in case."

"Let me down! I can read it!" Mirabilis commands. Mitsu-cho does not budge. "Watashi wa sore o hanasu koto ga dekimasu!" After that, Mitsu-cho finally lets go of her collar and sets the child free. She immediately goes up to Ayano. Ayano does not seem bothered by a number of people around her.

"I can also speak it, but it does not look like you need my assistance. I'll be here just in case," Hayato says. I do not blame him for not wanting to be in this chaos. Hope's Peak should have learned from the first time that this is way too many people. Then again, that class had forty students. The second class actually only had ten students. Must have ran out of talented people. And now they're being idiots again. Good to know.

"A-also let...ummm..."

"Minato," I answer.

"Hey, Mini, you should come here!" Mirabilis waves her hand. Miyuki and Minato are still trying to get the chain out of the ground. Well, look at the bright side, Minato won't get lost anytime soon.

"Can you guys get over here? I'm kinda stuck." That is when everybody else finally realized what was happening.

"I am not touching any of that filthy ground with my hands! You there, boy, do it for me." Cassius points at Takara. Takara does not notice him. "Is that how you react to-"

"A thief that has his head stuck up his ass! I am just an innocent girl that keeps getting picked on by this bully!" Kira starts to cry. Her eyes are that of a puppy's, staring sorrowfully at her classmates.

"My girlfriend is in trouble! I will put this in my next scoop, you bast-"

"This is why we need order. Things like this can happen," Tsukiko explains, not caring about interrupting that son of a bitch Kazuhiko. Guess I should help my friend out. Goddammit, I'm a crappy friend. Tsukiko, Namita, Mitsu-cho and I hurry over to Minato. Naoko scurries near us, probably to escape the crowd.

"Minato...please stop getting yourself in crappy situations," I sigh. Minato laughs at me awkwardly. Well, good to know they still do that. A smile like theirs is needed.

"U-um, where's Mo-onokuma?" Naoko asks us. In the chaos, the crazy bear left unnoticed. I want Monokuma's teleportation powers. But, no, I must be a normal student...for Hope's Peak standards...and be stuck here.

"We can think about him later. Right now, let us focus on the present." It does not surprise me that Tsukiko is a band manager. She has to deal with all the First Light fangirls, and, knowing how they can get, this is heaven compared to the harsh battlefield of fandom.

"Yes, it is in all of our best interests to focus on the immediate issue, the bracelets on our classmates' arms. If we continue any further, they may meet their demise!" Hayato speaks out. He is strangely passionate about this, even though he is supposed to be neutral or some shit. How can somebody make me hate something I personally stand for so much?

"All of you are idiots. It is clear that we should split up," Yuki intervenes finally. His silence was about to become unsettling. "There are twenty-one of us here. I think there should be teams. One for the chaos happening here and the other for exploring. How haven't any of you figured that out?"

"T-that's actually...a g-good idea!" Naoko squeezes her right arm. She cannot look any of us in the eyes.

"Pieces of shit! Clearly, there's safety in numbers! What happens if Monokuma pulls something out of his ass and attacks us? Huh?" Mitsu-cho punches the ground underneath her, making everybody jump, even Minato.

"Mitsu-cho is right! Even if we split into groups, I'm not leaving Ayano! Even if you offer me the biggest scoop that history has to offer!" Kazuhiko hugs Ayano tightly. Both Shinichi and Mirabilis check to see if Ayano is okay. Imagine how sadistic it would be to have her action being not being able to be held by Kazuhiko. Then that monster will know the true pain of those he describes in his trashy articles that somehow were good enough to land him a place in this school! This school must not have high standards.

"Yeah." Ayano is a lot calmer now. Thank God. Angry Ayano is an even scarier than normal Ayano.

"Mirabilis has this covered! You can leave this to me-"

"No, we should stick together! Only spilt up if we have a plan." Suddenly, Namita walks up to Takara and asks for his notepad. Of course, he cannot hear her.

"He's deaf, idiots!" I shout out. The amount of times something like this has happened is pissing me off.

"Alright, it is finally time to calm down! We're getting too off track! Namita has an idea, so let's listen to her!" Tsukiko strolls over to Namita as everybody watches in silence.

"...Sure, here it is." Namita motions Takara to hand his notepad over. Defeated, he gives it to her and a pen from one of his pockets. The event planner then gets to work. All of my classmates and I remain silent. Throughout the forest, the only sound is that of a pen writing on paper.

"Okay! Here's the plan everybody! Listen up!" Tsukiko makes us all behave like good little children. Why she did not do this earlier...was because nobody was listening to her except for me and a few others. Once she got us, Tsukiko had us all behave like good little soldiers.

"Basically, we have five people explore, since one already bailed on us," Namita explains. "So, those five people are Takayuki, Mitsuru, Miyuki, Naoko and Tsukiko. Akemi...Akemi will continue what he is doing. Shinichi, Mirabilis and Hayato will help translate the bracelets. Kazuhiko can hang with Ayano I guess. Kira and Cassius-"

"Nobody can demand me to do anything!" Cassius stomps off in the same direction as Satoshi. We all just stare at him.

"What an asshole...Can somebody please help me?" I just now realize that Kira is still crying. How she does that, we will never know. The thing I am most curious about now is how many mysteries are there.

"...Um, Kira can see what Cassius and Satoshi are doing-"

"Why! Everybody is picking on me-"

"Huh? I'm not-"

"If that's the case, why doesn't anybody else help me?" Kira, following the boys, runs off. Wow, both of the jewelers are brats. I am never going to buy jewelry ever again. Somebody else has to do it for me. At least Kira is cute and Cassius is good looking, or they would be screwed in this unforgiving world.

"Does Kira not realize that she's doing her part in the plan?" I whisper to myself.

"I'm sure she's just having a bad day," Minato replies. I forgot that they were right next to me. In fact, I am a little too close. Trying to back away, Minato traps me with a great, big hug. My bones are so gonna be crushed after this whole ordeal is over.

"Alright, back on track, Akita will keep Minato company...because of reasons." Namita looks directly at us. Minato does not care and continues breaking my poor little body. It is a miracle that all the trauma of these past hours has not resulted in my premature death. "Also, I will help guide everybody over here, while Tsukiko takes care of the people inside the building. And...Takara will...lend me his notepad."

"That's the plan, guys! Let's get to work!" Tsukiko grabs all of the people going with her and drags them along. Hopefully, they will find Hotaru. Maybe, if we are lucky, there might be a way out. But there's nobody with us that is lucky, and, even if there was, the chance of getting out is slim. Even the luckiest person known in history, Matoko Na-Kirigiri I mean, was stuck in this messed up situation and had to watch most of his friends die brutally in front of him.

"We should have the notepad. It would be good if we got a map of this place," Tsukiko comments.

"Oh, that's a good idea. Don't know why I didn't think of it." Namita quickly gives the notepad to Tsukiko. All Takara does is watch it go with a frown on his face.

"If I was an idiot, I would say that all we should do is hope," I say, accidentally out loud.

"Don't say that, Akita, for we'll get out of this!" Minato's goofy smile almost makes me want to do one. But this is no time for such things.

* * *

Shinichi, Mirabilis, and Hayato are all huddled around Ayano. While this is happening, Kazuhiko threatens the boys that if they even think about touching Ayano, they will be the first double murder. That is when they decided for Mirabilis to read it. Nobody wants to unleash the fury of an unpredictable beast.

"I hope she's alright. She was nice to me in the Committee," Minato says. There is clear worry in their eyes.

"Minato, you think everybody you meet is nice." I sigh. Mostly because I can still feel my bones breaking under all the pressure. If I wasn't such a badass, I would be so dead. Somehow my confidence always gets boosted with Minato around. They are my Ultimate Hope I guess.

"Because they are! Even you, Akita!" Finally, I break from Minato's hold. I pull the chain from its beloved spot in the ground. The chaos, once again, made everybody forget about it.

"Don't say such stupid things. I swear, your naïveté is gonna get you killed someday. C'mon, let's join the others. I wanna see what juicy thing Ayano's NG code is!" Grabbing their hand, I hurry Minato and myself to the action spot.

"Well, took you long enough," Namita laughs as she joins us.

"Shut up." I quickly take a seat right next to Hayato of all people. It was either him or Kazuhiko, so I picked the decision that would keep my sanity. Seeing me, Hayato brings Minato right next to Ayano. Kazuhiko moves in-between them, not caring about being crushed.

"No touching my girlfriend," Kazuhiko warns him. Sometimes he can act like an overprotective puppy.

"Why would I...?" Minato asks him, confused. Oh, sweet child, too pure for this harsh, cruel world.

"For the last time, Kazuhiko, nobody is touching-"

"C-can we just drop it? Please?" With all that stuttering, Shinichi and Naoko would make good friends. While everybody spends their time with overly long pauses...

"Yeah," Ayano responds. For the first time, I see an emotion written all over her face, annoyance.

"Fine." Kazuhiko pouts, once again acting like an overgrown puppy that somehow became human. I swear I have seen Ayano let him before, but we shall never talk about this again. We all know who really is on top in this relationship.

"Guys, we're trying to translate some bracelets. Shinichi, how about you translate Minato's. Hayato can make sure that both of you are correct," Namita reminds us. I feel so sorry for her since she has to deal with all of this nonsense. Sure, I am a mediator, and I could have fixed everything, but I see no reason to. It's not like I'm being paid here.

"Okay! I got it! Ayano's reads that she's not allowed to touch any electronic equipment," Mirabilis informs us. Who knew this magical girl would be useful for us? Because being a florist would get you nowhere in a Killing Game. Might as well know how to translate Japanese.

"That's actually right," Hayato comments as he looks it over. Kazuhiko looks like he is about to kill him, but he holds it in. Is he actually practicing self-control? Who is this man, and what did he do to Kazuhiko Hiraoka?

"I do know Japanese. It is a must for all magical girls-"

"Good to know you won't die, Ayano!" Kazuhiko interrupts Mirabilis. In response, Mirabilis bonks his head with her wand. This does not stop Kazuhiko however, for his beloved girlfriend is still there. "...Although it sucks we can't contact the Committee. Can you tell one of us how to hack into these things?"

"I've no idea how these things work. Must examine them closer," Ayano frowns.

"U-um, can I translate Minato's now please?" Shinichi questions. Namita gives him the go ahead. "W-well, it says that if anybody takes off the collar, M-minato is d-d-dead!"

"That's bad, but let's make the best of the situations," Minato says. He is still smiling. Now I can imagine him being a masochist. Goddammit, mind, stop imagining weird things!

"But, wait, there's more!" Monokuma shouts. Shinichi jumps as Kazuhiko puts his arms around Ayano. I just roll my eyes. If I had an action, I bet it would be something like no back talking. Then I would be the first death in a manner of seconds.

"Oh, it's you, Monokuma," Namita responds. "Well, back on topic! We-"

"I'm about the give you very important information, so ya better listen to me! For I am your school headmaster-"

"This is the time you're gonna be purified, Monokuma!" Mirabilis announces. She is going for him, but Hayato and Namita both grab her. Once again by her dress collar.

"...So what should we have for dinner? Do you think there's some food inside the main building? I assume that most of us are starving." It feels good to be the one interrupting and not interrupted. Plus, Monokuma's face going all red is strangely adorable.

"Akita-chan, this is not the time-"

"Students, listen up, or I'll punish Bitch-chan!" Monokuma threatens. We all become silent. "Good, seems that your parents actually taught my precious students something. Only if they told you about the absolute beauty of despair."

"Yes, but what else were you gonna tell us?" Namita asks. She trusts Mirabilis with Hayato, who does not look like he is having the time of his life, and goes straight up to Monokuma. They stare directly at each other, eye to eye. Meanwhile, Minato helps Hayato hold back the magical girl wannabe.

"More about Minato's action. Only people related to me can take it off," Monokuma informs us. He is trying way too hard to act like a teacher...or a school headmaster or something else stupid.

"What are you saying? That the mastermind is with us!" Kazuhiko yells. Monokuma begins to sweat again. I see that Ayano is observing him very carefully.

"Looks like I've said too much. Goodbye." Before Namita can grab him, he disappears like a hologram. This is like the first game then. That means...

"This proves that Hideyoshi has nothing to do with it!"

"Huh? Whose Hideyoshi?" Namita turns to me. Oops, I really should learn how to keep my thoughts to myself.

"We shouldn't listen to Monokuma!" Mirabilis shouts out. "He can be lying to get us to turn against each other! Nobody will do that!" She then releases herself from Hayato and Minato's grip.

"Yeah, what Mirabilis said!...But whose Hideyoshi?" Minato's pure eyes now feel like daggers. It hurts the impurity of my own damned soul.

"Akita Yamazaki, you damn idiot!" Kazuhiko yells. "We aren't supposed to talk about that!"

"Didn't you talk about him in front of me-" It feels so good to interrupt Hayato after him ditching me.

"Since when?" I retort as I spit on the ground. "If I remember correctly, you're the one who first released his name in public. The Committee got super pissed off at you." Kazuhiko comes up to my face.

"Stop," Ayano orders. She does not do anything else though. Just sit there and watch.

"Guys, you gotta calm down!" Namita orders us. Her voice is noticeably more shaky than before. She tries to get in-between us, but not even she can break us apart.

"Fighting is no good! This will solve nothing!" Once again, Mirabilis tries to intervene, only to be held down by Minato, Hayato, and Ayano. She attempts to get her wand out, only for it to fall on the ground.

"W-what?" Shinichi examines his surroundings, confused.

"You son of a bitch! Who gave you the right to even do that? Not the fucking Committee! Aren't you supposed to be their bitch?"

"And aren't you supposed to be a mediator, _Akita-chan_? Why haven't you died down any of the situations here?! You used to not be like this. Wanting to help every poor person you came across!" After Kazuhiko tells me that, I slap him. He just continues to glare at me.

"Because all of you are idiots! Fighting over useless things! People change, you know? And look at yourself! You put my damn name in the article after I told you not to! I fucking trusted you! But, no, your **_fucking_** scoop matters way more than integrity!" Then I punch him in the face like I always wanted. He even falls to the ground, and I smile. His face looks at mine with terror.

 _Yes, do it again. Again and again and again and again and again-_

"Akita, stop it!" Minato cries out as Namita pulls me away. I easily overwhelm her, but, instead of going to Kazuhiko, I fall onto the floor.

 _Again and again and again and again and again and again and again-_

"..." All of them are staring at me. Then, I do the thing that any coward like me would do in this circumstance. Run away. Pretty sure some of them are behind me, but I do not care. I run into the forest, not caring about useless stuff like getting lost or dying. My only desire is to get away as soon as possible.

* * *

A couple minutes later, I fall on one of the many tree stumps littered around the forest. My face lands straight into the dirt. Guess this is my version of doors.

"Well, that went horribly," I joke. Quickly, I try to brush all of the dirt off of my scar. Guess my reckless nature only results in misery, huh? Only if I had a superpower like any of those protagonists in anime or their strength in heart. Damn, I'm sounding cheesy right now. Good nobody else is around to hear me..."...Fuck you all! Especially Kazuhiko!" Wow, I've such a mouth. I blame it on Mitsu-cho.

 _Again and again and again_ -

"Not listening!" I push myself off the ground and sit on the aforementioned tree stump. It is strangely peaceful being in the Suicide Forest. Something just makes me want to stay here forever.

 _You do realize I'm in your head, right? No matter what, you won't stop listening to me._

"Shut up, I'm trying to have some peace here." I sigh. This literally has never been a problem before. Maybe it is my brain's way of dealing with the stress of the Killing Game? No, that's stupid. I've been in way worse situations than this and no mysterious voice in my head...I'm so screwed...

Suddenly, I see somebody else come towards me. Looking more closely, I see that person is Takara. Good to know where he ran off to. I try to run away, to see that he is now right next to me. He is closer than I thought he was.

"..." Takara tries to talk to me using various hand signs. Too bad I don't know an ounce of sign language.

"I can't understand you," I tell him, knowing full well it is futile. Takara then takes a hold of my hand and starts running the way that I came. I attempt to get out, only to realize that Takara is surprisingly strong. He probably is one of the kids that actually pays attention during self-defense training at school. The creepy deaf mute kid might possibly be one of the best students here. Who would've thought?

"..." He still cannot say anything. All we have is an extremely awkward silence.

* * *

Once we both make it out of the forest, I attempt to go back in, only to be stopped. Takara gently pushes me over to the direction of what I assume to be the entrance of the school. He returns swiftly back into the forest. How he does not get lost in there must relate somehow to his talent of being a treasure hunter of all things.

"Fine! All I wanted was to relax!" I storm off to the set place for all the story events to transpire. Luckily, nobody else is here. Kira, Cassius, and Satoshi, who I am gonna call the Brat Squad, is on the other side doing idiotic things. The people I was hanging out with before gave up on me, and I am by myself. And Takara...is doing whatever he is doing. In a big, dense forest which is infamous for its death rate...

* * *

I am right! For once during this day, I am right! This side is where Monokuma was speaking to us during the morning, and, of course, where the entrance lies. The sun is beginning to set. It can barely be seen through all the trees, but it is actually beautiful. Guess that the end of the first day of the Killing Game is here. When the next day comes, the actual story will begin.

The first thing that I notice that is not in the main, actual building is the patio around it. Something about it gives me the creeps. Every time I take a step, there's a loud creak. There are actually three stairs to get to the door. How did I not realize this before? Probably because of my weird state of mind at the time. The door seems to only lead to one side of the building, for it is heavily towards the left of the building. And the doors to the building are less grand and made out of cheap wood.

"Time to open the door." As I open it, I note that it is nothing like the one that I've seen before. All of it is run down and covered with moss, although less so than the back building. On my left, I realize that the hallway has doors that have a picture of all of my classmates in a pixel format. Mine is the fourth closest to the door, only being beat by Yasu, Akemi, and Tsukiko. Between Kazuhiko and Ayano's doors, there's a door so small I can only assume that it is used as some kind of storage closet.

On my right, the first door is one labeled as hospital...for some reason. The next one is the kitchen, which makes my mouth water. I haven't eaten anything in such a long time! Even trash will do! Then I see that there is a door that leads to outside. It surprises me that nobody is in the hallway.

"...Hello...?" First, I try to get into my door, only to realize that it is locked. There's a scanner right next to it. It is so out of place that it stands out immediately. The first thing I do is take out my e-Handbook, turn it on and place the screen on the cover.

"Welcome Miss Yamazaki. Please enjoy your stay at Hope's Peak Academy."

"Sure I will. Already punched two guys." Inside my room, I see that the setup is fairly normal. Everything is dusty and old, but it is Heaven compared to what is outside. There is a bed with simple white sheets and a pillow. Next, there is a dresser. I open it up to see a sewing kit inside. Literally, nothing else but a poorly hidden camera and a door to the bathroom is inside. With nothing better to do, I take out my e-Handbook and start to examine its contents.

"Hello, Miss Yamazaki, good to know you aren't dead yet." I roll my eyes at the robot female voice and begin to scroll through the content.

"Let's see why this is so important." The first thing I click on is the map. Maybe that's why nobody is outside. After all that chaos, they figured out that the map has been in their hands all along. Truly we are a bunch of idiots.

On the map, I see everybody's pixel head in the places that they are. All the people that went with Tsukiko are in the kitchen and cafeteria, most likely eating. And the kitchen has a bathroom...Satoshi, Kira, and Cassius have actually gone inside and went inside their rooms. Everybody else in my group is still on the grass. Most importantly though, I see that Hotaru's head is in the hospital. Great to know that she isn't dead. I would check up on her, but the map warns me that it is not open to any students that don't have any injury. Even though I'm pretty sure my scar is so screwed up that it needs to be tended to right now.

The outside area has a garden, somewhere that I'm sure Rosalina will love, and an outside cafe. On the other side of the building, though, I notice it has three main areas, a pool, a small gym and a rec room. So that side is the fun side, got it. Of course, there is also a small library, but who gives a crap about libraries? There's also the stairs up to the second floor near to the library. It is blocked, however. The e-Handbook also refuses to tell me what's up there, saying it is only open after the first killing. If somebody kills just to figure out what's up there, I'm losing the little faith I've in humanity.

Going to another tab, I read through the rules once again. They're as bullshit as ever.

There's another tab that has all the information about all of the students here, including me. I decide to read through all of that later. It might be useful to know once my mind is clearer.

One of the tabs, most precisely the last one, catches my eye. It reads Truth Bullets. I try to click it open, but the female voice tells me that it is not available until somebody gets murdered. So is this what they used in the Class Trials? This will prove to be useful in the future.

Tried, I land face first into my bed. The amount of dust that bombards my face makes me sneeze. My sneeze is not one of those cutesy ones, for I get snot all over my bed. Sighing, I go to the bathroom and pick up some toilet paper. I quickly clean up my snow before grabbing onto my pillow. Then I start waving my pillow around, causing a storm of dust to fall onto the ground. It is like a despair version of a snow day. With all that finished, I place my pillow on my bed, close my eyes and ignore my immense hunger. Now I am actually lusting for my mother's shitty pancakes.

* * *

 _Welcome to Monokuma Theatre! The name's Akita Yamazaki, Ultimate Mediator, and I'll be your host for the night_!

* * *

 **The prologue is over! Yes, it is over 30,000 words. Did I tell you guys that this is a long story? XD Now for an equally long author's note.**

 **Anyways, this is my first time going off character sheets for these characters. If I get anybody wrong, please tell me. And grammar/spelling mistakes. :P Because I feel sorry for betas.**

 **College officially starts for me on Tuesday, so there are going to be less updates from here on now. Adding to the hiatus to make the betas catch up and to work on other stories (because this story is one of my babies and has been taking all my time XD.)**

 **Also, my betas are _16Doobop13, Chessanator, Driftstar - Mystery Meridian, WizardingWorld97 and OurStygianEmperor._ Thank you all. :D They are currently editing the prologue so yeah. :)**

 **Also, also, _HyperBranchydios and TheRoseShadow21_ have point out the problem with reviews. Because of my preview chapters that I deleted (mostly because I saw no point in them anymore), Fanfiction thinks that the prologue is those introductions. So thanks for pointing that out. :D Luckily, this means that this is the last chapter with that annoying review problem.**

 **I also, also, also want to thank all of you for getting this story 3,000 views. I never expected it to be this famous, and all of my precious readers are awesome. :D CommanderofInsanity actually recommended my story on TvTropes and made a page. If you want to find it, just look up ForestofDespair. :) It is very rough right now though.**

 **Now onto replying to guess reviews...**

 **Ultimate Shipper-Once again, you are our lord and savior. The person that gives us the most hope through the power of shipping...then again, you did create the ship Siri/Pandora...Don't ask.**

 **Harukawa Ayame-I remember Chem...I got a D in that class. XD Well, both Tsukiko and Kaede have talents related to music. Thanks. :D And thus the Minato/Mirabilis ship is born. Now Minato is not alone. XD Domestic! AU where Kira, Akemi and Naoko are children and Akita decides to adopt them. Power in the short people. :P Satoshi is...Satoshi. I love me some good Durarara references. Poor Kyoto is still out of it. Only had two lines in the whole prologue.**

 **HyperBranchydios-Well, there is a Durarara reference. XD Tsukiko is if Nidai had a chill pill. That'll be spoilers. Let's just say history isn't always written correctly. I would love to become Mini's friend. Namita VS Minato...that would be interesting to see. Satoshi is our precious idiot that needs to be protected. All of these characters are my precious children, and I'm gonna kill them off slowly and painfully. Oh dear. See ya too.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Everything involved with Danganronpa has a cast of snowflakes that makes everybody cry. Even Kodaka, the man himself. Tsukiko is awesome and the only reason why everybody is not already dead. Please join the #Everyoneofthesepreciouschildrenprotectionsquad. That is a long hashtag. Thanks. :D It takes a long time to do all of this, so I'm glad that it is paying off. :)**

 **cantthinkofname and Serene A-Thank you both so much. :D**


	7. Chapter 1-1

**Chapter 1-1: If You Seek Amy...or Akita**

* * *

 _"For this time in Monokuma Theatre, I will be your host. Isn't that exciting? Me, an actual human, not a stupid, shitty bear!" the weird version of me yells at the audience of hundreds and hundreds of Monokuma in front of her. She is dressed up as a ringleader. This Akita wears a black top hat and carries a whip. Her outfit is debatably sexier than mine. There are various shades of red and black all over her, the most prominent being her red jacket with a kinda awesome tailcoat. The jacket is only clipped, with the clips being the only thing made out of gold, up to her boobs. Me 2.0 also has on very short shorts that are also black...like mine. Don't know why people think I wear a skirt. Underneath them, she wears black fishnet leggings. Her shoes are black high heel boots that only go halfway to her knee. For her shirt, it reveals a lot of her cleavage. It is also white and is accompanied by a black chocker._

 _"As exciting as despair can be, which isn't very," I retort. She then sticks her tongue out. Wow, subconscious, you are really butchering my character here. What is this, bad fanfiction? "Neutrality is much more unpredictable and fun, even more than hope. You of all people should know that." Whenever people tell me Junko Enoshima destroyed the world out of love of despair, I wonder what was going on inside her mind. Despair is only the same horrible things happening over and over again. Like hope, the ending is clear as can be. Some people might like that, but Junko Enoshima was supposed to be a bored person. Why give your sanity to something so mundane?_

 _"Aw, I need_ _you to open your eyes for me! Please!" The most notable thing about her, other than my mind giving her the same exact gloves as me, is that there is no scar on her face. It is normal all things considered. Just another face easily lost in a crowd._

 _"I'm sleeping. Don't mind me, but can I lucid dream or something please? You're really annoying."_

 _"But I am you! You just called yourself annoying! And you can't escape yourself, no matter what you do!" With that, the other me whips me. The crowd cheers on for her. Whips are really painful I've learned. Sure, it does not have the same feeling of being cut or something, but the stin_ _g afterward is still a real bitch._

 _Looking all over the place, I see an oddly placed door behind the curtain of the stage. It is blue while everything else is either a red, black, white or gold. The door is probably a trap, but it is better than nothing. This is only a dream after all. What do I have to lose?_

 _"I already know-"_

 _"So show me how you love! Show me your despair!"_

 _"Screw this place. I'm waking up." I try to leave, but the other me grabs onto my hand hard. Her nails dig deep enough to draw some blood. Everybody in the audience is staring at us patiently. They probably want some lesbian selfcest. Well, screw everybody in the audience. How I would love to beat the everlasting shit out of all of them. That would be the only way to hurt Monokuma without being sent to the afterlife._

 _"I'm the ringleader! I call the shots! You can't do anything to stop me! Puhuhuhu!" She lets me go only to whip me again. I inch closer to the door. Nothing this bitch can say will stop me._

 _"...Oh my God..."_

 _"What's the matter? You don't want fun!" The girl violently takes a hold of my hand again. It seriously feels like she is trying to break it into a billion pieces. No thanks, I don't want to join Hotaru in the hospital. Her eyes are now distorted as well, becoming all swirly. How can human eyes even do that? I'll never know._

 _"I'll have fun once I'm out of this-"_

 _" **But we're already having fun**."_

* * *

...That's it, I'm never going to sleep again.

"Oh, my precious students, it is time to wake up! It is 6 AM. Of course, some of you are gluttons and stayed in the kitchen overnight. But I'll make you see the error of your ways. That's my job as the headmaster of this school." Looking around, I cannot see Monokuma anywhere. That probably means that there is an intercom system for this school...somehow. There are most likely cameras everywhere else too, much more hidden than the ones in the room. Monokuma does not want Kazuhiko and Ayano to do kinky things. Stupid bear, that won't stop them.

"...Things are gonna be awkward..." Yesterday was not a good day for me. But what day has? Yawning, I get my e-Handbook, which somehow stayed on my bed throughout the entire night, listen to the female voice again and look at the map. Most of my classmates are in their rooms like smart people, but I see that Tsukiko, Akemi, Kira and Satoshi stayed in the kitchen overnight. How none of them are dead yet is anybody's guess. "Might as well get it over with...wait..." Then I click on the student bios. The first one I click is clearly...

 **Name: Akita Yamazaki**

 **Height: 5 feet, 8 inches**

...I am taller than I remember...

 **Weight: 120 pounds**

 **Birthdate: April 4**

 **Chest size: 85 cm**

 **BMI: 18.2**

 **Blood type: B**

Oh, I didn't know that. Good to know in the future. Just in case I need to go to the hospital of Hell.

 **Likes: The circus**

 **Dislikes: Clowns**

...Those are weird likes and dislikes to put down. I swear, subconscious if you placed that freak in there just because I like the circus, we're gonna have a serious talk...somehow. Damn, why can't you converse with your own mind? How would talking with your own mind be like anyways? Only if there was a psychologist here, but, nope, we gotta have more important talents like dart thrower and treasure hunter. Because we really need those!

"...That's it, I'm betting the shit out of that bear when I get out of here." Maybe beating up bears is the secret meaning of life. Hopefully, PETA does not overhear this. Even after the end of the world, they're still the same. Actually, a lot of things are. Junko Enoshima, you didn't do a good job.

"Ms. Yamazaki, you've got a visitor at your door." Apparently, that is my doorbell now. It is better than the one my parents had...Well, wishing that I look presentable, I walk sluggishly to the door. My feet are dragging. Probably because I know I look like I just got slammed by a hurricane and then ran over by a truck holding a lot of trash. Just in case, I bring my handbook with me, placing it inside my pocket. By clicking on a side button, I'm able to make it become smaller and bigger again. Good to know.

"Fffffiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee." It does not take me long to reach my door since this is a small room and all. I reach the door and slowly open it. At that moment, my visitor grabs me by the hand and pulls me out of my room. I would say that their grip makes dream me run for her money. The first thing I notice is the person that is holding my poor, precious hand hostage is Ayano Nishiki.

"We need to talk Akita," she tells me, somehow still keeping her trademark deadpan voice. "Do you have any free time?"

"...Noooo..."

"You're clearly not doing anything. Why-"

"We should get all the others and go somewhere!" I interrupt. Really, I just did not want to talk with the girlfriend of the guy I just beat the shit out of yesterday.

"Don't avoid the question! Dammit!" Ayano yells. There's a hint of anger in her voice. Honestly, hearing emotion out of her catches me off guard. Maybe I shouldn't have pissed out a hacker of all people. A hacker with a journalist monster as a boyfriend.

"There are more important things to do other than talk!" I respond. Shockingly, Ayano lets go of my hand and begins to walk away. When the heels of her boots hit the ground, they send a sound wave all across the hall.

"..." I know Ayano said something, but I could not hear. It is a mumble. She glares at me again with her stunning eyes. Reaching to the door to the left of mine, which is Naoko's, and begins slamming hard on it.

"...Ummmmm..." Ayano has always been an...interesting person. Personally, I know nothing about her other than the basics and stuff relating to Kazuhiko. She is kinda mysterious to me. How did she become a hacker? Why did she start a relationship with Kazuhiko anyways? Does she realize that staying with him causes her to have Stockholm Syndrome? And why does she always act like she's on her period? Actually, if we do start our period, where are the damn tampons in this place? So many questions, so little time.

"H-hello," Naoko says while opening up the door. Poor little kid looks like she is about to shit herself. Not that I really blame her.

"..." Ayano just walks away without knocking on any of the other doors. She turns and opens the door up to what I presume to be the gardens.

"...So...Naoko...um...want to go to the kitchen with me...?" I ask. My overly adorable classmate is too terrified to even respond. She just closes the door to her room and goes back to whatever she was doing before. Which can't be anything interesting. From what I've seen in my room, there isn't much to do here other than murder people. I feel like Monokuma did that on purpose.  
"Hello, Bitch-chan~" Half expecting Monokuma, I instead see Satoshi behind me. He has severe bags under his eyes. The next thing he does is loudly hiccup. Oh God, that better not mean what I think it means. He is bad enough already.

"...Are you okay, Satoshi?"

"Ffffffffffffiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnneeeeeeeeeeeee. Except for the part that we're all gonna die!" Satoshi then falls right into my boobs and sobs. Um...goddammit, this better not be a bad fanfiction. I swear, if I even get a ship tease with this guy, I'm gonna lose it and become the first murderer. Screw life!

"I'm gonna hate today," I sigh to myself.

"But it is so much ffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!" Satoshi hiccups again. I feel like I should punch him in the face right now, but he is clearly drunk and harmless. Other than calling me Bitch-chan. Maybe I should punch him for that. That would be a waste though since he is pretty hammered.

"Wait, there's alcohol here? Enough to make a bartender drunk?" That's it, screw the law. I don't care if I'm not twenty-one yet! Nobody follows that law anyway. It is not I haven't had alcohol before. Hell, all the times I've had alcohol, it was given to me by higher members of the Committee. Including Kazuhiko. That's probably why he's their bitch. The alcohol.

"Yeppppppppppppppp." Dropping Satoshi harder than Kazuhiko dropped me, I run towards the kitchen. Time to drown all of my sorrows. Because who wants to be awake during a Killing Game?...Actually, being drunk is probably the worse idea ever. Whatever.

* * *

When I reach the cafeteria, I realize there's a lot more students in there now. Probably because we're all hungry. My stomach growls for not having any fuel since early yesterday. Thank God mom's pancakes are really filling, even when she forgets how to make them right.

"AKITA-CHAN!" Half expecting Kazuhiko, I realize that Yuki is now holding onto my leg. "I lllllllllloooooooooooooooovvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeeeee you!" Oh dear God, Yuki is drunk. Being his partner in crime so long made me realize that he cannot hold his liquor. Now he is acting like Kazuhiko's and Satoshi's weird bastard child. Ayano, you might want to see this.

"No, she's mine! Because I'm short! And a kid! And adorable!" Kira comes out of nowhere and smashes into Yuki. "Mine! Mine! Mine!"

"Forget it, everything is pointless. Except for our all powerful God of the new world, hope. For Akita clearly belongs to Monokuma, since she's trying to bring us hope but only causes despair, the ultimate sin," Rosali-Mirabilis responds. Her hair is down and all over the place. "I need them to purify me. I need to become a stepping ladder for new hope. For I'm just a lowly piece of sh-"

"Don't say that, for I love you!" Yuki then glomps her. I begin to laugh, for I am enjoying this way too much. Especially because all the crazies are attacking each other and not me. That's a very good thing.

"No, Yuki, she's mine! Mine! Because we're both adorable!" Kira pushes Yuki out of the way. I pray for a door to come out of nowhere and slam him in the face, but it never did come.

"Shut up, you bitches!" Yasu cries out. Wait, Yasu! Good to know that they're okay. But instead of sleeping, now Yasu is drunk. Great. "I am the...something of the castle! And all of you are giving me a headache!" No, Yasu, I think that's the alcohol's fault. The next thing I notice is that Minato is at their feet...bowing down to them. They got Minato! That doesn't surprise me one bit. In Yasu's hands is Mochi, who is somehow not harmed throughout this whole craziness. Though, seconds later, Yasu places their pet bunny back.

"Listen to the queen! Yasu's word is absolute!"

"Quiet dog-"

"I like dogs! They're cute like me!" Kira begins to ride Minato all over the cafeteria. Only if there was a camera here, then I would have all the blackmail I would ever need.

"DDDDDDDDDDDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGGGGGGGGGGGGGSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!" Yuki then attaches himself to me again. No matter what I do, I cannot shake him off. Now his cheery attitude is starting to creep me out.

"Even as Takayuki tries to capture the cold maiden's heart, she already is married to Monokuma and about to have his child. He is soon to learn that nothing in this world is worth it other than trying to reach the hope inside everybody's heart that is overcome with despair," comments Mirabilis. Maybe now she is drunk, she will not kill me accidentally if I call her Rosalina. Though I do not want to take a chance. Her drunk self seems easily annoyed. And somebody you don't want to mess with. I really don't want to be the first victim or any victim for that matter.

"...Where's Tsukiko?" I question. Nobody answers me. Now being forced to drag Yuki with me, I make my way to the kitchen. There has to be at least one other person that hasn't lost their shit. That person will be my hero, so it has to be my darling Mitsu-cho.

"Hello~missed me?" Satoshi comes blasting through the door. I'm glad I moved, or I would be in the same place as Kyoto and Hotaru right now. Yasu was lucky enough they weren't attacked by the most vicious thing in this damn school. I do not want to be put on the sidelines due to some poor excuse of slapstick humor.

"Yes!" Kira jumps off of Minato and onto Satoshi. Or she would have if her face did not land directly on the floor next to him. Minato continues acting like they were and circling the whole cafeteria. The next person to jump on is Yasu, who rides them like their royalty.

"No, for Monokuma is the one I want. To purify my damned soul and lift me from the curse of myself-"

"I can do that for you!" Satoshi then slams himself onto the floor right next to Mirabilis. She then places her foot on his head and starts to rub it in. There's a sick smile on her face. Note to self, do not mess with drunk Mirabilis. Or anybody here drunk.

* * *

I somehow make it to the kitchen without dying a horrible, painful death. Yea, I'm not the first victim! In the corner of my eye, I see a door open that looks like a cellar. That room is probably what is causing all of this chaos.

"Everything is hopeless! Everything is despair! Nothing in life matters other than the sweet release of death! Everybody else is dead! This is just all an illusion!" Akemi is on the kitchen floor in the fetal position and crying. All of my classmates are saying things clear for being drunk stereotypes. There's a lot of snot getting everywhere and, quite frankly, it is a little gross. Then again it is better than the idiot that is hanging onto my leg, for this place is already in dire need of a makeover. I swear, Yuki is holding on so tight I can barely feel my leg anymore. Now it is just a bunch of Yuki.

"Don't say that! I love you!" Yuki hops off of my leg and sweet relief comes. Now I feel sorry for Akemi, who he's sitting on. "Love, love! Love makes the hope make the world go in cciiirrccclllleeessss! TRUE LOVE'S KISS WAKES UP THE MONOKUMA!"

"No, it doesn't. Love and hope just let to the endless abyss known as ultimate despair." Akemi cries even more now. Thanks, Yuki, you help so much like you always do. The most helpful person around.

"Silly, Monokuma is despair!" Yuki grins. He starts to squeeze on Akemi, which makes his poor victim yelp.

"Seriously, where's Tsukiko?" Again, in the corner of my eye, I see yet another open door. It looks like it leads to a bathroom...why is there a bathroom in the kitchen? Aw, screw it, this place was built by despair freaks. Anything can be possible! I wouldn't be shocked if the whole school just falls down and kills us all. It would be like, JK, this isn't a real story. Trollololol. I feel like being around a lot of drunk people is getting to me.

"GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" I am just not gonna question what Yuki is saying now. Opening the door to the bathroom more, I see that Tsukiko is over the toilet and clearly having the fun of her life. There's shit everywhere.

"I'm just gonna go now." I quickly closed the door. Dammit, the alcohol got to Tsukiko too. But why are all these people having this much? It is almost like they're being tricked into it. Because I don't want Yuki hanging onto me anymore, I go back into the cafeteria, making him Akemi's problem. At least he isn't gonna remember it in the morning.

* * *

"Hello, Akita!" Naoko, shockingly, is the one who greets me. By jumping onto me. Goddammit, she must've just got here and already has fallen victim to the alcohol. Whose next? Who is gonna survive this great tragedy? "I'm gonna do something very special!" She tries to get her dress off, but I stop her just in time. Okay, I've to stay by her. I can't stand somebody this cute losing their innocence for something as stupid as alcohol.

"Oh, hey, Akita, long time, no see. Want some of my special juice?" somebody asks me. I turn around to see Hotaru of all people. She looks perfectly healthy and is even smiling. In one of her hands, there's a glass of a clear liquid.

"Hotaru, how are you up?"

"Because she iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss." Fearing for Naoko's safety, even more, I begin to hug her. Probably because Hotaru would make her do something she'll regret for the lols. At least from what I know about her, which isn't a lot. But she did pretend to be dead...before we knew it was a Killing Game.

"Because I am? It wasn't that big of a deal?" When I observe Hotaru closer, I see that there's a bandage on her head. It only has a little bit of blood on it.

"Why do you have the alcohol? Are you drunk too?"

"Why? Do you want some?" Hotaru then hands me the liquor. I seriously cannot tell whether or not she's under the influence. She seems to be quite coordinated for being drunk, but that can be caused by her being a dart thrower. Dart throwers do have to be quite coordinated.

"Yeah, sure, why not?" I begin to drink it. Honestly, it tastes like shit, but I would like to have anything to get off a little edge. "...What is this anyway?"

"I don't know. Satoshi just said to try some," Hotaru answers. Instantly, I can feel it start to take effect. It must be one of those heavy duty ones, especially if Satoshi picked it out. I guess being a bartender isn't gonna be as useless as I thought it was. Good to know. At that moment, the door opens again. I see Kyoto freeze.

"...Girls...girls...girls..."

"Hey, Kyoto, do you want some?" Hotaru begins to chase after Kyoto and he dashes out of there. Hopefully, the both of them won't knock on any more doors. Wait...I feel like I'm missing something...Naoko isn't in my arms. Dammit!

"Naoko, Naoko!" I cannot see her anywhere in the cafeteria. The alcohol isn't working for me. While everybody is acting crazy in front of me, I'm stuck being the designated driver. "Screw that, I'm going into the cellar."

* * *

What?" When I enter the cellar, I find Takara in the corner. His face is red, which I could tell by the little light coming into the room by the open door. Goddammit, even when he's drunk, he's creepy. All he's doing is staring at me. That's it, I need some of this. I reach for the closest one I can find.

"Damn. It's in Japanese." Not caring about that, I open it and drink the whole bottle. You know, that probably isn't the greatest idea, but I'm not exactly the type of person one would look to as a role model. If somebody did that, I would be extremely worried...

* * *

 _"Seriously, other self, it has been less than an hour and you're already drunk. Who gets drunk at 7:00 AM? Losers like you-"_

 _"You just called yourself a loser," I grin. This time, instead of being in a circle, we are just surrounded by nothing. It is kinda fitting actually, for I'm pretty sure that I blacked out._

 _"Forget that, you gave me no time to prepare for the next segment! The viewers are gonna be bored just staring at nothing other than us!"_

 _"I think we're entertaining enough," I respond. Even if there's nothing, there's still us. Wow, even in my dream state I can be poetic. What am I, a poet? No, I'm a mediator. A mediator that many mistakes to be just another dog for the Committee. You know, like Kazuhiko. Everybody thinks that people working for the Committee are monsters who fight for their cause, but that can't be further away from the truth. Like I said before, I'm only in it for the money and security._

 _"For a mediator-"_

 _"Shut up, I know what you're about to say." It is not like that is the first time I would hear something like that. Honestly, people think too highly of us meditators, thinking we can solve all your problems. That's just wishful thinking. Not even an Ultimate, who is supposed to be the best out of the best, can do something so heroic as that. Honestly, since Cassius should still be...actually Hotaru might've gotten to him and all my other classmates._

 _"Stop ignoring me and being lost in thought. It pisses everybody off. Like you're in the middle of the conversation and then suddenly you've to narrate and leave the person hanging-"_

 _"Oh my God, please return me to the bunch of drunk people," I interrupt. The other me does not like that and takes out her whip again. Oh, so that wasn't restricted to the circus. Great. Now she can torture me with that whip in every dream I have. Exactly what I wanted. She then whips me, but for some reason, it hurts a lot less. Maybe because I embraced it this time._

 _"Fine. This one isn't fun. Next time you're not getting away that easily."_

* * *

The first thing I see as I open up my eyes is the sky mostly covered up by a bunch of trees. It is still light outside, and I'm pretty sure it is still the same day. Hopefully. But I did just down a whole bottle of mystery fluid. Won't be surprised if I'm immortal and somehow traveled back in time.

"You're finally up," Ayano says. "Don't worry, I'm not an idiot, so I'm not drunk."

"Dammit..."

"I know that you don't like me or Kazuhiko, and, to be honest, I don't blame you. Both of us can be rough on the edges...I guess." It is strange to see Ayano this...talkative and emotional. "I mean, you did just beat the shit out of him for this story thing. What-"

"...Yeah, um, well, aren't we all rough around the edges now? Even Rosa-Mirabilis is when she's drunk," I respond. Ayano chuckles. Wow, I did not expect her to laugh. Today is just gonna be filled with surprises too, isn't it?

"Well, it has been a day since that happened. And nobody is dead yet, which is actually a shock."

"...Why are you doing this, Ayano?"

"I had time to think about stuff. Mostly Mitsuru yelled at me," she answers. I wonder why Mitsu-cho would do that. Goddammit, what happened when I was drunk? Luckily nobody is dead. It seems too early for that. "And, well, I think you've some free time now..."

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Ayano Nishiki?**_

 _ **Yes/No?**_

* * *

 **New chapter! This one is kinda short, but, hey, everybody is drunk. And this story is kinda still on hiatus, but I just wanted to get a chapter out.**

 **Yeah, college is taking up a lot of my time and the chapters in the prologue are still getting edited. Mostly because I'm lazy. And I can't seem to get anything done. XD Oh well.**

 **Now for review time (since I'm guessing it will still be like this for this chapter too since Fanfiction hates me apparently).**

 **CrayonPencil-Thanks. :D That's what I was going for. Because this is gonna be one crazy ride of a story. Especially when things turn to shit. XD**

 **Harukawa Ayame-Yep. :) It is just gonna get longer from here. Mirabilis isn't a florist, she is clearly the Ultimate Magical Girl! Right, Himiko? Ayano is too OP. Minato is a precious cinnamon roll that needs to be protected. I love them too! :D They're the best teddy bear! Ayano doesn't care for that comment. Yep, they're here now. Thanks. :D Hang in there too. I did. XD**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Not anymore. Hotaru got to her. NNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Everything is going bananas now. Well, here's more despair arc things. I work at a library too and it broke my heart to write that. Akita, you traitor. Yes #ProtectThemAll...even Monokuma.**

 **Hyperbrachydios-Oh, I'm not saying anything. I do agree with you with V3 having the best third chapter. V3 is actually my favorite game in the DanganRonpa canon. Keeping notes is a good thing to do since there's a lot of foreshadowing already. Even in the introductions. There's a lot of mentions of Junko. I will say nothing. :P Hey, Takara...Takara, hello?...Um...Well, Shinichi is an Ultimate. Ayano is thinking the same thing. Because nobody will tell anybody. Takara is staring. I fixed that this chapter, thanks for pointing that out. I guess it can get confusing. Yeah, I do repost. Because I'm too lazy.**

 **ShadedLyht-This is Fanfiction, anything can happen. Thanks. :D Writing everybody is fun. Especially because they're all crazy. And, in this case, most of them are drunk. Dammit Hotaru. Thanks again! :D Have good luck in college too.**

 **Tobi-as-a-guest-Thanks. :) Everybody needs a nap and hug in this cast. Even Monokuma. Who is suffering because his students are crazy. Minato traveled too far and got a bracelet as a punishment. Hopefully there's less typos now. I swear I edit these...I'm just bad at editing. Welcome to Fanfiction, where reviews are...interesting. Thanks. :D**

 **UltimateShipper-HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! Laura Bailey is perfect for Akita. I'm just imagining it now.**

 **Me-Yes, you can leave a review on your own work. The more you know.**

 **QueenofChocolateWinx-Congrats on being the 100th review! :D Kira is the queen. Especially with Minato. ;) *careless whisper plays***

 **-When college stops kicking me in the butt. :P I won't. :D For readers like you keep me going with all your support. :D**


	8. Chapter 1-2

**Chapter 1-2: The Hangover...Wait, is That Copyrighted?**

* * *

Ayano looks like she is staring up at the stars, even though it is only day. Since this is my first time in the garden, I decide to observe...which I totally forgot to do with the cafeteria and kitchen due to pure amount of insanity happening. One side, there's a garden that is mostly covered by this angle by bushes of roses. On the other, there's an outside cafeteria of about five tables of five chairs messily thrown together. There are, of course, vines growing on them. "I can't believe it has been two days since we got here."

"How does that have anything to do with anything?" I question her. Sure, I imagine some people in here are homesick, but I do not care. Though I do miss having background sounds to listen to other than pure silence. It is so quiet that I can even hear Ayano breath, even though she is a couple feet away from me.

"Just thinking about things. Mostly my computer. Damn this bracelet," Ayano sighs. "...This isn't what we're supposed to be talking about. Can you please tell me-"

"Can't you just ask your _honey_ Kazuhiko? You two are lovers, right? You two tell each other everything, right?"

"...Please...I can't do that..." I finally get up to my feet. Getting up so fast makes me finally realize the massive headache I am having. Damn, I really did get hammered. I'm usually the one who doesn't get drunk, but, hey, there's a first for anything. Today I learned that being drunk is not fun.

"Why not?" I look directly in her eyes, and she instantly gazes the other way. She is clearly hiding something. What, I do not know, yet it has something to do with that bastard Kazuhiko.

"...Mitsuru wants to know too. She grilled me because I wanted to kick your ass for it," Ayano confessed. A hacker being this honest has to be the first in the universe. Of course, with those diverting eyes, I cannot be sure of anything she tells me. For all I know she is trying to formulate a plan to kill me. Who knows?

"Mitsu-cho? Doesn't she know?"

"She says she can't remember anymore," she answers me a little too bluntly. Ayano starts to play with her bracelet, which causes her arm to always emulate a soft red light. Just imagining that in the darkness sends shivers down my spine.

"Hmmm? Alright then, let's play a little game, Ayano-"

"What?" Ayano starts observing me more closely, probably noting how I hold my hand on my head. It does not take a genius to figure out I'm having the worse hangover in my life. Only because it has been the only one. Now I finally understand how Yuki felt like all the times he complained about hangovers. Oh, Yuki, I wonder if he is okay or not. Not like I care or anything! He's just my partner...

 _I think this is what most people nowadays call being a tsundere._

It takes all my willpower to not tell my other me to shut up. You know what, it is getting annoying to refer to her as other me, so I might as well give her a name. I guess Akiza Yamamoto will do. Ain't I the most creative person in the world?

 _I swear if you call me that..._

After that, I ignore Akiza. I much rather think of material that I can use with Ayano during this little game of ours. Of course, I can I always tell her the reason why I'm so angry and the truth behind the article...Nah, that wouldn't be any fun. Ayano is a hacker, so she has to know a lot of dirt, especially about the Committee.

"...See, when you tell me something, I'll tell you something that measures up to that. For example, wetting the day till the fifth grade is equal to having a crush on your cousin, kay?"

"...Okay...? Wait-"

"I'll go first...let's see...my-"

"Wait, do we have to play this game?" Suddenly, Ayano...is scared. It would not be noticed by a random stranger, but everything makes sense. Something is scaring Ayano. Her eyes do not look right, her face seems more sparkly than before, her hair is messy even under her beanie.

"...Why can't you ask that jerk Kazuhiko?"

"I'll tell you that once you tell me what this article business is all about! All of us have our secrets, you know? Have you ever wondered about Kazuhiko's side of the story? Or did you just assume that he did it for only his own profit? We all have secrets, Akita, and I'm not gonna give Kazu's away." There is a slight moment of silence between the two of us.

"...Kazu...?" Just by the mention of the nickname, the whole atmosphere changes. Now Ayano is blushing like a maniac. Okay, who is this Ayano, and what happened to Ms. No Personality? Goddammit, why am I so intrigued by her? Now I'm seeing why 'Kazu' likes her so much, she's adorable when like this.

"..." Ayano stands there, letting the blush consume her entire face. Now it is the same exact color as the light that always emits from her arm.

"Next thing you know you're gonna say that he calls you Aya or something stupid like that," I say to her. Somehow her face becomes even redder. Just more mysteries to add onto, how can a face get that color? I don't know; I'm not a scientist. Maybe Yuki knows...I seriously doubt they teach you about this in his field of science though except as a way to gather information. Actually, he might know after all..."

"You're doing it. Staring off into space." Next thing I know Ayano is completely back to normal. At least her normal. No Ultimate here is normal. One of the many things I've learned more about due to everybody getting drunk. "...There's something we should di-"

"I'm not telling-"

"Not that. This happened when you were sleeping. Nobody died...but..." Ayano's words trailed off. She observes the surrounding around us to see that nobody else is here but us. What a shocker. "...We should discuss this with everybody around. Let's go to the cafeteria."

"But we're in the middle of a conversation-"

"This can wait! Free time is over!" Throughout this time, I've learned a very important thing. That Ayano and I share a similarity, the bad habit of interrupting others. Oh, and taking long pauses! Most of our fellow students actually do that, so I'm wondering if anybody besides Hayato knows anything about basic manners. "...Over." I can Ayano change when she reverts back to her usual persona.

"What are we doing?"

"Over." Ayano grabs onto my hand again, and I'm reminded of how strong she is. I seriously think she might be able to fight fairly with Mitsu-cho. She would never win against my beloved, of course, though it would be much more entertaining than most duels. "Cafeteria."

* * *

When we reach the cafeteria, Ayano lets go of my hand violently. It is, once again, a miracle that nothing is broken. At least I don't think anything is broken. Thank God I'm important to this story or I would be screwed.

"Akita-chan, great to see you're feeling better!" Kazuhiko says. He is with Mitsu-cho, Hayato, Kyoto, Namita, Shinichi, Cassius and Miyuki, all sitting on one of the three long tables in the room. This is what I'm gonna call the Sober Squad. The tables are blue and beginning to rust. On each side, there are ten seats. Good to know that there are much more seats than there are students. There shouldn't be any petty fighting for the seats, but, with this crowd, anything can happen.

"Hey, Akita. Good to see you walking again," Namita smiles. She is surprisingly happy-go-lucky for somebody in her position. Then again, she is the most famous for parties...I think. Parties require her personality. Just like businesses need mine.

"..." Shinichi is sweating. If I did anything to him while drunk, I blame Akiza. "...Y-yeah!"

"..." Like Shinichi, Kyoto is sweating. I think it is for a whole different reason though. Mostly because they're a lot of women around him. It does not take a genius to figure out something like that.

"Well, I still feel like shit," I respond. Even I feel awkward standing up with all of these people staring at me. Goddammit, I must've done something very stupid while drunk. Since there are video cameras most likely here, I would be screwed if the footage ends up with the Committee somehow. Please don't let this Killing Game be live like the first one. Otherwise, I'll return home to a yelling mother.

"Girl, that is what happens if you spoil yourself with poor man's alcohol! I, Cassius Ambrose Irvine Jacobson The Third, would not let myself indulge in such temptation-"

"Dude, I had to save you from Hotaru," Mitsu-cho interrupts. She glares daggers at him. Wow, my beloved is a hero yet not an idiot at the same time! Only if more people can be more like you! Then the world could be a utopia like depicted in some many pieces of media. Hopefully, an idiot would not be born later and destroy that ideal though...actually, that would most likely happen.

"Let's get back on topic..." Hayato stops himself when he notices that I literally sit on Mitsu-cho's lap. What? The seats right next to her are taken by Cassius and Miyuki.

"...What?" Ayano asks. She then slowly backs away and exits the room. Not that I really blame her. If I could without being grilled by Mitsu-cho, I would. Don't get involved in gangs, kids, or else you won't be able to leave meetings early.

"My beloved, wait!" Kazuhiko gets up from his seat and, before he could exit the room, is grabbed by Miyuki. He, sighing, goes back to where he is staying.

"It is best to witness what we are discussing and report to Ayano later," Miyuki tells him. She then returns to her default mode of being overly quiet and mysterious. Yeah, the kids here are either complete idiots or complete mysterious idiots. Especially Satoshi.

"Akita..." Mitsu-cho tries her hardest to not throw me off of her. I can see it on her face, how she is clenching her teeth. Just seeing her like that makes me begin to blush. "Get off of me..."

"Oh, let's strike a deal, if you allow me to stay on, I'll give you a little reminder of you-know-what." Once again, everybody's eyes are on us. We are like the actors and the Killing Game is the stage.

"..." Something about that makes Mitsu-cho blush. Honestly, I haven't seen my beloved do that a lot. Now she can match with Shinichi and Kyoto, who are both a whole lot redder now. Just need to get a dead body in here to make things become to the max amount of red.

"Guys, we need to focus!" Namita yells out. Hayato nods his head in a result.

"As somebody from the greatest family of all of history, the Jacobsons, I-"

"Nobody cares," Mitsu-cho interrupts. Even with all of that blush, my beloved is such a badass. Turns out that I actually do know how to pick them. Now Yuki has to stop bitching about that! Then again, he would probably use Mitsu-cho's status of a gang member against me. Too bad that won't do anything to stop my unconditional love!

"Do not interrupt a noble of my-"

"Anyways, Monokuma states that the first motive will be revealed once everybody recovers," Namita explains. Just hearing that makes the whole situation of the Killing Game become so real. The motives. I remember them. Since this is in the style of the first Killing Game, the most probable is the hostage one, the same as before. Though this mastermind works differently from Junko Enoshima. Something about how this is all set up just tells me that. I've experienced enough of Yuki's work to be halfway decent at my own detective work. Especially because he likes me doing everything for him.

"Goddamn," I murmur. My stomach is now a lot heavier than it was before. I shall blame it on Akiza. I shall blame everything on Akiza. Plot twist, Akiza is the mastermind.

"Y-yeah," Shinichi responds. He makes himself smaller. Gosh, he is already so short already, so even Miyuki looks taller than him now. Dude really needs to have some more milk. You know, if us commoners could actually get milk. That's probably one of the reasons why there are so many short people now. And that this is Asia.

"No matter what, we must not kill anybody! We shall defeat Monokuma at his very own game!"

"B-but, Hayato, w-what if somebody kills? W-what about the class trials?" Shinichi questions. He is now shockingly assertive. At least assertive compared to how he usually is. "Monokuma won't stop until somebody is dead!" Silence again.

"Then the blade of justice shall decide their fate. I shall be a neutral party-"

"Quiet, Miyuki!" Cassius demands, actually using somebody's name. That is enough to make me even more curious about Miyuki. "I swear by my family name that I shall never kill anybody!" Cassius is actually being quite honorable. Guess there's a nice person in there somewhere. Somewhere. And Miyuki is actually being quiet.

"We must not give into despair! None of us shall kill!" Hayato nods his head at Cassius. Oh yeah, those two are buddies. Two overly dressed hope addicts coming right up.

"Aren't you always going about neutrality-" Before I get interrupted, again, I rise up from Mitsu-cho's lap. I'm too busy to see what Mitsu-cho's reaction is. It is probably one of relief. Since I'm not gonna lie, I get on her nerves sometimes.

 _No shit, Sherlock._

"Akita, the best thing to become neutral in a Killing Game is to not cause any despair or hope-"

"You're hoping right-"

"No, I'm being logical and using my talent to convince people not to kill, like you should be doing, Yamazaki-san," Hayato sighs. "I'm not a hero or anything or trying to get people to buy anything. Is it bad to simply look out for your fellow man?"

"...Shinichi is right. Monokuma will keep giving motives until somebody breaks," Kyoto tells Hayato, who he is right next to. Finally, a complete sentence! Now for Kyoto to become an actual character in this story. "This is a Killing Game and the mastermind clearly planned this out beforehand."

"Whoever did this clearly wants their deeds to be remembered," Kazuhiko adds-on. He has been strangely reserved during this whole meeting. "The mastermind wants people to fall into despair, otherwise he wouldn't have placed us here. Us being in the Suicide Forest-"

"Okay, it is time to relax! I wanted to meet up with all of you since I've got a plan," Namita states. Cassius is about to open his mouth, but Namita slams her fist into the table. Somehow she gets all of us to be quiet.

"A plan?" Hayato questions. Not answering him, Namita takes out Takara's notepad that has a couple of pages covered in her handwriting. Her handwriting is fairly normal but is in English cursive. Nobody speaks Japanese anymore, so nobody writes Japanese anymore.

"Yes, a plan. While we wait for the others to wake up, we can do a little cleanup of this place," Namita says, with her old smile returning to her face. "Afterwards, if everybody is not dead, I'll plan a party to celebrate cleaning up this dump! Spending too much time in an environment like this won't be good for our health." She takes a pen out of one of her pockets and begins to write on a new sheet of paper.

"Girl, I will not be ordered to do a servant's job! For I am Cassius-"

"Yeah, yeah," Namita slams her fist into the table again, making him stop. Everybody else jumps, especially Kyoto, who I am surprised isn't in the ceiling right now. Poor boy looks like he is about to piss himself. "Alright, Cassius, you're on the lookout job, which is very important, just like you. Kazuhiko, you'll find your girlfriend and meet up with Squad A in the library. Squad A is me, Akita, Shinichi, Kyoto, Miyuki, Kazuhiko, and Ayano. Squad B is everybody else and is in charge of cleaning up this place."

Now that I look more closely, this place is trashed. I don't even want to know how it is like in the kitchen or bathroom. None of the tables are lined up right. Hell, the only reason why we're using this one table is that the others are flipped. Gonna blame all of this on Akiza. All of it. And Kazuhiko. Because of that fuck Kazuhiko. Anyways, the walls are screwed up as well, for I'm sure more than one drunk threw up on them. I think the original wallpaper was blue, not whatever this is. A mix of bad upkeep and throw up does not do wonder for walls.

 _No fucking shit, Sherlock._

"Girl, I will not-"

"Whatever, let's go...A-Team!" Namita beams. What happened to Squad A? I would never know. It does suck to be away from my darling Mitsu-cho, but Namita knows what she is doing. If she doesn't, I would punch her in the face for even thinking about prying me away from my one true love. Then that would make the total of me punching people go up to three. I would be more deadly than doors.

"...O-okay," Shinichi responds. Namita is smart to pick the people that would actually go with her. There's a reason why she is called the Ultimate Event Planner. Having somebody like her around all these idiots will be refreshing. Especially if we do get that party.

* * *

The library is huge, although still boring. There are computers here that can turn on, but there is no access to the internet. Monokuma is smart to have put that Forbidden Action on Ayano. Other than the computers, the library is split into two floors. However, we can only see the second one through a big hole in the ceiling, so that is evidence of actual rooms being on the second floor. This place is the one that is the most affected by the poor living conditions. Almost everything, besides the computers, that looks brand new, is covered with layers and layers of green. It is hard to even tell that this floor is a library. Maybe there's a reason why Monokuma allowed a hole in a ceiling, for the second floor is a lot better.

"Well, time to start cleaning!" Namita throws everybody a bucket, broom, and gloves. "That's the best we've here." She takes the wall closest to her, picks up her supplies, puts on her gloves and starts working. Thank God I always wear gloves naturally. Everybody besides Kazuhiko joins her. Wait, Kazuhiko is still here!

"Kazuhiko, aren't you supposed to looking for Ayano?"

"She can find us," he responds a little too quickly.

"But she can't use the map."

"Oh, but I believe in her. She'll find us, Akita-chan." Suddenly, Kazuhiko begins to work on the wall closest to me. I try to leave, but I learn that Ayano and Kazuhiko share many things with each other, including their grip.

"I need to get my supplies," I tell him. He sighs before releasing me. From what I remember, he is a lot stronger. Maybe Ayano taught him a thing or two about protecting himself. Kazuhiko sure knows how to be strong, for he has pissed off a lot of people. Most of them being powerful as well. He and Ayano can take down entire countries by themselves if they wanted too, which is one of the reasons why they're kinda scary. Even I'll admit I don't want to be on their bad side. Goddammit, I probably shouldn't have punched 'Kazu' in the face.

"Shall I join you over there as well?" Miyuki asks.

"Sure." I know that Kazuhiko would stop at nothing to get what he wants, but maybe having another person there would make him shut up a little bit. Miyuki gets her stuff and comes with me towards Kazuhiko.

"...What are we supposed to do?"

"Akita-chan, Kobyashi-san, I think we're supposed to do this." With his gloves on, Kazuhiko tugs at a piece of moss until it comes off. "Ta-da!"

"...Okay..."

"If that is what we shall do, then I will join in as well," Miyuki responds. She and Kazuhiko begin pulling off all the moss. Miyuki gets on her knees and focuses more on the bottom.

"What are the brooms for?" I ask. Kazuhiko sighs once again. "...Okay..." I join in with them, but I see that Kazuhiko is looking directly at my hands. Probably since I didn't change my gloves. He is about to open his mouth before Miyuki says something.

"Maybe I shall use my sword for this." Miyuki pulls out her sword and both Kazuhiko and me back away from her. She begins hacking away at the wall, surprisingly taking a lot of the moss off. I could almost see the wall beneath all of the layers.

"Akita-chan, do you want to change your gloves?" Kazuhiko questions me. I glare at him. "I'll take that as a no."

"It is more of a fuck you," I correct him. "I don't know why you're acting so nice to me, but I've enough of your bullshit. I've already punched you once, and I'm not afraid-"

"No." Ayano suddenly appears. Wow, I honestly did not know that Ayano has a secret life as a ninja. Kazuhiko was actually right about her finding him. This is just yet another reason why they're known as one of the most powerful couples in the world, just behind the couple that runs the Committee, Sasha and Wendy Irving. Yes, Sasha is a man. And also behind all the other heads of the Committee are couples. Which is everyone besides the Japanese Committee and the real headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy, who is run by the second daughter of Matoko and Kyoko Kirigiri, Ayano Kirigiri. I just realized how funny it is that Ayano shares a name with her. And, no, they are not the same person or somehow related. Sometimes people just have the same name. We're breaking the limit of Steves! Or, in this special case, Ayanos!

"See, Ayano is always here for me!" Kazuhiko smiles. He looks way too happy to fit in with the Killing Game, just like Namita did. Stop smiling, this situation is serious.

 _Says the one always making jokes and has a psycho imaginary friend._

"Yep." Ayano is back to her old self. Her facial expression is blank, a lot like an empty canvas waiting to be painted on.

"...Such is the bond of love," Miyuki states...with a blank expression and monotone voice. Turns out Ayano and Miyuki have a lot of things in common besides their blonde hair. Please don't tell me Miyuki has a psycho boyfriend as well.

"Love is what makes the world go round! The fuel-"

"I'm surrounded by hopeless romantics," I sigh. There's a lot of sighing, but that should be a given in a group of twenty-one overly talented teenagers. The wonders of puberty.

"...Going." Ayano then leaves to the other side of the room. I hear a cough afterward that is coming from our side of the room.

"Are you okay?" Kazuhiko asks. So I guess Miyuki was the one. That makes sense, for I really doubt that Kazuhiko can make a sound that high. Then again I didn't know he would stab me in the back. A wolf in sheep's clothing can hide anything.

"Do not worry, the dust here just caused me to cough," Miyuki tells him. That makes sense, for I think the only thing that defeats the amount of moss and mysterious plants in this room is the dust. How I haven't sneezed yet is anybody's guess. Maybe hangovers give you immunity against sneezing. Anyways, Miyuki continues onward with her sword work. Out of all of us, she is the one that has the most work. Miyuki can probably finish cleaning this room if we leave her here for the night.

"If you say so-"

"What? Do you want to write an article about that too? Legendary female samurai from urban legends coughs once: how can we use this to screw her over?"

"No, but it would be nice to be able to write about the truth behind-"

"No," Miyuki commands. It is good to listen to her since she is the one that has a sword out right now. Do not mess with people that are known to be good with swords. All kinds of swords.

"Saying no isn't gonna stop him," I tell her. She ignores me, focusing back on her job. You know what, I should stop slacking off and get to work. Even though I'm pretty sure that Miyuki has this covered. Something about being a samurai makes people good at cleaning apparently.

"Akita..."

"Aren't you worried about your girl toy Aya, Kazu, do-"

"How-"

"Do you want to be over there with her instead?"

"She's fine. Ayano does what she wants," he answers. "Plus, we always are with each other! The power of love-"

"Oh God no."

"So do you want to change your gloves?" I thought we were over this topic, but, no, Kazuhiko has to be an idiot and bring it up again. This is one of the most powerful people in the world, ladies, and gentlemen. Somebody who acts like this.

"...I hate you..."

"Akita!" Not wanting to see Kazuhiko's ugly face, I start to walk over to Namita, Shinichi, Kyoto, and Ayano are. They have more manpower, but, you know what, Miyuki is literally a one-woman-army. She once faced one of Mitsu-cho's rival gangs all by herself and defeated all fifty members all at once. It was one of the smaller gangs in this area, but that still is impressive. Almost as much as her cleaning work. Now I really, really want to see an Ayano vs. Mitsu-cho vs. Miyuki fight. Sure, Mitsu-cho would win, but still!

"Oh, look who joined us!" Namita welcomes me. She, like Miyuki, is making a lot of progress, but not as much. Still better than the zero percent I've done. "Welcome to the cool side!" Her smile still remained...she is joining our little A Team too much. Did she forget that this is a dangerous situation? One wrong step and you're fucking dead.

"W-welcome." Shinichi has the same idea as Miyuki, working from the bottom. Since they're both really, really short, like under five feet short. All these short people should have made me realize how much I've grown. Wonder how Yuki thinks about this. That piece of shit Hideyoshi can stop complaining about his height, but he's still gonna be a clown.

"Sure..." Before going to work, I realize that Kyoto and Ayano are talking to each other...wait, what the Hell? Kyoto is blushing and all, but how can Ayano hold a conversation with him? Goddammit, Ayano, stop making me so interested in you. Now Akiza is gonna start shipping me with Ayano. That would either make Kazuhiko very upset or very, very happy.

"What's going on over here?" I butt into their conversation. Immediately, Kyoto stops speaking, and Ayano will probably be too cryptic to get any more information out of.

"Nothing," Ayano responds. Now I've to memorize even more connections that people have with each other. Why can't this just be like the first Killing Game and have almost no connections? That's so much easier to remember.

"They're friends," Akemi informs me. Wait, Akemi! He has a smug look on his face, but it really looks forced. Poor boy needs to learn from Mitsu-cho how to really act the part of a gangster. Mostly because she is a gangster.

"...Akemi..." Ayano glares at him.

"Wait, how's everybody else?" I am mostly worried about their health, but Namita did tell me that Monokuma said the motive would be revealed when everybody awoke. Even though it has only been a couple of days. Maybe this mastermind wants more results than Junko. Killing Games do take a lot of patience though since you've to properly set up the situations to make sure things go according to plan. One mess up is what caused Junko to be defeated by Matoko. Just one.

"I don't know. I sorta wandered in here." He does not look me in the eye, instead focusing solely on Kyoto and Ayano.

"..." Kyoto is taking steps back. Moving slowly because he can never know when there will be a door that opens suddenly. Because, clearly, the doors are the true mastermind.

"What's going on here? Cleanup crew?" Akemi questions. Namita suddenly appears and hands him a couple of cleaning supplies too.

"Yep, and you all are gonna do some work," Namita replies way too happily.

"But-"

"No buts!" Now I wish that Tsukiko didn't get wasted. Goddammit, Hotaru.

* * *

"It's nighttime, my beautiful bastards!" All of us, expecting the message was prerecorded, turn around and are surprised to see that Monokuma is in the room with us. "My students, being so hardworking and not hearing the message I worked so very hard on." A floorboard falls from underneath him and he disappears. All of us run towards it, but the only one remotely close is Miyuki. Stop being so good at everything, Miyuki.

"...That happened..." I say underneath my breath. Everybody just stands there until Kazuhiko walks up the exact spot and starts pounding on it.

"Monokuma, we need to ask you a few questions! Monokuma!" Kazuhiko yells out. Ayano goes over to him and punches it once before it breaks. Don't mess with Ayano, got it down already. Suddenly, all of our e-Handbooks, besides Ayano's of course, light up. There's a popup on the blue screen to say that a new rule is added.

 **Rule #14: Floors also count as school property. If any floor is broken already, you are not allowed to travel underneath it. The only exception is if it is an accident, where you'll be only given a new Forbidden Action.**

 **Rule #15: Oh yeah, Forbidden Actions. Some of you already have one. Do not do the thing that your bracelet says. That simple. Or you will die.**

"Well, what are we gonna do now? Any more great ideas?" Akemi rolls his eyes.

"...Hmm, maybe we should return here tomorrow. Let's see if we can get up there." Namita points to the hole in the ceiling above.

"Y-yeah! Then we can have more room!"

"Guys, we already have a forest," I remind all of them. "It is not like we don't have room. Most of it is just shit." Tired, I try to leave the room, but Namita steps in my way.

"We should leave altogether. We cannot jinx it," Kazuhiko tells me. Everybody is now near the entrance and we all leave the classroom like a bunch of good little kids. Sure, some of us could've stayed, but I think Namita would just yell at us until our ears bleed. I clearly don't want to be in any more pain than I already am. It actually surprises me how good I am with hangovers.

* * *

In my room, I immediately go to my bed and plop on it. My body is yelling for me to get some much-deserved sleep, even though Ayano informed me I slept for a day already. Us Ultimates may be good at our talents but not alcohol. Even the Ultimate Bartender. Satoshi is such an idiot and somehow that makes him strangely adorable. If this keeps up, I might need to add him to the precious snowflakes list.

I stare at my ceiling, not really knowing what to do. Sure, my body wants to sleep, but my mind really doesn't want to experience that shit again.

 _Go to sleep, you idiot._

Out of my control, my eyes shut. Something about that makes my scar sting, and I remember that it is still infected. My hair is probably pointing up into that weird ahoge thing too. No, ahoge, I do not want you.

 _I said go to sleep._

Instead of drifting into my dreams, I violently get tugged there. It almost feels like a crushing force is hitting my brain, making me want to scream out. Of course, I realize that I don't have a voice even inside my own mind. I think it is reasonable to blame Akiza on this.

* * *

 _Again, I am in darkness, but this time Akiza isn't with me and there's a mirror. I stare into the mirror to see there nothing there until an image of the circus comes up again. Akiza is bowing down and I can clearly see her bra. There's a crowd of Monokuma watching her, but this time they aren't clapping. Akiza just needs to turn the other way and they'll sure be having the time of their lives. Their red eyes are glowing and look into my soul. Since this is a dream, I mean that literally._

 _"Do you like this one better?" Akiza asks._

 _"Hell no," I answer her, brutally honest as always. She begins laughing as she prepares he fingers to be snapped._

 _"When I snap my fingers, you'll see the true beauty of the battle of hope and despair. No more of this neutrality bullshit."_

 _"I'll stop believing in neutrality once you'll stop having your despair fetish." Akiza only replies to me by snapping her fingers in the most overplayed way possible. The audience begins to boo and her eyes spiral._

 _"Now!" Akiza screamed. A portal of what I can only describe as darkness opens underneath me. I begin to fall. Wow, falling, how creative, it is not like most nightmares seem to involve falling or whatever. Though, a few seconds later, I land in the same exact place. When I walk over to the mirror again, nothing is there...again._

 _"Oh hell no, this better not be an endless loop." Akiza does not appear this time. There's nothing. I try to reach out to the mirror, but there's a force field of some kind that is blocking my hand's path._

 _"Hello, bitches!" A blonde suddenly appears. And, once again, I can clearly see her bra, but she wasn't even trying to hide it. Her blonde hair is up in pigtails and has cute little Monokuma clips in them. This girl's eyes are blue and her skin pale. There is a black choker around her neck that matches one of the main colors of her outfit, black. Of course. A dress shirt is over her exposed black and red polka dot bra. The shirt itself is black, has white outlines, and is rolled up. A red bow is placed on it along with some other black and white buttons. She also wears a black and white tie with a red stop sign._ _Underneath her shirt is a barely visible red skirt. Her boots are black and have red laces. There's a lot of makeup on her face, with heavy amount of eyeliner and red nail polish. Piecing her appearance altogether, I come up to a conclusion that she can only be one person..._

 _"...Junko Enoshima...?" Akiza wasn't lying about showing me despair._

 _"Yep, the one and only! Who else would it be? Your mom?" Junko is a lot different than I imagined her to be. Sure, I've always seen her everywhere, with her face being plastered all over history books, showing us who not to be. She always seemed larger than life, even to me, an Ultimate, somebody known to be way larger than life, and no way connected to us. Somehow talking to her now makes her seem...human._

 _"Actually, yeah," I answer._

 _"Too bad! Junko Enoshima is in the house!" Junko takes a hold of my hands. I know what she is trying to do and try to push her off of me. "Don't be a little kid, this ain't gonna hurt."_

 _"Fuc-"_

 _"There!" She removes my gloves to reveal what's underneath. All of my fingers are completely made out of metal. "See, it didn't hurt! You can be honest with me."_

 _"..."  
_

 _"What's wrong, sport?"_

 _"..."_

 _"Earth to Yamazaki!"_

 _"..."_

 _"You're trash to me." Junko tries to drag me into the mirror, but the same darkness from before comes from underneath me. A hand grabs onto my foot and drags me into the darkness once again. This time, though, we land much sooner._

 _"Yamazaki-san, don't listen to her! Listen to hope!"_

 _"Who are you?"_

 _"My name is Matoko Naegi-"_

"Ms. Yamazaki, you've got a visitor at your door."

* * *

Waking up, I realize that I fell asleep with the lights still on. It is probably a bad decision to check the door, but, for some reason, I've got a strange feeling that I won't die. It isn't like I'm a protagonist in a story or whatever and plot armor.

"...Coming..." I rub one of my eyes, the one without the scar. God, I'll need to take a shower and somehow change my clothes soon too. Except if we don't have those things, and, in that case, we're all screwed. I reach the door quick enough and open it. On the other side, I see Yuki of all people.

"Akita, do you have some free time?"

"Dude, it is three in the morning. Get back to bed." I'm about to close the door before Yuki tries to stop me. I slam the door on his fingers. Sure, I do not know what time it really is, but I don't really care. I'm just trying to prove a point here.

"Goddammit, Akita!"

"You're the one who thought it was a good idea to wake me up this early."

"We need to discuss something important!" Sighing, I go up to the door and release his hand. Not like I've anything better to do and I really don't want to meet Junko Enoshima again. Or Akiza, but I'm stuck with her. The one who I fear most, strangely enough, is Matoko.

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Takayuki Anno?**_

 _ **Yes/No?**_

* * *

 **Most of you are probably wondering why this chapter got out so quick. Well, it is because I already written this before. This originally was supposed to be the first part, but I did some changing around. So yeah. The more you know.**

 **More fun facts, Akiza Yamamoto was Akita's original name. Hell, Akita was supposed to be the Ultimate Peace Keeper (ha ha, inside joke with me in the prologue) and was supposed to be much more mellow and a pushover...Clearly, that changed. Akita was even brunette. :D**

 **So, if things go right, this should be the last time I've to answer to all these guest reviews. Of course, I'll still answer guest reviews, but now everything should be set back to normal. Hopefully.**

 **Also, shameless self promotion, but I've a YouTube channel that makes crap edits. XD I've just started entering MEPs and I only have five subscribers. So yeah...the channel's name is Sanity Requiem. What a shocker. SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION OVER!**

 **I'm also making a roll for who you guys think will become the first victim. It is not up yet, but it should be up soon.**

 **Now for review time~**

 **CrayonPencil-We all love Akemi though. ^.^ He's a piece of work but adorable. I feel like he'll get along with Nagito of all people...Thank you. :D Never allow high schoolers around alcohol. Just don't do it, it is a bad idea.**

 **CaptainDallasGQ-It is okay. :D My old obsession with Britney Spears keeps popping up. Goddammit child me! It is good for all the chaos! XD Hotaru couldn't get to those three, but, if she did, I could only imagine the chaos. I AM CASSIUS AND I'M NOT A NOBLE! Ayano really wants some of that article business. Thanks. :) This semester for me ends in two weeks, and I've a long weekend...so...no more hiatus. WOO HOO! Thanks. :) College is a pain in the butt, especially when you're a theatre arts major. OOOOOHHHHHH MMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYY GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!**

 **HyperBrachydios-Hopefully. Yeah, I just went all out. All of these students are crazy anyways. XD Poor Satoshi doesn't know what he's doing. Ayano is very important. Yep. There are planned bonus chapters, and, yes, that includes a drunk chapter with everybody but poor Akita drunk and out of their minds. Poor, poor Akita.**

 **Harukawa Ayame-I haven't been drunk before, but I've experienced it. The real life version is literally just Tsukiko. Good luck starting senior year. That was my fav year of high school. :D Drunk Yuki is indeed Ultimate Cinnamon Roll. I kinda just wanna write a chapter with him doing random things now. MORE BONUSES! Naoko, no. Naoko, yes. ARTICLES! Thanks! Good luck with senior year. :D**

 **Ultimate Shipper-Literally always drunk.**

 **The Hazel-eyed B-Yep. :D Naoko, NO. Drunk!Yuki is like if a koala and cinnamon roll had a baby. Another question of the universe solved. Shinichi is here. He was smart to stay away from the crazy drunk people. Oh my God, I need to do that. XD It isn't like I'm forgetting something important or something. *continues watching Yu-Gi-Oh Arc V even though I've things to do* -clearly an adult that can do adult things and make adult decisions**

 **TheRoseShadow21-It is indeed a chapter. Thanks. :D**

 **...Good God that was a long author's note :P**


	9. Chapter 1-3

**Chapter 1-3: Innocence of the Mockingbird**

* * *

Yuki, like Ayano, leads me to the garden. I struggle to keep my eyes open, but Yuki does not seem to be struggling at all. He is steadfast. Good to know that even though he is a complete asshole, he knows what he wants and how to get it. And that his hangover from being a koala for hours on end isn't killing him. Actually, I would want that to happen. Who would be the murderer? It would be interesting to find out and unveil all the secrets.

"...We've got a lot to discuss..." he says.

"Do you know that there's gonna be a new motive when everyone wakes up?" I ask him. Yuki nods his head. Both of our faces can be seen by the weak lights of the candles on the tables. Yeah, it is really hard to make anything out, but, if somebody tries to attack, they can be easily heard. And I severely doubt that Yuki will kill me. He is smart enough to know that this isn't the right time or place. Too much stuff would possibly point to him.

"Yes, but something doesn't feel right." He observes his surroundings, checking if anybody else is anywhere near us. Luckily, all the somewhat sane students are sleeping, and just us two crazies are here. I half expected to hear some kind of sound by now, but everything is silent. Not even the wind is moving. All I can hear is the breathing both Yuki and I are doing. His breath is so much stronger than mine.

"That's what we call a hangover. Both of us got wasted. You were like mmmmyyyy llllooooovvvvvveeee and everything."

"That's not the point!" Yuki begins to blush. "You idiot, we're not here to discuss stories but to try to find out a way to outsmart the mastermind. I already have a few hints here and there."

"Well, looks like you're doing your job. That's good to hear."

"The exact opposite of you." I bite my lip in response. Yuki really needs to learn how to keep his mouth shut or somebody will be very tempted to kill him. And I honestly don't want to be executed thank you very much.

"So do you think it is Hideyoshi?" I question him. Even in this dim light, I can tell he is glaring daggers at me. Hell, I'm surprised that Hideyoshi didn't find a way to become an extra student in this lovely Academy of ours. Please don't tell me there's a Mukuro in here. That would ruin all of our days even more.

"No, he is too much of a clown to think of this. Although I do think it is somebody that has something against the Committee. I don't think it is an accident that many high ranking members are here." Heading towards the tables, Yuki pulls out a piece of paper from one of his pockets in his lab coat. He places it on the table and I can tell it is from Takara's notepad.

"How did you get this?"

"Let's just say that I found it." Like always, Yuki doesn't give me, or anybody else, a straight answer. The only things he does that for are the courts of the Committee and the reports for those courts. Pressing him on about it will do nothing, as learned from personal experience. Over and over again.

"...Are these the names of people connected to the Committee?" Once again, Yuki nods his head. I read the paper to find all of our names.

"Not only people who work for the Committee, but are somehow otherwise involved. Some even are potential protesters," he informs me. "Making your targets all working for the Committee would make things too easy to figure out, even for somebody as stupid as you, but having everybody have loose threads causes there to be less of a possibility to be found out. Plus, there's the bonus that we're all from the same class from Hope's Peak Academy. That is the cover-up. Whoever is the mastermind clearly put a lot of thought into this, and they're with us due to the what is stated for Minato's Forbidden-"

"Attention! Do I see some naughty students out here at night?" Monokuma interrupts us. He begins to laugh.

"What's so naughty about this? Your own damn rules state that we can go anywhere at night," Yuki counters.

"I can't believe I'm agreeing with you, but I'm agreeing with you," I sigh loudly. Agreeing should only be a thing for us while solving cases, and I sure hope nobody has killed before the first motive.

"Silly children, I don't mean in that way but in the sexy bang bang kind of way. Just look at the barely visible stars and messy background! Romantic!" Both Yuki and I begin to blush. Goddammit, they should rename the garden to the Area of Red. For blushing, not blood. Hopefully not blood. If anybody gets murdered here, Rosa-Mirabilis will freak. How many times do I've to mess up her nickname? I fear that she has the power to read minds. Maybe that's what purifying does with the extra bonus of getting a concussion.

"No, not that way, you dumb bear!"

"Bitch-chan, you finally found yourself another tsundere."

"I'm not a tsundere!" Yuki yells out.

"There's all the evidence you need. Trial over. Punishment time for Yuki-chan, for denying his very own tropes," Monokuma laughs. He waddles over to Yuki and me, and I think I see something in his hands. It is being covered up by a sort of...napkin...and the dim light makes everything hard to see.

"...Dammit!" Yuki tries to run away, but the bear grabs a hold of his wrist. Knowing what will happen to him if he breaks the rules, Yuki gives Monokuma the harshest of glares.

"...Shit!" It is too late before I realize the light was caused by one of the bracelets showing a Forbidden Action. There's now one around Yuki's wrist that shines brighter than any of the stars.

"Students should learn how to accept authority figures," Monokuma states. Just as I am about to reply to him, he waddles off faster than any of us can run. He is a robot, and his speed could rival Flash's. Technology has improved since the last Killing Game forty years ago after all...I think. The Committee might just be bragging though. Because, you know, they always brag.

"...Fuck," we both respond at the same time. We both focus on the new accessory now latching itself onto Yuki. Unlike the others, though, it has its rule written in English. Now that's weird.

 _Speaking (or writing) about any sort of mystery._

"..." The silence between the both of us is unbearable. Almost as much as the bear himself.

"Next thing you know they'll give me an action in Russian that forbids me from using sarcasm," I joke.

"Akita, this is not the time. Joking about in this situation is only going to make things much, much worse than before." He slaps his own head and then starts to try to find ways to get his bracelet off. Needless to say, none of them worked.

"Yeah, yeah. Hasn't gotten me killed yet."

"Hate to address this, but you seem to forget about the scar on your face. Maybe that's why it looks like shit," Yuki rebutted. "And that's not even the start of it all! I swear, how did I get stuck with somebody as idiotic as you?"

"And all of these things could've been prevented if you were good at your job," I retorted.

"Says the one who never uses her talent except if there's fucking money involved! You're the Ultimate _Mediator_! Might as well be the Ultimate Bitch! I swear to whatever being watches over us you're the biggest hypocrite in the entire world! Greedy doesn't even begin to describe you!"

"Can't believe a jerk like you is such an idealist. Money and power are the only things that matter now," I explain myself. Spitting on his shoe, we both end our little argument.

"I see, that's how you two are," Ayano notes while entering through the door that leads to the dorm section of the building.

"When did you come here?...Why did you come here?" I question her.

"Simple. I just now came here, and this...this is kinda my hangout. You should know that Akita, for I've taken you here before," Ayano answers honestly.

"...I'm just gonna leave now. See ya two later. If one of you ends up dead, I know who did it~"

"Akita!" Yuki and Ayano both shout. Before they can do anything, though, I rush to the door and get out of there. I really don't want to deal with their bullshit right now, and I know that Ayano is secretly a ninja or secret weeaboo trash that watches too much Naruto.

* * *

Returning to my room again, I jump into my bed. Probably not the smartest thing, but what else can I do? There's literally nothing to do here but get drunk or talk with other classmates. The First Killing Game had a lot of activities people can do, the Second only lasted about a day, and the...'Fifth'...has nothing. Maybe tomorrow we can learn more about that. Even if Yuki has that Forbidden Action, there's still a lot more actually smart people staying at this school. There are Naoko and Kyoto, which are the best people to start with right now. After that, regretfully, there's Kazuhiko and Ayano, along with Hayato. Maybe Tsukiko or Namita will know something too. Huh...this class is filled with a lot more geniuses than I gave it credit for. My classmates can actually do shit. What a shock.

History has covered up some stuff, so it wouldn't exactly surprise me, or anybody else, except for Minato, to learn about such a thing. That's how the world is nowadays. Trusting people like Minato does only ends you up in a lot of trouble. Next thing you know they'll make a TV show for this type of thing and state that none of this shit never happened. But that would be stupid. Yet...maybe the previous ones were TV shows that the Committee made disappear through all their power. What am I thinking? There's no evidence that any of that ever happened, and Monokuma can be toying with us. Still, I would like to know more about every Killing Game. Really should have paid attention in history class, but their information would be bullshit. Maybe bullshit is better than nothing.

 _You know, I might know a thing or two about the Killing Games..._

"Shut up, Akiza, nobody likes you."

 _Are you sure about that? I like me._

"That doesn't count." Pretty sure Akiza only exists in my own mind, so that means she isn't even a person. And, thus, my point stands.

 _The same can be said about you, you crazy bitch. You're just some greedy, sarcastic asshole that somehow got the title Ultimate Mediator. You don't even meditate! The one thing you're supposed to be good at, you can't even do right! Your sister has more potential than you, and she is nothing more than an Ultimate Crybaby, right? At least your mother makes pancakes, even though she might mess up sometimes. And your father holds a respectable job and is working his ass off to support his ungrateful family. And what do you do? Bitch and moan and somehow make people stop killing each other? Ha ha, get a grip, somebody will die and it's completely gonna be your fault! Fall into the depths of despair knowing you alone cause the death of all your friends and family! Not even Mitsu-cho can escape your bullshit!_

"...That's not true...M-Minato likes me...!" I cover my ears, knowing it would do nothing. There's no way she's right...no way, no way, no way!

 _Ha! Ha ha ha ha~Not even you can deny it! And Minato can find a way to become friends with Hilter. Where's that sassy bitch attitude now? Nowhere. Because it's completely made up! Phony! Some poor, pathetic excuse of a defense mechanism._

 ** _No, that's_ _wrong!_**

 _Huh?_

"Huh?" Once again, I'm dragged back into the world that is hidden away in the deepest depths of my mind against my will. Probably shouldn't have gotten into bed, but just probably would've happened anyway. And I really do not want to pass out in the middle of the hallway. That's how bad stuff happens. And I know a lot of bad stuff.

* * *

This other...other me really has no creativity whatsoever. We're in the same landscape as before, just without the mirror of misery, and she's even wearing the same outfit as Akiza. In fact, they're identical to each other, down to how they stand and breathe. Not one aspect of them is unique, except for possibly their personalities. Maybe.

The two alters stand on opposite sides of each other, with Akiza being on the right, and the new girl going to the left. And I'm stuck in the middle of them, being once again a neutral party.

"I finally made it. Nice to meet you, Chiyo, I'm Akita Yamazaki, the Ultimate Ri-"

"What bullshit are you talking about?" Akiza asked. For once, I agree with her. Chiyo Jinya? I've never heard that name in my life! What the Hell is a Chiyo? Who has a last name as stupid as Jinya...? Well, I'm named after a dog...What has my life come to? Bullshit, that's what. I blame my parents for naming me after a dog and giving my sister the completely normal name of Mei!

"Nothing special. Just stating the basics," 'Akita' responds. I guess I can give her a name too because she already did that to me. I shall name her Aki, for she isn't even trying. How can she already be on my nerves more than Akiza?...Just another mystery...just another joke...

"God, people like you get on my nerves," Akiza sighs. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"You're the one who doesn't know shit! I live to entertain and spread hope, all you care about is causing misery and creating despair!" Aki shouts. Afterward, Matoko appears behind her. This is a dream, so I guess that makes sense. You know, the type of making sense that involves into knowing that things that don't make sense make sense in their own little world...What the Hell am I going on about? I really need some actual sleep. Then I can be back into my usual, loveable...not loveable self.

"So you're another one of those hope fanatics?...Wait, I remember you! Ha ha, now this is gonna be fun!" Then Junko appears right next to Akiza.

"...Who's gonna be my...thing...?" I mutter. Of course, nobody heard me, for I'm pretty sure they're too busy fighting with each other. Probably should help with that situation. Or else Akiza will give me a hard time...wait, she always gives me a hard time. Maybe Aki will like me more and stop calling me Chiyo.

"Come with me." The voice sounds familiar, and I look up to see...Ayano? Ayano, I know you're important to my story and all, but what the Hell are you doing inside my dreams? Is this more of my dreams screwing with me?

* * *

Next thing I know, I'm up again...Okay, last time I told myself I would never sleep again and now I mean it. Screw sleep, there has to be some coffee somewhere in the kitchen. If there's a whole section for booze, they can have some caffeine as well. Sure, I never had coffee, but from what I heard from my higher ups, it's supposed to make you have a lot of energy. I mean, there's caffeine in it, and that's a drug!

"...If somebody comes to my door, I'm gonna punch them in the face..."Oh, my precious students, it is time to wake up! It is 6 AM. And some of you stayed up all over again! You're gonna make your headmaster cry! How can you do such a thing?"

"...There's no body announcement. Guess that's a good thing." Of course, somebody might be dead, but I'm starting to gain a little...A LITTLE faith in my fellow classmates. They would at least wait into the motive is annouced until they kill somebody. Right?

* * *

I enter the cafeteria to see that although the place is still a mess, all the tables have been returned to their normal spots. On one of them, same as the one from yesterday, five people sat with each other, including Yuki and Ayano. Good to know they're not dead. I am about to ask Ayano about my dream, yet that'll make me sound like a crazy person. Maybe it is just a coincidence that my dream involved her. All I know is to not tell Kazuhiko or he'll kill me. Not exactly what I want.

 _You're making jokes again..._

 ** _She can do what she wants for the sake of hope and her own happiness!_**

And those two are still here...Anyways, with those two, are Kazuhiko, Hayato, and Kyoto. Kazuhiko, Kyoto, and Hayato are all drinking some liquid from a cup, which is most likely coffee. On the one right next to them are Shinichi and Takara, with them both talking in sign language. Does sign language count as speaking? That would be good to know for Yuki's action. Also with them are Kira, Akemi, Satoshi, and Hotaru. Guess we're starting to create groups now, huh? Wonder who would want me. Me, the useless...No, don't think that!

"Akita!" Immediately, Minato jumps onto me. Guess they were behind me. I try to keep their weight, but I fall face down on the floor.

"...Minato...you're breaking my back...please get off..."

"Sorry, Akita," the human teddy bear says while giving me sweet relief. Something about Minato just makes them relaxing to be around. Oh my God, if only they could be an actual teddy bear, but I don't think that's gonna happen. And I really don't want to misplace the teddy bear in this forest.

"I'm glad you haven't gotten lost...again, Minato," I tell them. The last thing we want is to have to search for something in this forest. Especially if that something is a dead body. Especially, especially if it is a hidden dead body.

"Yeah!" Then, out of nowhere, a bunny hops right next to Minato's leg. I recognize the bunny as Mochi right away. Good to see him again. Now I just need my fictional kids and I'll be set. No more thinking of nightmares. No more of Akiza's...bullshit.

"Hey, Akita, what's up?" Yasu asks. "I'm gonna have some coffee. Heard it's good for headaches. Do you two want to come with?" They pick up Mochi from the ground and start holding him gently.

"Sure, why not?" I respond. Minato nods their head.

"Alright. I'm gonna get some for us all."

"Aw, you're so sweet!" Next thing Yasu is also down for the count and Mochi hopped away just in time. Minato jumped right on top of them, and, like me, I think they're slowly dying a horrible, painful death.

"...Oh, Minato..." This is just what I needed. Some fun...in a Killing Game. Guess this world is so shit that none of us really care anymore. We've food! Way more food than most of us can ever dream of! Except for Cassius. Screw Cassius.

 _No, what did I tell you? Do some self-reflection and realize how dire this situation is. Somebody is gonna die!_

 ** _Just ignore her, she means nothing. This is what hope is, continuing onward even in the greatest of despair._**

...Screw both of you, I take the middle road, the road of neutrality. The road where there's no hope or despair, a road where there are only yourself and your best interests.

* * *

All three of us stare of the strange liquid in our hands. It is brown, I knew that already, but it is so warm. The temperature outside is relatively neutral, being around seventy degrees. Even with that, though, it feels good. The steam hits my face. Good to know we also have hot food here and ways to heat things up. Otherwise, all this food and drink would be meaningless.

"So...what do ya want to talk about, kids?"

"Yasu...I'm pretty sure I'm older than you..."

"Probably," they respond while taking another sip of coffee. There is apparently no sugar here, or we just haven't found it all yet, and this is apparently called black coffee, once again learned from my higher up co-workers. Who knew such pieces of shit could be so useful?

 _Once again, you're doing this bullsh-_

 ** _Don't worry. I got your_ back.**

"I don't mind! Yasu is cool!" Minato beams.

"Minato, you think everybody's cool."

"Because they are!" Minato, you are truly too precious for this world. Hope me is probably freaking out with how cute you are. Yes, Aki, I'll spend more time with Minato if you never call me Chiyo and make Akiza disappear. That's probably never gonna happen.

 ** _But you can still hope!_**

...Oh, my God, I hate both of the girls inside my head...

"So...how's...life?" Yasu asks. They look away from Minato and me for a brief second but return their gaze seconds afterward.

"Well, we're in a Killing Game."

"...Bad question. Oh well...so what are your hobbies?"

"Getting lost," Minato answers. They are completely honest and say it with a straight face. This is why I love Minato. You never know what is gonna happen, and sometimes I would just like hanging out and getting lost with them. We would always find ourselves in...interesting situations.

"Aren't ya supposed to be the Ultimate Traveler, kid?" Yasu is clearly confused.

"Don't worry, you get used to it...and Minato always jumping on you," I respond to them. Minato, predictably, then hugs me tightly. How I still have oxygen left in my lungs is anybody's guess.

 _Because you keep denying the situation-_

 ** _Just ignore her, she means nothing. La la la. Nothing bad is happening. Just be your good, old self._**

"So..." After that, we just have a normal conversation. It is nice to have one in this crazy environment we're in. Especially with voices in my head and Minato slowly killing me.

* * *

Still sitting down and talking even more with Yasu and Minato, all of us just talked about useless things. Like pancakes. Most people don't have pancakes, which is why I kinda get on my mom's case for messing them up so badly. It took a lot of hard work from me and dad to even afford them. And, once again, to congratulate me getting into Hope's Peak, they had pancakes made right this time...I think. I wonder if they miss me. What is the world doing to try to find us? I'm sure the mastermind knows they'll get here eventually, but something tells me the mastermind has something up his sleeve.

Eventually, everybody made it to the cafeteria. Except for Satoshi, who I guess is handling the coffee and making sure Hotaru gets nowhere near it. He was sitting with them before and left.

...And then I realize we are going to receive the motive...dammit...Hopefully, it is nothing too bad, but, in an environment like this, nothing is for certain.

"Hello, all of my wonderful students...Satoshi, get your butt over here! Your beautiful headmaster is speaking," Monokuma says. Satoshi rushes into the room and sits in his old spot. Well, seems like I was right.

"So what shit is this gonna be?" Mitsu-cho asks quite rudely, like usual. Somehow Mitsu-cho makes rude look, sound and feel cool. Being rude is the new black.

"A lovely motive for my lovely bastard students!"

"...We already got that-"

"Nobody cares about you, Bitch-chan," Monokuma interrupts. Honestly, his words feel like a sword piercing through my heart. Good thing I still have my teddy bear.

"I care about Akita!" Minato squeezes me harder. This one is gonna leave a bruise again. Though I can't find myself to get angry at them.

"I, Lord Cassius-"

"Blah blah blah, so what-"

"Do not interrupt me, thief!" Cassius demands. How Kira and Cassius ended up on the same table with each other, which unfortunately happens to be mine, is anybody's guess.

"He's yelling at me again!" Kira cries. She begins bawling like a little child. No matter what, this group of ours is gonna act...weirdly. Yeah, that's the right word. We're a bunch of weirdos who happen to be good at one thing...except for me...No! I've saved Minato, Mitsu-cho and so many other's lives because of my skills! No self-doubt now! I don't want to go through that character arc!...Wouldn't that be a bad thing though?

"I can purify him to stop the tears of the innocent!" Mirabilis exclaims while pointing her wand at Monokuma. She begins to wave it around, and, like anybody could have guessed, even a toddler, nothing happened.

"Purify Cassius?"

"No, Monokuma! It's my job as a magical girl bound to this classroom to protect all of you for all of eternity!"

"Ahem, your headmaster is speaking. If I get interrupted again, I'll punish one of you!" Monokuma yells out. At that moment, our e-Handbooks blink and we all rush to see what had just happened. Of course, it wouldn't be good. We all knew that. Even Ayano, who is carefully looking over at Kazuhiko's.

 **Rule #16: Interrupting Monokuma more than three times a day will result in a random student getting punished. This rule does not stand in class trials.**

Wow, Monokuma really likes making rules for all of us. I honestly don't think that the old Monokuma was this obsessive about everything going according to his plan. At least we know he isn't somehow controlled by Junko. Hopefully.

 _ **Yes,** **hope!**_

"Now that I have your undivided...Put your books down kids or there will be more of my wonderful rules!" We all follow Monokuma's orders. Pretty sure he wasn't this authoritative either, or maybe the reports and footage from the previous games have been altered. It has been four decades. Accounts could easily be made up, blown out of proportion or kept in secret.

"All of you lovely kids go to the library now. I've gifted all of you a very special video!"

* * *

Yeah, should've realized that twenty or so brand new computers in the library meant they would be used for something. All of us are seated in our own chairs, and Cassius, being Cassius, is complaining about how dirty the place is. Cassius, you should've seen it before, for I'm pretty sure a blueblood like you would've thrown up and made more of a mess. Oh, how I would pay Hotaru to trick him into getting drunk too.

All of us are inside of the library, except for Ayano. Monokuma told her to wait there and that she'll be spared from this motive. So, if she kills somebody, I'm going go all berserk on her ass. She is looking inside, directly at Kazuhiko to be exact, and leaning on the doorframe. Ayano just seems very, very bored.

I am on the left end of the third row, there are four, and I'm next to Naoko. All of us are understandably a little scared. Who wouldn't be in this situation? The first motive for the game this is modeled after was hostages, right? They kidnapped people important to you and promised to let them go after you killed somebody, which broke Sayaka Maizono, the Ultimate Pop Sensation, into trying to kill Leon Kuwata, the Ultimate Baseball Star. Well, I'm pretty sure they'll just show my family, so I'm not gonna break and kill someone. Although there's still a lot of people here I don't know a lot about that can easily be broken by a motive like this. Just look at Sayaka, she seemed sane and in control of herself until Monokuma gave her that little push towards despair.

 _ **But you're not gonna end up like her, and neither are any of your classmates. Just team up and work together to defeat the mastermind! There are twenty-one of you and one guy behind it all! A piece of cake for somebody with hope on their side!**_

 _...You're stupid. It is clear that somebody is gonna die. That's how these things tend to go. Ever read Lord of the Flies?_

Okay, just don't do anything stupid. Don't go out at night and always make sure you're with somebody else. Simple. Only have to wait till one of these idiots do something they'll regret or another motive comes our way.

"Now here's all your videos! Aren't I so nice to go out of my way to help you all after all you've put me through...especially you Bitch-chan." I just decide to ignore Monokuma as my video starts to boot up.

"It sure does go slow, right, Naoko?"

"Y-yes," she replies. The poor girl is clearly terrified. Every bone of her body is clearly shaking even before the motive begins. I see something on the screen, which makes me focus on that more. Of course, I keep Naoko in the corner of my eye. She is taking deep breaths that are doing absolutely nothing.

"Oh! Something's appearing!" I look at the screen. Even though all of us know that it's gonna be bad, our teenage curiosity gets the better of us. Pretty sure Monokuma wouldn't like us looking away either.

"...Hello, Yamazaki-chan..." Hearing that voice again, I can feel my own eyes dilate.

"What?" My entire attention is focused on the screen in front of me. It is still just darkness, but I could swear I saw something appear.

"It's good to know you're still alive. Everybody's so worried about you and all your classmates. You're all over the news, and the Committee is using all of its money on possible ways to find you," he adds on. His voice is more feminine than mine, though that somehow only adds on to the creepiness. I can sense that creep smiling and holding back sadistic laughter.

"..." Then the video finally lite up and exposed who is really talking. He is a lot taller than I remember, being about six feet if I had to guess. He has long, black hair that is oily, messy and slightly longer than Yuki's, making him look related to him. Because he is. This dreadful man is dressed like a normal guy his age, which is about fifteen believe it or not, which is a long sleeved shirt that has a white base and dark gray sleeves matched with dark denim jeans with too many holes in them to be considered sane. There are glasses over his red eyes, the only sign of danger a stranger has, and a mole underneath his pink lips.

There's no doubt about it, this is, in fact, Hideyoshi Anno.

"Survive the Killing Game, Akita, for I really love to see you again. You're lots of fun." The last thing he does before the footage cuts out is smile directly at the camera as it zooms in. The smile that goes against everything I believe in. Of course, he begins laughing afterward, sounding like his true self. A person who enjoys despair way more than Akiza can ever dream of. That's not all though, for this is a Killing Game. The very purpose of this is to cause despair.

 **Graduate and this person will die.**

All I can hear afterward is screaming.

* * *

 **Motive time. ;) Hope you guys like this motive. This is why I put in the 'person they hate most' question. Because this. Puhuhuhuhu. And this is coming from the same person who forgot to ask for their birthday...Hey, if you don't mind, you can always tell me your character's birthday. XD XD XD**

 **Also, holy crap, there's a lot more people reading this now. I honestly feel embarrassed. And I know you did it, Rin. I don't even have to read the messages to know that it is you. It might take me longer to respond to everybody now, because, HOLY CRAP! I didn't expect this story to become this popular. Over 4,000 views. That's insane! I really should thank Rin...maybe...**

 **Honestly, I thought people would hate this story because, holy crap, this has a lot of experimental stuff and I'm not that experienced as a writer. Seeing all this support makes me smile. :)**

 **Anyways, this is another shorter chapter. Probably because the chapters following this one are HUGE!...Okay, the next chapter is probably short too, but the one after that...oh boy. I honestly wanted to add some stuff from the next chapter into this one, but it kinda ruined the flow of everything. So, yeah, more short chapters. *says that with this almost being 6,000 words and this story having over 50,000 words too***


	10. Chapter 1-4

**Chapter 1-4: To Kill a Mockingbird (A.K.A There's a Reason Why This Story is Rated M, Y'all)**

* * *

...Sure, I'm not the one screaming, but that is because I'm biting down on my tongue. I think I taste a little blood. That's not good. Nothing about this situation is good. Hideyoshi...Hideyoshi... _Hideyoshi_.

That bastard. That bastard. THAT BASTARD. Calm down, Akita, you don't want to accidentally kill someone, right? You'll still get executed and treated the same as the person who purposefully killed multiple people for a selfish motive. But...

I look down at my hand, seeing it is still covered by my gloves. Don't know why I would fear my gloves coming off. Probably because Junko did so very easily in my dream. If I had to look back at the first Killing Game, I guess I can relate most with Kyoko Kirigiri. Because of these godforsaken gloves. Because of that godforsaken Hideyoshi. Crazy runs in the Anno bloodline.

 _ **Don't fear! For hope will guide you to the very paradise that everybody strives for-**_

 _Goddamn, I love to despair and all but you're too goddamn annoying to get any enjoyment out of. You're like hope on steroids._

Sighing, I check to see if Naoko is okay. It is safe to assume she is probably the person that screamed. Because that scream was right in my ear and I'm surprised it is not currently bleeding right now. Might just be some of my unfortunate luck. Throughout my life, I've realized that luck works differently for all individuals, so, whatever higher being, or beings, is up there, I want to curse whoever gave me the short end of the stick. Seriously, screw you. Now I have two equally annoying voices in my head that won't seem to shut up...

When my eyes set on Naoko, I notice she is terrified and definitely one of my classmates that screamed. She is trying to hold herself, but, the tighter her embrace is, the more her eyes dilate.

"...Naoko...?" I probably should see everybody else, but I'm worried about one of my precious cinnamon rolls.

"...!" Suddenly, Naoko pushes me away and starts running towards the door. I would normally be stronger than her, but, since she caught me off guard, it is surprisingly easy for a girl as small as Naoko.

"What?" Ayano tries to block her, but Naoko crawls underneath her legs. Because Naoko is freaking tiny and Ayano is like a giant.

"Naoko!" I see people run after her, including Ayano, but most people stay. Of those who chase after her, there's Yuki, with him being her knight in shining armor, Mirabilis, Mitsu-cho, Akemi, surprisingly, Kira, even more surprisingly, Kazuhiko, Satoshi, and Miyuki. Wow, that's quite the list.

"...Minato...?" I run over to my friend's seat, which is in the first role slightly to the right, to see that they're perfectly okay. "...Um...what did you see?"

"Nothing. Akita, why everybody's screaming?" they ask me, completely innocent to the chaos surrounding them.

"...Um, it's the motive...it showed you a video of somebody you hate and promised to kill them if you graduated," I explain. We both stare at each other.

"That's horrible! Who would do such a thing? We should all learn to love each other!" See, Minato is too pure for this world. Next time he'll find an excuse for Junko for destroying the world and killing billions of people.

 _There isn't an excuse! Lady Junko was in the right, causing despair in a world obsessed with hope! Those-_

 ** _No, that's wrong! Killing billions of people for a despair fetish will only lead to more hope anyway! Just look at the world now and the peace that the Committee has given us! The Committee is true hope!_**

"...Akita! Why don't you respond?" Minato asks me, breaking me free from my trance.

"...Let me check on everybody else!"

"Akita!" Before they can stop me, I exit the area of the library with the computers. Minato seems to be the only one still in the area, as most people are outside or wandering around the surrounding room. In the corner, though, I see two familiar people, Tsukiko and Namita, guarding Yasu, who has fallen asleep again. Seriously, are they narcoleptic or something?

"Tsukiko, Namita...?" I mutter to myself. Guess all the strong people are gone, and Minato has not stepped away from their computer. Knowing them, they would sweep in like a knight in shining armor and look over Yasu. Both Namita and Tsukiko are trying to stand strong, only they are horrible at hiding their fear. Being the closest thing we got to leaders, they might feel the pressure of the situation on their shoulders. Don't know though since I don't know those two very well.

Kyoto is with Shinichi and Takara. I guess they're really are becoming groups now. They all look scared out of the mind, but they're at least smart enough to stay together. Takara even has his notebook back, even though everybody has the bad habit of taking it away from him. Poor creepy bastard.

Hayato is...somewhere. Now that I think about it, I can't see Cassius either. Maybe the both of them went after the others to find Naoko or perhaps left the room shortly afterward. Or maybe I'm just really bad at finding people in a place like this.

Miyuki, who I guess decided to return after her one second of being away from here, is focusing intensely at the hole in the wall, keeping one of her hands on her sword. She is taking deep breaths and trying to calm herself down. But, like Tsukiko and Namita, her stress her clearly visible, just less so than the other two. I guess we should really try exploring that floor after everybody has taken their chill pill. There has to be a reason why Monokuma allowed that...oh, and the hole Ayano made earlier is now lazily covered up with some planks of wood. Great, Monokuma, just great.

Hotaru is sitting on the edge of the table for the last row of the computers, with her dirty feet hanging off the edge. She is practicing her form for dart throwing since that's her talent and all. How is she not Ultimate Prankster? Well, there's actually a reason for the rule that Hope's Peak has now broken, but, in the first class of this second school of ours, there was, in fact, an Ultimate Prankster named Gabriel Welson. He was of British descent, much like Cassius, yet was not considered a transfer student due to his parents moving to Japan the year before. The more you know.

Actually, now that I think about it, why weren't there any other students or staff around during the time we were all abducted to this place? How were we all transferred here without causing any suspicion? Whoever this mastermind is must know what they're doing...otherwise everything would've fallen apart. With this in mind, and that we're all connected somehow to the Committee, the mastermind could be somebody who has a lot of power in the Committee or at least is connected enough to have a say in what happened during our first day...Oh, my God.

 ** _You can't really believe such a thing. The Committee is true hope!_**

Somebody grabs my hand, and I look over to see that it is Aki. She is visible and is the flesh, nothing about her seems phony at all. The smile on her face is creepy and stabs daggers into my soul.

"...Only an idiot would believe that," I whisper. Aki then steps on my foot hard and I hold in my scream the best that I can.

 ** _Have you forgotten the kindness the Committee has given you? They give you money to support your family! They feed you so you don't starve like most people on the streets! And, most of all, they give you protection! Don't say people who believe in hope are idiots!_**

 _The Committee is despair, idiot. They're the ones who caused all of that in the first place! The Future Foundation improved the world in just a couple of years and then the Committee screwed it up-_

 ** _Ha! Good to see somebody like you supporting the Future Foundation! Now, Chiyo, I've something to do. Don't mind_ me. **

"...What?!" Once again, all I can see is darkness.

* * *

 _"Well, won't you look at that, you're stuck with me now. I get to do whatever I want!" Akiza exclaims, sounding way more happy than she should be. Little spirals are in her eyes again, looking like despair overlapping with despair. "Let's do something with that motive, shall we?"_

 _Akiza is on a throne and has her legs crossed. She is leaning slightly more to the left side and resting her chin on her hand, which her arm itself is resting on the arm of the aforementioned throne. Now there's even a crown on her head on top of her hat. How is it able to balance? Dream logic?_

 _"What!?" I scream out loud. Gosh, where's random dream Ayano when you need her?_

 _"Let's give it everything we've got! IT'S... PUNISHMENT TIME!" A pedestal with a big red button pops out of nowhere and Akiza has a mallet to slam down on it, crushing it instantly._

* * *

 _Now I'm in a room that is completely dark except for a tiny candle in the middle of a table. In front of the candle, I see a device of some sort. It has a grey bottom of some sort in a shape of a distorted hourglass. On one side of the hourglass, there's something that looks like a nail puller. Then, opposite of that, there's brown latches and a place to fit something finger-length in. Right by it is a clean butcher knife._

 _...Oh dear! Fuck! No, no, no, no, no!_

 _I feel for my scar just to find that it's not there. Shit, shit, shit!_

 _"Akita~how I longed for this moment." That voice sends shivers down my spine. I try to move again, but now I can't feel anything in my body except for pure fear. Akiza is in the corner, watching with dead, emotionless eyes._

 _"...No..." I use the last of my strength to turn around, to see Hideyoshi's demented smile lit by the fire of the candlelight. His eyes are shadowed out, but I can guess his expression already._

 _"We're gonna have so much fun like the old days! Remember when we played with Yuki-chan? Remember how fun it was? Now we just need him here, but the Committee is being no fun." Hideyoshi pouts out his lips much like a child. Well, he was only thirteen, much like I was._

 _"...Help me!" I cannot control what I'm saying. It is like I'm experiencing what happened three years ago in my eyes but unable to change the past._

 _"I am! Helping you see the errors of your way by siding with Future Foundation!"...Future Foundation...what the Hell do I have anything to do with Future Foundation?_

 _"I don't want to see that!" Instead of listening to me, Hideyoshi forces me to bow down to the length of the relatively short table. He latches my arm into the machine and prepares everything for it. The last thing to happen is for the thumb of my right hand to be ejected into the slot. "Hideyoshi!...Yoshi! I don't want any of this! Just please let me go! Let me go! Let me go, please! I need to return to the circus with you! That's what we were doing, right? I just wanted to give you another chance!"_

 _"But this is better than that damn place! Trust me, this will be fun!"_

 _"I don't think so!" my younger self cried out, not realizing the hopelessness of the situation. There was no convincing him to not do anything that he did to me that day or any of those following days that torturous week. Thank God Mitsu-cho appeared when she did, or I would've fallen into the deepest depths like Hideyoshi, Akiza, and Junko._

 _"But the fun is just getting started!" Before he could start the torture again, time seems to freeze. Akiza walks to the table with the same dull eyes from before. No life whatsoever is to be found in them._

 _"Ha ha, don't you hate him for doing this to you?" Akiza questions me. "Do you truly hate him? Hate him for stealing everything away? For making you experience what true despair is? Don't you want revenge? Don't you want him to die? You know what you should do, other than try to seek justice through legal means? You should kill someone and graduate! C'mon, it can't be that hard. So what if your friends die? They weren't your friends, to begin with. They're just using you to make themselves feel better. Before you know it, they'll stab you in the back just like everybody else has. Especially the Committee! I know the truth, but it is far more fun just torturing you with false lies. Especially the one's Ms. Hope Addict tells you..._

 _"But, for making it this far, Sae, not Chiyo, not Akita, not an Ultimate, just a normal girl found in a random corner of a random street randomly named Sae Emiya, just another pawn for the Committee to experiment and torture. Ha ha, what despair! Nobody knows the truth except those bastards from the Committee, Kaneshiro Kazuma, and Hideyoshi Yamazaki! You're nobody but some weak, pathetic excuse of a stand-in comedian for the both of us! It will be better if you just die in a hole painfully and go into the darkest depths of Hell!"_

 ** _No, that's wrong!_**

* * *

I awake again, shaking. The first thing I notice is that there's a knife in my hands with blood on it. Of course, the next thing I see is the new scars on my wrists, still dripping with blood...

"...What...?" I drop the knife on the floor, having the sound echo throughout the hallway. I'm in the hallway with all of our dorms and right in front of the storage closet. Hoping to find somewhere to hide the knife, I open up the storage closet to see Naoko there, hiding and crying towards the wall. Guess the others had no luck in finding her or couldn't get her out of the closet.

"A-Akita!" Luckily, I did not pick up the knife and just brush it off to the side with my foot.

"...Yes...D-do you want help?" I reach out my hand to her and Naoko just stares at it. God, with how shitty I feel, I should at least be able to help this cinnamon roll. Probably because it makes me feel like I can be saved.

"..."

"I...I won't bite..."

"But...sometimes...s-sometimes you can be mean!" Naoko yells out and then retreats to her previous state. I sigh. "...And your wrist is bleeding. You should go to the Hospital!"

"I get that you're scared, but, trust me, I'm more scared than you and I'm out of the closet. After this talk, I'll take care of this tiny...thing." Naoko, whipping the tears from her eyes, slowly accepts my hand and steps out of the closet. "...Um, do you want to...spend some time with me...? Oh, my God..."

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Naoko Kawabata?**_

 _ **Yes/No?**_

* * *

"...S-sure..." She quickly turns away from me, realizing the knife. "...Ah!"

"Don't worry, that was there before!" I reassure while closing the door to the storage closet. "Let's go somewhere else...like the garden!"

"T-the garden?" she asks.

"Yeah...it should help us distress." I take hold of her hand, and she does nothing to struggle against me. Time to prove the voices in my head wrong. I'm gonna be myself, Akita Yamazaki, the Ultimate Mediator, while using the power of neutrality, not hope or despair, to help a friend in need. Ha!

* * *

I direct Naoko to one of the abandoned tables. She takes a seat and I follow after her. Nobody else is here, so I'm assuming they're either in the library or the kitchen since that is forming to be one of our meet-up spots. Guess after this I can tell them my theory about the Committee and get Yuki's input. Sure, he can't speak or write about it, but he can do simple gestures like nodding. Talking about it right now will do nothing but stress Naoko out. Sure, Yuki thinks she's smart, and she's the Ultimate Child Prodigy, yet she's only human.

"...Do you have something to talk about...?"

"..." Naoko stares down at the ground, examining the interesting patterns the grass and other plants have made underneath her. Tiny vines are starting to wrap themselves around the legs of all of the tables.

"Let's see, what's your birthday? Mine's April fourth."

"...You're being strangely nice..."

"You just don't know me that much..." Guess I can be a little bit of a bitch to others. But I'm on a mission here! Time to prove all the assholes that say I'm bad at everything wrong! I'm looking at you, Akiza. You just tried to break my mind into a billion pieces. Hideyoshi Yamazaki? That's stupid and you know it. It's Hideyoshi Anno. I know from all the times Yuki and I researched him. And he's the Ultimate Private Investigator!

"...November third..."

"...So you're a...Libra?" Gosh, this conversation is awkward.

"...Actually, I-I don't want to sound rude, but I-I'm...I'm a Scorpio! And y-you're an Aries." Naoko begins to blush. Goddammit! I've got a bad habit of making people blush around here. Good to know I'm making myself and Naoko feel a little bit better.

"I guess I am...so what do you like?"

"Um...I like the library..." she answers. I still hate libraries, but being around somebody as adorable as Naoko in one would make them a whole lot better. "I like reading books."

"How did you get your talent?"

"...!" Everything goes silent. Did I really just ask a triggering question? Goddammit, I should know more about this from my time on Tumblr.

 _Yeah, the next thing you know you're gonna be calling yourself the wannabe Ultimate Blogger. Ha!_

Ignoring the voice in my head, I try to think about ways to help Naoko, but, before I can, I see her walking away.

"Naoko!" I scream out but she does not stop. Running after her, I catch up quite quickly. My legs are healed from all the shit that went down during our first day here. That wasn't fun, especially landing face down on the floor.

"A-Akita!" Okay, gotta find a way to make her trust me again. Clearly, she does not like the articles, or article, Yuki mentioned got her that title of hers in the first place. And she needs help right now. My Ultimate Mediator senses are tingling...even though this has nothing to do with that.

"..." Gotta think. Gotta think, think, think. Goddammit, I don't know Naoko that well. I don't know anybody who knows her that well either. So I'm sorta just stuck here, thinking in my mind, while making things incredibly awkward.

"...Um...excuse me...? Can I go through please?" she asks while bowing down.

"Why are you bowing down...?"

"Because it's the polite thing to do!" Sure, Naoko can be smart, as shown through her talent and impressing Yuki of all people, but she can be a child as well. Guess she's not that old. Wonder what her age is anyways. Her title does include child though. Then again, Hope's Peak can just be running out of names.

"What's your age?"

"...My-my age? I'm fourteen?!"

"Oh, you're gonna be fifteen in a couple months." Yeah, it is...August fifteenth right now if I'm correct. Japan used to start school in July, or April, or some other shit like that, but, like everything else, the Committee changed it to the American standard.

"C-can I go?" When I show the slightest bit of hesitation, Naoko runs for it. I feel a sudden heaviness before I can reach her. It is probably the voices again. They're speaking but I'm just blocking whatever bullshit they've to say from my mind. In the background, I can hear a door open and footsteps coming towards me. It is probably just my voices messing with me.

"I'm sorry..." Before I can turn around, I feel something heavy fit the back of my head. I fall immediately to the floor but still, have bits of consciousness left.

"...What...?" In the end, I didn't follow my own rules. Now, this bullshit is happening to me. Naoko, where are you? NAOKO! WHERE ARE YOU? ANYBODY ELSE? MITSU-CHO! MINATO! YUKI! KAZUHIKO! AYANO! "You bastard...you traitor!"

"...I know..." I try to recognize the voice, yet I can feel my own brain isn't working correctly. Perhaps a side effect of being hit with a blunt object.

"FUCK YOU TO HELL!" Then again, I feel something come down to my head.

* * *

 _"Seriously, Akita, you were just here! I didn't know you liked me so much."_

 _"Am I dead? Is this the afterlife?" I question Akiza. She sighs, shaking her head._

 _"If you were dead, I wouldn't be here, idiot," she answers, bluntly. Akiza is actually back in the circus, but there is no crowd this time. There are only emptiness and the two of us, two parts of the same person. "But I get to have some more fun!" Before anything could happen, Akiza is replaced with Aki. How can I tell? Well, Aki has a completely different expression. Akiza is more sadistic while Aki is happier. That's a horrible reason, but I can just tell. Because they're a part of me? I guess?_

 _"Hmmm..." With a snap of her fingers, Akiza returns again. Along with her, there's Matoko, Junko, and two other people I can't recognize._

 _The first new girl is only about five feet tall. She has short blonde hair that barely goes to her shoulders and is completely straight, along with her also straight bangs that almost cover both of her blue eyes. Her skin is a dark brown that helps bring out the color of everything she's wearing. This girl has a lot of makeup, all of it being yellow and looking disgusting. This stranger has on a yellow business dress with a visible white camisole underneath, for it is not cleverly hidden. Like my bra. Seriously, not showing my bra is this outfit takes way more work than it should!_

 _Anyways, back on topic, she also wears white tights and gloves. Her feet are fitted with, you guessed it, yellow stilettos. How anybody can walk in those is beyond me, and even Yuki. He always asks me about that. There is a fancy floppy hat on her head that is white and has a yellow feather sticking out. Overall, she looks like a businesswoman and hippy had a baby. If you were ever wondering about that, for whatever reason, here's your reason. Finally able to answer one of those damn things._

 _Right next to her is somebody that is my height, only slightly shorter. She has long black hair that reaches all the way to the floor and is all over the place. Just like me, she has one of those annoying things that every day, including me, calls an ahoge. Apparently, it is to show that you're an idiot. I say that fits pretty well...for me. Her clothes are only rags and show how dreadfully skinny she is. The black eyes glued on her head only show the darkest depths of despair. So, yeah, absolutely different from hippy businesswoman right next to her._

 _"How many damn people are inside my head?"_

 _"Seven. Eight including you," Aki replies. Then, with another snap of the fingers, only her and Akiza remain with me._

 _"...What am I? Sora from Kingdom Hearts?"_

 _"...What the Hell is a Sora?"_

 _"...You know, just forget it," I sigh. Nobody but me has a true love for all of my silly references. Even my parents and sister told me to cool it down for most people don't know what I'm talking about. Even myself._

 _"Now for the moment you've all been waiting for!" Another snap later, they both disappear, leaving me alone in the circus. Just great. When I'm just making myself feel better, I get mind fucked again. I feel bad for whoever is experiencing this without knowing anything, just like me._

 _"...This is for everything..." Once again, the poor looking girl appears right in front of me, crying her eyes out. "This is for everything!"_

 _"...What...?" Suddenly, I feel something stab at me. When I look down, twenty-one spears are piercing my chest. A bunch of pink blood is spilling out of me. Wait, pink? Isn't blood supposed to be red?_

 _"Goodbye."_

* * *

 _As if I'm not mind fucked enough already, I fall back into the room of darkness. Once again, I noticed that Ayano Nishiki is here, somehow inside me. There are two key differences about her though. Her hair, other than blonde, is black, and her usually brown eyes are replaced with red._

 _"First, I'm not Ayano Nishiki or any other person you know. My name's Izumi Kamukura." Kamakura? Why does that feel more familiar? Wait, wasn't that the last name of the man who founded Hope's Peak Academy a really, really long time ago._

 _"...What's happening?"_

 _"You'll see soon enough..."_

 _"I don't understand any of this. You even sound like Ayano!"_

 _"But I'm not Ayano Nishiki, Ayano Kirigiri, any other Ayano or any other person. I'm already dead, idiot."_

 _"Oh," I respond._

 _"The Committee were the ones who had this idea. You were so close but so far. Oh well."_

 _"Okay."_

 _"But, before things end, I just wanted to say I thank you. I thank all of you. Please just remember everything just time." Then everything went black..._

* * *

My eyes briefly open, as if trying to tell me something or get me to commit to some sort of action. Too bad I don't know what's happening and don't really care about any strange weird person in my head. Where have they all come from anyway? Seriously, I get here, and, bam, my head spits into a billion pieces. Just great. Maybe being beaten with...something and constantly being hurt the first day here is what caused this mayhem. I swear to God, Mirabilis, if I lost my sanity just because of your wand, I'm gonna murder your ass.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-" Just like that, I notice all the intense pain in my body hitting me late like a hangover. The knife is back in my hands and covered with even more blood. My blood. Probably should get some help. Aki needs some serious therapy for her cutting issue. Actually, I think all of us need some serious therapy. All of us...what am I even thinking anymore? There's only...

 _Us as a whole._

 ** _Us as a whole._**

"...Us as a whole?" Trying to see who the traitor is, I notice that my vision is all blurry and I can barely stand up straight. I'm leaning against the wall and there's a lot of green around. Well, this is a forest. Of course, there's a lot of green! Even inside you cannot escape the wild life. Thank God none of us are severely allergic to pollen or some shit.

"...!" My conscious then fades again, drifting me back to the world of my dreams.

* * *

 _"Are you alright?" somebody that is clearly a man but has a feminine voice asks me. I feel his hand coming closer and closer to me. Like a moth drawn to a flame, I can't fight my urge to grab it. It is warm but is overly rough and unpleasant to touch. But that warmth gives me hope, hope in this random person._

 _"..."_

 _"Remember me, Akita? It's Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi-"_

* * *

"...Huh...?"

* * *

 **Yay for short chapters! Yay for screwing with the audience!**

 **I shall call this Mind Fuck: The Chapter. A.K.A where the tones shifts.**

 **So, due to the vast amount of reviews, I find that reviewing them all personally takes WAY too much time. Ssssoooo...we're doing this again. Because I've lost track, so, if I don't respond to your review, I'm sorry. :(**

 **...But, look at the bright side, I'm supposed to be doing homework and rehearsing, because I'm an actor, but instead, I do this. I'm an adult, people. XD I got priorities. :P Good to know I already wrote most of this. Why? Because I got excited, y'all...Yes, I say y'all.**

 **Also, there's a reason why the poll is down. None of you got it right. ;)**

 **Reviews :D**

 **-AnonChan1: If he did, it would be the person who gave it to him. Yuki is screwed, but Akita is more. Akita did not learn that history repeats itself. Ayano just being like its IZUMI *triggered*. The nonbinary peeps are the best peeps, y'all. Personally, I hate coffee, so hot coco too! *triggers coffee fans* Yes, that dude has a despair boner for Akita. You don't want to know what happened in that room...I'll just keep it to myself in my messed up imagination.  
**

 **-Harukawa Ayame: Thanks. :) Maybe, maybe not. No, Hideyoshi is the nicest person in the world. He just wants to give you a pretty manicure. Don't you want one? Indeed it is! I know but I know everything...for this story. Perks of being the author. Yes, Minato is actually the Ultimate Teddy Bear, while Naoko is the Ultimate Cinnamon Roll! You too. :3**

 **-Hyperbrachydios: Poor Yuki, Ayano, and Kazuhiko, everybody voted for you, the red herrings. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Or are they? I can just be mind screwing with you...again...again...again. Nope, Yuki would be too OP and so would Ayano. Killing Game already over. You'll just have to wait. Hideyoshi might not be the mastermind, but he's still an asshole. The Ultimate Asshole. Junko being damn, calm down. Good, you don't understand, here's a whole chapter of it! Thanks. :)**

 **-0B13: Hideyoshi being triggered. Thanks. :) This is a different time, after all, it would simply not work with these students. Yuki being all pouty because he can't speak or write. Thanks. :D**

 **-ComplicatedYetSimple (there are probably new people still in here but I'm being drowned in reviews :O): Welcome to this story, where you'll cry because all your favs will be dead. XD Thanks. Now I want to read that bad book to see how bad it is. I'm that type of person. Everybody on this account looks viewing The Room a little too much. Because we're actors and we're crazy. No, that's a joke. :P Thanks. I love all the support.  
**

 **-TheRoseShadow21: Thanks. It is one of the motives that created this story. Saying what caused this story in the first, first place will be serious spoilers. Because I wanted it to happen and nobody else did it, from what I could find. :_D**

 **-CommanderofInsanity: Now I can't keep up with my reviews. But, hey, we already talked. XD XD XD These ships names are my life. How about...Aki/Akiza-StopBullyingAkitaShipping? Or just BullyShipping? That's better.**

 **-CaptainDallasGQ: Thanks. :D MinatoxHilter...Oh God, Commander, don't ship that...too late she already ships it. Great. Miyuki, Mitsu-cho and Minato being the M squad. Izumi gets triggered again. It's IZUMI!...Calm down...Naoko. Thank you!**

 **-YellowtheWriter: Thanks. Poor, poor Yuki. All he can do now is bite his lip. *bite bite* Maybe. ;) I'm not telling. Monokuma has always been that in this story. Well, if it's Hideyoshi for Akita...Yes, it is Monokuma for Mirabilis confirmed. Well, here's another chapter just a couple days after. Wow, a fanfiction that doesn't take forever to update! *looks back at past memories* Oh, how I wish some things will just update...XD**


	11. Chapter 1-5

**Chapter 1-5: Hell is Empty**

* * *

"...Huh...?" For some reason, I suddenly feel sleepy. Maybe my brain has given me extra melatonin due to it mistaking this as my bed time. After all, my work as a hacker usually happens at night, also does Kazuhiko's job of being the best journalist the world has ever seen.

"A-Ayano!" Somebody tries to get me up, but their chances of success are zero. Before I know it and control my urge, my mind enters into the realm of sleep.

* * *

 _"Are you alright, Kazuhiko?" my past asks the crying boy in the corner. He is covering his face with his knees._

 _"..." With tears still in his eyes, Kazuhiko lifts up his head slowly and painfully. There is a bruise over his right eye. Until this day, he has not told me what that is about. Guessing Akita punched him after he posted that article. I really need to find a way to make her open up about that._

 _"Silly, remember me, I'm Ayano!"_

* * *

I open my eyes slowly.

"...Sleeping?" questioning myself, I rise from my seat from the cafeteria. Note to self, these are more comfortable than they look, possible places to sleep if bedrooms somehow get compromised. Whether it is by motive or another event. Hotaru might prank all of us, considering she went as far as drugging about half the populace of this school for entertainment. Must learn or she finds that a source of...'fun'...and how she can survive without shoes. Most people by now would've developed some sort of illness and needed them to be sawed off, but Hotaru is perfectly fine. The power of the Ultimates is an interesting thing to analyze. Seeing how each talent affects the person in vastly different ways. Even people with the same talent, like Kira and Cassius, have contrasting ways of showing it.

"...A-Ayano...?" asks Kyoto, who has been right by me this whole time. Perhaps the word most people would use to describe us as friends, yet I view us more as diplomatic acquaintances. Sure, he is nice to talk to time to time, though this last year has been hectic and allows us barely any time to have a conversation anymore. Now that we are in the Fifth Killing Game, we can change that. Befriending others and not getting on their bad side increases the odd of survival, although it is not a hundred percent chance. Right now, I will say my odds are about fifty/fifty.

"Yes?"

"Do you want to talk to Naoko?"

"Is she still in that closet?" questions me. Our group, since all of us have split up, were the ones that found Naoko Kawabata first, one of our fellow students at Hope's Peak Academy, we attempted our hand into getting her out of the storage closet right next to my room, which is filled up with useless materials, but had no luck. All of us have to improve on one thing: conversational skills.

Of the ones that reached the storage closet, Kyoto was actually not there, having spent that time in the library with Shinichi and Takara. There were thirteen people, of who I know of, that stayed in the library while the rest of us left. The other eight of us, which was split into four and four due to the even number of students, as mentioned before, became two separate groups to search for the last one of us, Naoko Kawabata. Miyuki used to be in my group, but she decided to stay in the library to find another way to protect people by somehow reaching the second library.

My group, consisting of Mitsuru, Takayuki, Mirabilis and me, searched this half of the building while the second group, headed by the lovely Kazuhiko Hiraoka, was completed with the members Satoshi, Kira, Akemi. Clearly, both of these teams would fail, yet that did not stop us from trying. Teenagers have a higher rate of stupidity than most other people on this planet.

"...N-no. She's right here." As he points to her, Kyoto turns his head away. Kyoto explains to me that he has some sort of curse, but we all know that curses cannot scientifically exist.

"Oh?" Looking over, I see Hayato, who must have also come here after my nap, trying to converse with Naoko, with Takayuki by his side. Cassius is nearby but is too busy butting heads with Kira to notice anything.

Also here is Mirabilis, Hotaru, and Akemi. All of the others, Akita, Kazuhiko (you better not be wasting your time trying to find a way to apologize to Akita again!), Tsukiko, Namita, Satoshi, Yasu, Minato, Shinichi, Miyuki, Mitsuru, who must have returned back to the library, and Takara are spending their time in the library. Some of them might be somewhere else, yet this is the most likely place. Too bad I cannot check the map on the E-handbook because of the Forbidden Action on my wrist. For the longest time, I've desired to ask whether or not this bracelet is technology. Lately, I have decided to leave it alone for there must be a reason why I am still alive and saying that might give Monokuma ideas. Giving Monokuma ideas lowers survival in a Killing Game way down, making it closer to five percent. I rather not make that gamble, especially because this action lowers it to less than one percent.

"Y-yeah, she said that she's starting to feel better now..." explains Kyoto.

"Good."

"S-so do you?"

"Sure. Goodbye." Leaving Kyoto alone, with his cup of coffee I just now realized is there hiding underneath the table, I stroll over to where Naoko, Hayato, and Takayuki stand.

"...A-Akita got me out..."

"Yamazaki-san...?" questions Hayato. Takayuki remains silent while attempting to pull the sleeve of his lab coat over his Forbidden Action. Even with the sleeve cloaking it, however, the red light still shines. He revealed his NG Code to me when we were with each other last night, exactly after he received it from Monokuma. However, Takayuki did this all without letting a single word drop out of his mouth. Much like me, Takayuki is being cautious and knows that everything can be used against him. This mastermind seems to want blood after all, perhaps as a way to cause more despair in the world.

Imagine this, the world is trying its hardest to find twenty-one missing high schoolers from the highest of schools this version of the world has too often. However, instead of reaching them all in time, all of the teenagers die. Perhaps it is being filmed right now, evidenced by the cameras everywhere. Only the ones in our rooms are clearly noticeable, but, looking all over the campus, I and some of the other students have spotted other cameras tucked into the nicest of hiding spots, camouflaged by the plants surrounding them.

"Akita?" Hearing Naoko's answer surprises me. There was a small percentage in my mind that Akita helped her, but, hearing it out loud, it seems a little weird. Akita is an...interesting person. She is a mediator, though, so perhaps using her skills, that she could have used in so many other situations but decided not to out of presumed selfishness, convinced Naoko to calm down.

"Y-yes...she was bleeding...and there was a knife...!" Naoko begins to hold herself, showing signs of anxiety. Luckily Takayuki cannot talk right now and mess up the situation by saying his always colorful words.

"A knife? Blood?" Hayato is keeping his cool. His experience as a salesperson makes him a people person and has him interact with Naoko almost every day. If any one of the students here knows what to do, it will be this guy. Having him with us the first time would have vastly increased our chances.

"Y-yeah...but then she started to talk to me...and took me to the garden..." She stops herself and stares at Hayato. Something in her eyes informs me that she does not trust him, probably due to him being a salesperson. It is a double-edged sword. Hayato, from Kazuhiko and I's research, has been involved in some shady things for the Committee. By this point, though, it is all theories and nothing more. But he is a salesperson.

"And then what?"

"...We...j-just talked!" cries out Naoko. After that, she runs into the kitchen and slams the door.

"Speaking with more tact and not being forceful will vastly increase your chances of success," I advise. "Any new information?"

"Only the part you heard," answers Hayato. Takayuki shakes his head. Hayato and I both stare at him, waiting for words, but then we, Hayato most likely got a glance at Takayuki's bracelet, both remember his Forbidden Action.

"This is gonna be hard."

"Tell me about it," Takayuki sighs. He places one of his hands, the one without his new accessory, on his hip with a lot of sass.

"Oh."

"You're not dead!" Mirabilis, out of nowhere, jumps on Takayuki's shoulders and glomps him. He, however, only tries to brush her off without getting overly angry. Takayuki has a zero percent chance of being successful in this venture.

"Please get off." Instead of listening to him, Mirabilis takes out her wooden wand, which must have been made by her or somebody she knows and keeps on hanging. Then she throws some rose petals on the ground.

"...Mirabilis, Anno-kun does not wish to be purified," says Hayato.

"Purified?"

"Yes, the art of purification!" Mirabilis jumps off and Takayuki starts to slowly back away from her. Chances of him getting away are slim, but, using his intelligence as a private investigator, he can find a way that greatly increases his odds. However, Mirabilis is probably very skilled in her art of purification and will give him a very hard opponent to face off against.

"Do you care to inform me more on this art? I'm very curious. Why did you perform the same action on Yamazaki-san?"

"Because she uses the wrong name! My name's Mirabilis and I'm a magical girl! She kept telling me I was Rosalina and just a florist," Mirabilis pouts. I check on Takayuki to see him also exit through the door to the kitchen. Maybe he plans on hiding in the bathroom, which, adding in its lock, will give him the greatest possibility of success. Perhaps even the cellar because of its darkness and great places to hide. Although Mirabilis does have her E-handbook and can easily use it as a flashlight.

"Okay, Mirabilis, why did you want to purify Anno-kun?"

"Takayuki? He's a big meanie who always uses bad words!"

"...Okay...?" responses I. Seems like Mirabilis is what Japanese people in the olden times used to call...an otaku? Perhaps. I need to study more on old Japanese sayings and how to read and speak it. Would have saved a lot of time and head ache trying to decipher my code.

"Hmm? Where's Takayuki? Oh no, I've lost track of the villain of the week! I must go and find him!" Mirabilis runs off until she realizes her rose petals are still on the floor. She quickly picks all of them up and continues on her way.

"...Intriguing..."

"Oh, Nishiki-san, is there something you want? Why did you come over here?"

"Kyoto told me Naoko came. I wanted information."

"Guess you have it then. Anything else?" asks Hayato. Knowing him better might help Kazuhiko and I figure out if he is innocent. Right now, the only information I have acquired from Hayato is surface level things. Like his name, for example.

"Do you want to talk?"

"Oh? So do you want to hang out, then?"

* * *

 ** _Do you want to free time with Hayato Akimoto?_**

 ** _Yes/No?_**

* * *

"...Okay..." Going to the nearest table, we both sat down opposite to each other. Hayato, much like his speech pattern, sits down in a very proper way. His back is straight and his eyes focus on me.

"Any information you desire? Teaming up together might be the best way to defeat the mastermind, but do not expect me to take your side in petty matters, Nishiki-san."

"...Oh..." Due to me not being able to touch technology, I alone was spared from the motive. The general chaos that transpired afterward caused me to have no time to ask Kazuhiko or anybody else about it. "What was the motive?"

"...What brings that on...?"

"I did not receive a video, so I'm curious what was on it to make everybody act so anxious."

"...If you so desire to know, we were shown a video with somebody we hated giving us a message. Apparently, the whole world is searching for us right now, including the Committee...At the end, it revealed the true motive. Whoever kills somebody and gets away with it will have their greatest enemy killed...I've no intention of telling you anymore."

"That explains a lot..." Chances are Hayato will not want to continue this conversation if the mood stays the same. He would probably stay but not truly be invested in the subject of our little talk.

"Anything else?"

"...!" Hayato is one of the people that know Japanese, other than Shinichi and Mirabilis. Mirabilis is off trying to find Takayuki still, due to her not being here I can only guess she moved on to the kitchen, and Shinichi, who is currently in the library. He is also the easiest to talk to. "...Can you teach me Japanese?"

"Huh? What brought this on?"

"Forbidden Actions."

"I can see that. So you want to know?"

"All I know is the basics. Kon'nichiwa, hello, arigato, thank you, and sayōnara, goodbye. I also know the honorifics. Kazuhiko knows more, but he barely uses it since nobody really speaks Japanese nowadays."

"It's better than nothing, Nishiki-san. So what do you want to know first?"

"You can tell me what the letters on my bracelet say." I place my hand on the table. Hayato leans over the table, allowing himself to be engulfed by the red light emitting from it. Let me tell you, sleeping with this thing has not been the easiest. Even when placing my blanket over it, the light still finds a way to blind Kazuhiko and me's eyes, since we sleep together. Each night we alternate between our rooms since the rules allow us to do so.

"The first letter here, 電, roughly means electricity. This whole sentence, 電子デバイスに触れることはできません, or Denshi debaisu ni fureru koto wa dekimasen, is actually a mistranslation. It is written like it is English, even though the Japanese and English languages have different styles of grammar." So it is not correct Japanese? Why wouldn't it be? Except...

"...The mastermind doesn't know Japanese!" Both of us are silent. Yes, that is the only explanation! Why else would the mastermind make grammar mistakes? I think whoever the mastermind is had enough time to fix stuff like this, except if they didn't know it was broken! That lowers the possible list of masterminds. Once the group comes together again, I must tell Kazuhiko and the others this information.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Everybody in the room, like Hayato and I, shut up. Even Kira and Cassius, who were still arguing over which one of them is the true Ultimate Jeweler. The people in the kitchen all come out as well, observing their surroundings.

"W-what was that?" Naoko questions all of us.

"Another villain of the week! Another person in need of purifying!" Mirabilis yells out. Naoko and Takayuki both cover their ears.

"Guys!" At that moment, the people from the library, except for Mitsuru, Akita, Miyuki, and Minato, open the door harshly.

"Kazuhiko!"

"Monokuma just gave us this," informs Tsukiko. I, along with everybody else, rush over to see what is in Tsukiko's hands. It is a piece of paper.

"Yeah, it reads that somebody is dead," adds-on Namita. "And, no matter what, none of us can find Akita or Naoko. Did you perhaps succeed in finding Naoko?"

"I-I'm right here..." Naoko begins to shrink again. Her back is probably not the most healthy because of a vast number of times she lowers her spine.

"That leaves Akita..." Kazuhiko says. He returns to my side. "Has anybody tried to hurt you?"

"No? You?" I whisper back. He shakes his head. "Good."

"I, Cassius Ambrose Irvine Jacobson the Third, demand to know where three of my other 'classmates' are," he demands. His chin is all the way up in the air and his finger is pointing directly to Takara. He should know that there is a hundred percent chance that Takara will not answer.

"..." Takara is with Shinichi again. He begins to make some forms with fingers but decides to stop midway.

"My darling Yuki-Yuki has found a way to the second floor!" Satoshi cries out. Running towards Mirabilis, he steals some of her rose petals and throws them to the floor. "Oh! How lovely she is!" Mirabilis responds by smacking his hand with her wand and picking up her roses. Satoshi, however, does not react to this pain.

"Ask first!" Mirabilis pouts once again.

"Back on topic, does anybody know who just laughed right now?" Tsukiko inquiries.

"N-no, but it sounded like a w-woman!" Kyoto replies. He immediately hides his face from everybody, especially the women. The only reason why we can remotely talk is that Kyoto confused me for a boy when we first meet. Then again, I did dress up like a boy, had short hair, and practiced how to make my voice deeper for months on end with Kazuhiko, who I was just friends with at the time, so I do not blame him. It was a boy's only contest for hacking. I won first prize, using my boyfriend's name as my own, and Kyoto came in close second...like always. Even with Akemi and chess, he came in close.

"A woman? Where's Akita-chan?" Kazuhiko takes out his e-Handbook, and everybody else quickly follows him. I look over his shoulder, taking in real caution to make sure I do not touch it.

"...What...?" When Kazuhiko opens the app, everybody, but Minato, Mitsuru, and Miyuki is in the cafeteria. Akita's icon, however, is nowhere to be found.

"...!" Like always, all of us stare, trying to make the most sense of the reality in front of us. Even though most of us probably understand the truth, none of us wanted to come to terms with it. There are high chances that the Killing Game has already had its first victim, just like the letter told us. Monokuma was not lying.

"Alright, we gotta split up in groups to find Akita! Now!" Namita screams out.

"Minus Akita, Miyuki, Minato, and Mitsuru, there's seventeen of us here. That's an odd number." Not caring about this, Namita takes Takara's notebook and begins to write in it as fast as she could. Which is supremely fast, probably because of her experience as an event planner.

"Okay, Takayuki, Naoko, and Yasu go outside and the outer patio, plus some section of the dorm hallway. Takara, Kyoto, and Shinichi will check the pool. Hotaru, Cassius, and Mirabilis are in charge of the small gym and rec room. Ayano and Hayato check in on the library and sees if the three there need any help. Kira and Akemi will be put in the garden. Kazuhiko and Satoshi continue exploring the hallway and storage closet. Tsukiko and I will alternate between areas, starting with this hallway. Alright, everybody out!"

"Kazuhiko, where should we meet after this?" I whisper in his ear while secretly kissing it. Public acts of affection will, once again, be one of the mistakes that would gives us a massly difficult time getting out of here.

"We should meet at the storage closet, especially if a Body Discovery Annoucement plays," he responds. Kazuhiko winks at me while he goes off with Satoshi to...probably explore just the storage closest. Kazuhiko, if you are thinking dirty thoughts, that would be way too obvious.

* * *

"So what do you think about this, Hayato?" I raise the question.

"What brings this on?"

"Curiosity," answers I. We are just about to the library. Looking over, I see the pool, rec room, small gym. I have not been in any of those rooms before. There is a higher chance of those being ruined too than them bringing any enjoyment. I, for one, do not desire to see the current state of the pool. Swimming in it is just a bigger no-no. The chance of infection, possibly deadly, is too high.

"I shall remain neutral on all matters..." Hayato himself probably realizes that we're searching for a corpse too. Akita is a nice girl, but there is no other explanation for everything that is transpiring. Of course, if she is the corpse, that still does not answer the question of who was laughing. Whoever killed her must have done it before, or they wouldn't be in the library or the cafeteria.

"Is neutrality really the way?"

"For a businessman like me, we should be neutral on all matters to fully utilize our talent, Nishiki-san. Your talent, hacking, involves some degree of picking a side, unlike a salesperson, who desires only to find what is best for our current patient."

"..." Guess that does make sense. I have never been a salesperson before since Kazuhiko is the one who secures all of our deals, and never bothered to become friends with one. Before this, all the ones I knew would most accurately be described as snakes. Hayato, from the looks of everything, is a step higher from all of them. Maybe that is why he is the only Ultimate, for he can actually have people trust in him.

"Neutrality, huh? What about despair and hope?"

"I chose none. That's the whole concept." Then we finally reach the doors of the library. They are the size of every other door of the building, being about seven feet tall for people like me to not constantly hit ourselves on the head. It, unlike everything else, which was a dull grey of metal, is brown and is crafted from rotting wood. It is kinda gross opening and closing the whole thing.

"...Okay..."

"I shall open the door for you, Nishiki-san." Even Hayato has troubles touching it, although he puts on the best fake smile I have seen in my life. Quickly, he opens it. "You can now enter."

"Hm?"

"Hello, Banda-san, Ueda-san, and Kobyashi-san! Where are you?"

"Finally, you come!" When we turn our heads, we notice that Mitsuru, Miyuki, Minato have made a chain of people up to the top. Well, that is certainly a way to do it. "You shitheads made us wait forever!"

"Calm down, Mitsuru, I'm sure they mean well," Minato comforts. Minato is at the top, probably because both of the girls are wearing skirts. Their skirts are pretty long, but I have been told enough about anime from Kazuhiko to know how bad the outcome can be. Even though I cannot clearly make out Minato's gender, the girls are not taking a chance.

"Is everyone alright?" questions Miyuki.

"...We can't find Yamazaki-san..." replies Hayato. "We even checked our maps and found her icon to be missing."

"What?! Are you fucking kidding me?" Mitsuru is about to tip everybody over, because she is on the bottom, yet balances herself just in time.

"...Akita? What happened to Akita?"

"Shall we discuss this while we're in the new library? We shall trade information up there," chimes in Miyuki. Everybody nods their head. Hayato and I just wait where we are.

"What's taking you? Climb up us! It's kinda hard to carry these two!" yells out Mitsuru. Hayato, more so than me, looks on in pure terror. This is scarier for any man than being in the actual Killing Game. The chances that something like this is involved in Satoshi's possible execution is almost one-hundred percent.

"...Can you please go first Nishiki-san?"

"Sure." Making my way over to where the hole is, I begin to climb up on Mitsuru, starting with her shoulders. This is what I believe most people call a benefit for being tall. Making my way up to Miyuki, I pass by her and Minato with ease. I reach up to the top, feeling the ground below. It actually feels like genuine wood! And not the rotting kind.

"Akimoto-kun, can you please come up now?" Everybody, including Minato, look like they're about to give out. All of them have stayed in that position for way too long and probably have their muscles giving out on them. Even the stronger people here have their limits. Miyuki gives out a tiny cough but reassures everybody that it is nothing. Most likely case is all the hazardous materials in the air here, but there is still a tiny chance that it is something else.

"...Alright, if you so insist..." Not wanting to see the possible horror, I take this time to explore the new library open to us. The first thing to note is that it is the exact same size as the old one, just without any of the decay and mistreatment. Or computers. All around me are bookcases with various different kinds of books. Looking over one section, it is nonfiction and has a lot of novels detailing the events of the Tragedy and previous Killing Games. This will be extremely useful later on.

Overall, there are twelve bookshelves in total, all with twelve shelves filled to the brim with books. There are even some of them that I found in what I will now call the 'Tragedy' section translated by Shinichi Fujimoto. Around the library, there's probably more. In one the corners, there is a simple desk with a single light on it for decoration. Strangely enough, there is no chair. The most impressive thing, however, is the giant chandelier in the middle. It lights up everything in this room, not leaving one corner untouched.

"Oh my..." My eyes sparkle with enjoyment. Or, you know, the chandelier.

"...Let's never do that again..." Hayato comes up behind me with a single bruise on his face. I am not going to bring it up. Nope.

"Alright? What's this shit with Akita being missing? If you tell me she's dead, I'm punching you in the face!" shouts Mitsuru from all the way down below. Minato is the first one up and pulls Miyuki with general ease. Taking more time is Mitsuru, but eventually, she makes it with the all of us.

"She's missing. Nobody can find her." Mitsuru, huffing, pulls out her e-Handbook and begins to search the map.

"What the fuck is this shit?"

"It seems that they are telling the truth, Mitsu-cho," responds Miyuki. She too has come to the same realization with her own e-Handbook.

"No! That can't be!" cries out Minato. "She's...she's in the Hospital!"

"...People appear when they're in the Hospital, Ueda-san," informs Hayato.

"There has to be an explanation! There has to be!" Minato begins to tear up. "Akita can't be gone! She can't! What about the second floor? Maybe she found a way to access the rest of it!"

"Impossible," I reply. Minato, looking over the room, starts to knock on random parts of the wall and pulling out books.

"...What are you doing?"

"Finding a way to the rest of the second floor!" Now that I think about it, Minato is right, only on the second floor part. There is no door and the only entrance into this room is from the first-floor library. Where is the access to the rest of the second floor? "Akita had to get up here and find out something!"

"...But we were the first ones up here, Ueda-san..." Miyuki begins to cough again and covers her mouth. "Yamazaki-san couldn't come up here since nobody noticed her."

"..." Once again, there is only silence filling up the room. At least the people from the previous Killing Games were ignorant until the death began, but most of us have already experienced it. This is a different world. Death, especially for those of the lower classes, is just another part of everyday life. How the mastermind can create despair out of this is curious. Because this world has already fallen and only fools itself with the Committee, a corrupt group of assholes.

Then, to break our silence, there is the sound of bells ringing. From the speaks from the library below, we could surprisingly hear Monokuma loud and clear.

 _A body has been discovered. After a brief period of investigation, there will be a class trial._

"Fuck..."

"I'm going! It's not Akita!"

"Minato, wait!" I demand. They do not listen to me and jump down to the first floor. There is a giant thump when Minato landed, but, by some miracle, Minato gets back up on their own two legs and begins running towards the door. "...We do not even know where Akita is..."

"Alright, we should all go down carefully..." Miyuki advises, still covering her mouth. "How shall go first? I shall go last to help all of you make it to safety."

"...I will go first to make sure everybody gets down safety..." I look at the bruise on Hayato's cheek.

"...I think I should go."

"Okay!" responds Mitsuru. Leaning over the edge, Mitsuru gives me a thumbs up. That is the most likely sign for the get go. I travel down some of her body and then jump to the floor. Luckily it is not that high of a jump. Somebody would only get injured jumping down if they are what some people call idiots. Of course, scientists today say that the human body is becoming more stronger than before. Maybe it is because of chemicals? No, would not surprise me if the Committee secretly gives everybody steroids. That would be humane for them. And extremely possible, ranging in the sixty percent range.

"Good."

"Next person!" Hayato comes after me and successfully gets down without being punched again. Well, he could have been kicked. Actually, it would make more sense if somebody kicked him.

"Yuki!"

"Mitsu-cho, why are you calling me Yuki? There is already somebody else here that goes by that name."

"I don't care, Yuki!" Sighing, Miyuki gets helped down by Mitsuru. After that, Mitsuru jumps down herself and lands perfectly. I guess all of us are in good shape. That increases our odds of survival not only in this Killing Game but the real world as well. Get out of one shitty situation to land in another. Such is a life of a hacker.

"What do we do now?" questions Hayato.

"Idiot, we search for the body. The investigation is already going!" shouts Mitsuru right in his ear.

"Maybe we should go into groups. It is dangerous going alone and this makes us cover more land," says Miyuki. "The killer has already killed one person and we all have solid alibis. Going after one of us would be foolish."

"If you say so. I'm looking over the pervert over here. You two girls have fun!" Mitsuru, with her unwilling victim in hand, leaves the library. Only if Hayato can speak a word and use his talent without going through another beating. Note to self, Mitsuru can make talents meaningless and do not mess with her. Too bad I cannot hack anything or all of us will be out of here and nobody would be dead.

"Shall we depart as well, Nishiki-san?" I nod my head and both Miyuki and I make our way out as well.

* * *

The first room of our search, since we noticed that Mitsuru and Hayato went towards the garden, is the rec room. This room, unlike the library, does not have a rotting door so that is a breath of fresh air. Opening it and not fearing for the worse, the both of us see Cassius inside all by himself. Whether or not he left his group or they left him has yet to be seen. Both of them are very likely.

The rec room has been compromised much like most of the other rooms here. There's only an outline of where the pool table is, being rendered unplayable by the mass amounts of vegetation making its home on it. The magazine rack does not have magazines but little tiny flower buds. Shelves that used to hold something now have its original inhabitants scattered across the floor, forgotten by time and replaced by weeds. Lights cover the room, but, since most of them have been compromised, the room is dark and gives off a dark aura.

"Cassius?"

"That's Lord Cassius Ambrose Irvine Jacobson the Third to you!"

"Lord Cassius Ambrose Irvine Jacobson the Third, may we ask you a few questions?" Miyuki bows down to him. I stay my ground, not seeing the benefit of shmoozing with a spoiled brat. That usually does not give you the information you need. Even if by some miracle you do get information, it is usually flawed or overly bias.

"Of course you can."

"Was your group the one who triggered the Body Discovery Announcement?"

"No. How can anybody do such a horrid thing like murder while somebody of my stature is here!? I am a noble of the most righteous family in all of history, not a fellow commoner like all of you! It is almost as great of a sin as nothing washing for days on end!"

"...But none of us can wash..." Sure, we all smell and look like shit. After a few days, your eyes and ears get used to it but still crave for once was normal.

"Do not remind me! What a great tragedy! And all of this mess! Even the lowest of commoners will find this repulsive! How I would do anything for my maids to come here and clean up this mess! Besides murder! Nobody of my rank shall ever murder!" Running out of the room crying, Miyuki and I find ourselves in the dark.

"...Nishiki-san, now we have learned that none of the areas Cassius checked was the site of the murder? Shall we check the pool next?"

"Sure." It will not be the most pleasant of experiences, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

"Boo!" Hotaru, out of nowhere, jumps onto my back and takes off my beanie, revealing the 'ahoge' underneath it. Kazuhiko says that is what they are called, so that is probably what they are called. Apparently, it is a popular hair style in old anime. "So that's what's underneath~"

"Yes."

"You're no fun," Hotaru places the beanie back on my head and cartwheels out of here.

"Let's go, Nishiki-san, for there is somebody that needs to find peace in this world."

"...Wait...I want to check the dorm hallway...Can you see the pool without me?"

"What, Nishiki-san...?"

"Have to go! Bye!" In the end, Miyuki is left alone in the dark, confused. Too bad I have to go visit with Kazuhiko. I would have loved to get to know Miyuki better, but, considering there is a murder, being with him is the best shot I have right now. There is a reason why we are considered one of the best teams that damnable Committee has to offer. Our success rate is about ninety-nine percent. Sure, solving a murder and figuring out secrets behind the biggest competitors for the Committee are two completely different things, yet I am sure I will get used to it. Only if Takayuki could actually speak, then our odds of solving murders would also be ninety-nine percent.

* * *

Making my way over to the storage closet, I see Kira and Akemi doing their job in the garden. And nothing important happened. So I reach my destination, which is right in front of the storage closet.

"Ayano-chan!" Kazuhiko yells out and immediately hugs me. We are about to kiss before we both hear somebody's footsteps coming down the hallway.

"Oh, is this what I think it is? Friendship!" Satoshi, by all accounts of all of my data, is definitely what somebody like Mitsuru would call an idiot. Even being a bartender does not save him from having any romantic knowledge whatsoever.

"...Yeah..." we both answer at once. Nobody here actually has meet Satoshi before. He is doing illegal stuff, like being a bartender while only being a teenager, but the Committee does not seem to mind having him around. Then again, Hope's Peak is the kind of school that allows serial killers and yazukas in their schools. Having a bartender is not that much of a stretch.

"Well, I'm out to find the body!" Automatically, Satoshi enters the cafeteria. Pretty sure the body is not in there, except if it is in the cellar or bathroom. The cellar is actually a good place to hide a body, but considering there is a bartender here, the cellar is going to be used and it will be found. But then comes the possibility that Satoshi is the person whose dead in there, or that he died before. It would take a little more time, especially if Hotaru is dead or in no mood to trick everybody into becoming drunk again.

"Should we check outside? I haven't heard from those three in a long time?"

"Wait, have you seen Minato come? Or perhaps Mitsuru and Hayato?"

"Mitsuru and Hayato did come...That poor, poor man, not even somebody of his skills cannot outrank the will of Mitsu-cho. Minato, however, has not be seen? Do you know where Minato is?...Don't tell me that poor soul got lost again..."

"The highest probability is that Minato did...Anyways, we should check the others if they haven't returned for some time." Looking around the hall, we check if anybody else is here. Sure, the people that know us before know we're in a relationship, yet we cannot take chances. Taking chances in the Killing Game and not being the Ultimate Lucky Student, like Matoko Naegi, or Nagito Komaeda from the hidden Third Killing Game, is basically suicide. Then, because the only threat is Satoshi, who can probably be convinced that two people having sex are just friends, we begin to hold hands while walking down the corridor.

* * *

When we open the door to the outside patio and stop holding our hands, Kazuhiko and I both immediately feel the intense atmosphere. It is like somebody is stabbing a billion knifes into my soul and then sewing up all my wounds with a needle and thread.

"What's going on here?" Turning my head over, the first thing I see is a copious amount of blood everywhere. It all falls down and leads to one bloodied corpse, surrounded by shocked people. Yasu has fallen asleep once again. Mitsuru has punched the wall enough to leave a hole as big as her fist in it. Naoko is in shock while Takayuki and Hayato both try to help her calm down. I do not blame her, for seeing a corpse in this bad of condition has somebody like me feel faint.

In total, there are about twenty-one visible stab wounds, which includes the socket of her eye with the scar. There is also a massive dent in her head that undoubtedly caused blunt force trauma. Her heart has the most likely murder weapon, a kitchen knife, stabbed inside it. Nothing at the crime scene could be used for blunt force trauma, so there has to be something else hidden somewhere in the school. The weirdest thing though is that, besides all of this brutality, Akita has her eyes closed and is smiling.

Akita Yamazaki, the Ultimate Mediator, in her death, is the happiest I have ever seen her.

* * *

 **YOU NEVER SEE IT CCCCOOOOOMMMMMMMIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGG. You seriously don't know how many times I evilly laughed while watching that poll.**

 **Now, for another poll (which is mostly there because the investigation is happening soon) is who you guys think the killer is.**

 **This chapter was originally supposed to be longer, but I was like...Ayano, you know there's a person dead, why are you hanging about at the pool? THERE'S A DEAD PERSON. So that was moved.**

 **...I own Commander so many cookies now...and my author's notes only get longer and longer. I swear, these can be stories themselves.**

 **I'm also thinking of possibly writing another fanfiction since this story is getting updated a lot. So, you know, it doesn't end up getting updated every day. Thanks to Rin, there's a lot of new readers and they need to catch up. I treat all my readers with the same respect. We all get mind fucked together...**

 **And my mom reads this story with this kind of language. I've got the coolest mom in the world. XD**

 **...Also, all this time Ayano has been my character. XD I tried to find a way to not make it suspicious by introducing her late and saying she came from an anon. But all other anons are real users, don't worry. Me not accepting them would be suspicious. :P**

 **Reviews:**

 **-Harukawa Ayame: That's the point. I feel like I should rename the last chapter to Requiem of a Dream...because it is my name and also fits. Welcome to the Garden of Blush. Well, that person did kinda kill her. Thanks. :D Now the answer all your questions and leave you broken in another way.  
**

 **-TheRoseShadow21: Poor Naoko is like...please stop but too polite and scared to do anything. Give Naoko love. A lot, Akita needs help. Especially because she's dead. Thanks for the correction. Rin, you had one job...okay, several and I still like you, Rin. Yes, I'm Yu-Gi-Oh trash now and I need help. It is a little reference for the fangirl side of me. :D Thank you.**

 **-Hyperbrachydios: People dying when they are killed. I'm not revealing anything other than that. ;) That also gets explained later on. Commander is right when she says I explain things. Ayano: *turns out to be the true protagonist* Akita: *decoy***

 **-0B13: Akita needs help. Class trial is coming to clear up everything. People will then be very, very broken.**

 **-tobi-is-an-artist-too: I'm actually being productive even while being in college. High school me is the complete opposite. I swear, if I was still my younger self, we'll still be in the prologue and not with a dead person. She really should, although it will be hard to talk to a corpse (I shall never stop). Naoko and everybody else here needs hugs. Except for the mastermind. Stop pretending to know Japanese mastermind.**

 **-Katastic Writer: Thanks. I'm glad you decided to read my story. I'll admit that my story telling isn't for everyone. Especially because the saying all writers are sadists probably applies to me. You know it, MOM. I know you're reading this. XD Hopefully.**

 **-AnonChan1: Hideyoshi is not a nice person. Naoko is safe...for now. Tsukiko and Namita are team moms. Class Trial. ;) Shouldn't surprise anybody one of my favorite anime is Higurashi. Nope, class trial. And investigation. Class trial~Akita and Naoko just both need hugs by this point. I'm a Gemini and a twin in real life. :P Yep, Akita's deader than dead.**

 **-CaptainDallasGQ: Yep. Thank you. Now for all your questions to be solved. Because I'm nice and kill all your favorite characters. Since I'm so nice.**

 **-CommanderofInsanity: *gives away all of my cookies* Goddammit. While everybody is confused, you're laughing in the corner. :P**


	12. Investigation 1-1

**Investigation 1-1: There's no Kill Like Overkill**

* * *

Despite being the happiest I have ever since Akita, there is this feeling that something is not right about that smile. Most likely because it is a dead person who was brutalized. I did not spend a lot of time with Akita before this, and most of my information about her comes directly from Kazuhiko, Takayuki, and the higher ups in the Committee. Not the most reliable group of people. Hey, I love Kazuhiko and all, but even I have to admit that he loves blowing things out of proportion. Way out of proportion...

Examining the body further, I see that most of the stab wounds are not really stabs. They are more small peaks on the skin, barely enough to make the skin break and bleed. The only serious injuries are the one to the eye, which cannot be examined more due to it being closed, and the one to the heart. One of her wrists is also slit, matching Naoko's testimony. This is more like a torture technique before finally killing Akita, which only makes her smile all the more confusing. Maybe perhaps she is into that kind of thing? Or she knew the person doing it to her and did not mind being killed for their safety? Or maybe being forced to smile through outside means? Possible laughing gas? No, we have not seen anything remotely related to laughing gas here, but there is still a small chance that the killer was the first one to find it.

Plus, due to the pattern of the blood, it is clear that Akita was standing up before her death. Whether or not she fell down before or after her death is something to found out with more evidence. The most obvious murder weapon is the knife currently in her death, but the wounds, other than the slit, do not have the same...wound as the knife. Perhaps there is another weapon that we have not found yet, along with whatever created the massive dent in Akita's head. So there is a high chance of two other murder weapons.

"Shit!" Mitsuru has yet to notice that, at this point, there will no longer be a wall if she keeps punching it. Then a lot of evidence would be erased out of a simple act of anger. That has happened before, from what Takayuki has told me, and it is not what most people would call fun.

In my mind, although Mitsuru can be helpful, she is way too impulsive and answers with fists other than logic. She should have learned her lesson by now, considering she is an adult, yet she keeps thinking that punching everything is the answer. There is no chance for her to not be hot-headed in any situation. Her latest victim has been that wall.

"...B-blood! Blood everywhere!" Naoko tries to hide her face. She must not be as used to the sight of blood as most people here. Then again, she is a lot younger than a lot of us. Most students here are in the sixteen to eighteen age range, but there are a few that are younger.

"..." Takayuki is strangely supportive of Naoko. I do not know him that well personally, so his 'jerkass' attitude can be something blown out of proportion by Kazuhiko. Again.

"Dammit, this wasn't supposed to happen," Kazuhiko curses right next to me. "This was supposed to be a story where nobody dies! Where the twenty-one of us together...excluding the mastermind...take down despair!"

"...That clearly wasn't going to happen," I respond. All of the Killing Games, no matter what, ended up with death. It is a foregone conclusion. Though the amount of survivors varies from each one. The first only had one, the second had six, seven if somebody was stupid enough to write down Genocide Jill as a person, the third five and the fourth four. That gives us the greatest chance that only about six survivors, but, being a bigger group, something has to happen to vastly decrease the amount of students living.

"I knew that...but one has to hope in this situation..."

"Hope is something long lost..."

"...Ayano..."

"Oh no, Bitch-chan! How can we fare without thee?" Monokuma asks. I always knew that Monokuma would show up. This will be the part where he gives us the Monokuma File with information about Akita's death. Having that will vastly increase our odds of finding the culprit. Right now I have no clue who is the killer. I am not that great on profiling and can only examine a little bit due to limited experiences with crime scenes. The most important person to the investigation cannot even talk or write about it.

"Shut up!" Mitsuru is about to kick the bear but restrains herself. She holds on tightly to her necklace's locket. Whatever is inside the locket must be important to her.

"Mitsu-cho~" Monokuma somehow plays a voice clip of Akita. He is a robot, so it is not impossible for him to have that capability.

"You little piece of fucking shit!" Mitsuru then tries to attack Monokuma but Takayuki and Hayato do their best to hold her down. Afterward, Kazuhiko and I also join in with them since Mitsuru is somebody you do not want to be restraining with only two people. Naoko only stares at Akita's body.

"Calm down, kid! Getting worked up about this will do nothing but help Monokuma win," Yasu yells. Good to see that Yasu is feeling better again. The amount of times that Yasu has fainted is worrying.

"...Fine..." Mitsuru has stopped fighting against us but Takayuki and Hayato hold onto her just in case. We cannot lose somebody, especially a person that is as strong as Mitsuru, to Monokuma's punishment. There would be a lot more blood if Mitsuru gets stabbed to death with spears. No more stabbing to death in this spot.

"Now that little distraction is over, time for the Monokuma File!" Somehow Monokuma makes confetti fly all around him. Whoever designed this robot is really talented. This Monokuma probably has more functions than the previous ones, so that gives us more reason to not suddenly decide to stage a fruitless revolt.

"Okay..." I say, not exactly knowing how to properly respond. Monokuma greatly annoys me. I have heard many stories about many kinds of Killing Games by many types of people in the past, yet everybody excluded the fact that Monokuma loves to hear himself talk. A lot. Most of his time with us is spent with him ranting about things that cross in his mind, about eighty percent. His approval rating within the students, besides the mastermind and possible lackeys, is zero percent. Nobody likes him.

I hear a beeping come from everybody's e-Handbooks. This Forbidden Action of mine is one of the worse, but, unlike Takayuki's, it does not make me pointless. Minato's also forces him to wear something that you can only find in the hidden room of bedrooms in people really into S&M. Complaining about something that only makes my main talent useless would only make the other two feel worse about themselves. Building morale, especially for those already stuck with these new bracelets, is one of the main priorities.

"Ayano." Once again, I look over Kazuhiko's shoulder. It is not that hard to do since I am a lot taller than him. Everybody else is now opening the section of the device that is labeled Truth Bullets.

* * *

 ** _Monokuma File #1_**

 ** _Victim-Akita Yamazaki, Ultimate *Spoiler*...I ain't telling you kids_**

 ** _Height-Five feet, six inches_**

 ** _Weight-One-hundred and eighteen pounds_**

 ** _Chest size-Eighty-five centimeters_**

 ** _Blood Type-B_**

 ** _Birthday-April Fourth_**

* * *

 ** _Victim 2-Chiyo Jinya, Ultimate Mediator_**

 ** _Height-I don't know_**

 ** _Weight-Seriously, there's no way to measure this anymore_**

 ** _Chest size-Seriously. Monokuma, what the...why is the height and chest size in different measurements?_**

 ** _Blood Type-O...at least we know that_**

 ** _Birthday-December Tenth_**

* * *

 ** _Victim 3-Sae Emiya, *Spoiler*_**

 ** _Height-Five feet, eight inches_**

 ** _Weight-One-hundred and twenty pounds_**

 ** _Chest size-Eighty-five centimeters_**

 ** _Blood Type-B_**

 ** _Birthday-May Eleventh_**

* * *

 ** _Cause of Death_**

 ** _The victim is Akita Yamazaki, along with Chiyo Jinya and Sae Emiya._**

 ** _The body was discovered on the outside patio, where one of the entrances of Hope's Peak Academy: Suicide Forest Branch is._**

 ** _The estimated time of death is believed to be around 5:30 PM._**

 ** _There are eighteen mysterious stab wounds that only pierce the skin and nothing more. Three wounds, on the eye, the wrist, and the heart are deeper. There is blunt force trauma applied to the back of the head._**

* * *

"What. The. Hell." Mitsuru, who was released earlier by Hayato and Takayuki to read her e-Handbook, hurls the device into the very hold she made in the wall. "What's this fucking shit?!...Sae?!"

"C-calm down!" Naoko tries to yell but only makes a small, barely audible whisper. She is shaking. The amount of courage somebody has to have to be able to do that to the Ultimate Sukeban is incredible.

"I don't need to be fucking calm! What is this bullshit?! Whose Chiyo?!"

"Banda-san-"

"Don't call me that!"

"...Banda-san, that is what the investigation is for," Hayato adds-on, not listening to what Mitsuru has to say. Mitsuru, glaring at him, takes a deep breath before her muscles relax.

"Good to know you're back to your senses, kid," Yasu responds.

"Oh thank God," Takayuki comments. He is studying the e-Handbook very carefully, nitpicking every word before returning his attention to Akita's body. Then he taps on Naoko's shoulder, which results in her jumping, and points toward Akita's body.

"What's going on here...Oh my God!" Tsukiko and Namita come to the patio next and lay their eyes on the body. Both of them, understandably, look horrified at what they discovered. Their handbooks beep as well and they read the same Monokuma File.

"...Um, we need to find the others and tell them where the body is," Namita states. "After that, we need to split into groups to properly perform the investigation. Let's see...of the people here, Mitsuru should guard the body. I guess Takayuki and Naoko can examine it futher...and everybody else should explore the school for any possible clues, especially the library."

"We should really find everybody else, for it seems like the Monokuma File only activates once you see the body," Tsukiko elaborates. "Hayato and Yasu, you two come with me to check on the other students."

"Alright, kid, there's nothing better for me to do."

"If you really think that is what's best, Oda-san," Hayato replies. Immediately, the newly formed team of four leave the patio, leaving us with the dead body.

"Hey, Ayano, check this out." Kazuhiko then points me back at his screen. Instead of the Monokuma File, there is a list with the title of Truth Bullets. Truth Bullets are something that most history classes, except if you are lucky enough, which is highly unlikely, to get a college class with a professor that actually knows what they are talking about, but my father knows anything and everything about all of the Killing Games. He probably can site how many blades of grass Akane Owari was tricked to eat by Hiyoko Saionji in the Neo World Program during the Third Killing Game.

"Truth Bullets."

"I remember you mentioning something about this before-"

"Hey, what are you two doing over there? What are you, lovebirds?" Mitsuru questions.

"Actually-"

"Shut up, Takayuki!...You don't want to activate your Forbidden Action?" Kazuhiko starts scratching the back of his head and his cheeks redden. Stop being so cute or I would have a hundred percent chance of wanting to kiss you. Wait, I always want to do that.

"Correct."

"Whatever," Takayuki focuses back on Akita. Even though they constantly fought a lot, their teamwork was incredible. Akita was the face and insider, gathering insight and getting out of tricky situations using all types of different appeals, and Takayuki was the one that solved the mysteries using that information Akita gave him. Plus, I have heard rumors that fighting them, especially in hand and hand combat, was something you did not want to do. Pity I could not examine their strategies in this Killing Game.

...Naoko seems like a replacement...

"I see what's going on here," Mitsuru laughs. "Don't worry. I'm not a sneak." She knows. Kazuhiko is horrible at hiding secrets, which is why he does his best while exposing them. The only thing I have not gotten out of him is whatever that article is. Whatever it is, it must be important. The Committee itself has always covered its existence, and Akita's complaining is the way I figured about it in the first place. There is something bigger going on here.

"O-oh!" Naoko, now joining in the conversation again,

"Focus!" I yell.

"That changes nothing," Mitsuru, once again, responds. Most likely annoyed by the lack of progress, Kazuhiko pulls me out to the hallway.

"We need to make up a plan," Kazuhiko states.

"Split up?" I suggest. Since this is not a horror movie, and there are a fair amount of us here, it is not a horrible idea. Splitting up will allow us to cover more ground and have us report information to each other. There is a chance that just the two of us staying together would slow down progress and not allow us to gather enough information to capture the culprit.

"Again? But we just only got back together!" Kazuhiko is what some people would liken to a puppy. I will take this one time to throw science out of the window and say that through all of existence Kazuhiko is the cutest puppy, no thing, that has ever existed in the universe. He was not always like that, but, as they say, people change. Sometimes people go through what others would call an 'emo period.' Kotori probably caused it, that bitch.

"Yes."

"...Promise you you'll be okay..."

"I will." Just like a puppy, Kazuhiko can be overprotective and act like leaving the house for one hour means leaving for life.

"If you're sure. Where should we go-"

"Hello!" At the sound of Satoshi's voice, Kazuhiko jumps. Probably because he did not guess that Satoshi would randomly jump on his back. "Did you figure out where the body is?"

"The outside patio," I answer. "It's Akita Yamazaki."

"That's horrible! Who would do such a thing? A monster!" Satoshi shouts. He finally leaps off of Kazuhiko. Kazuhiko, however, is holding his hand up to his ear, probably because of how loud Satoshi is. "...Maybe there's evidence in the kitchen...or cafeteria...or both!"

"Should I go with him? Maybe that's where the knife is from," Kazuhiko asks. "It does look like something out of the kitchen. This murder is too like some on the streets..."

"Unfortunately, yes," I stare at Kazuhiko directly in his eyes. "That is why the word is without hope or despair, forever looming in the in-between, no matter what the Committee or True Despairs say. I am going to examine the body closer." I am not going to pretend I stand for neutrality, rather going for the much more rational nothingness. That is what my father taught me and I'm sticking to his principles.

"...Ayano...that's not true...! Why don't you listen to me?"

"...Once you tell me about the article, I'll listen." Easily looming over Kazuhiko with my height, I can see the fear in his eyes.

"I can't!" he screams. "...I'm sorry..." Instead of looking into my eyes, Kazuhiko turns his head the other way. Tears are forming in his eyes. Kazuhiko, from all of the years I have spent with him, has always been over-emotional and non-rational. Guess what they say about opposites attracting is true, yet there is a lot of situations like this. A difference of ideals. Of hope crashing with nothingness instead of its own opposite, despair. Instead of epic battles, there are only easily won arguments.

"That is what you always say. Hundred percent chance of an excuse and then an apology."

"...There's a reason..." I am sure that is what you tell everybody, in fact I experience you telling everybody that. The same thing over and over again. Akita would always treat you like shit, and Kotori would always treat you like even more shit.

"What am I? Just another 'scoop' for you? I'm sure that's what Kotori-"

"Shut up!" Kazuhiko is now glaring directly at me with his fist clenched up. He then starts to cry and holds me tightly. This is something I was not expecting, but, now thinking about it, it is not out of character for him. "I don't want to lose you!"

"...I don't want to lose you either..." Not wanting to leave him hanging, I return the hug. "Sorry." That sounds way too monotone for most people to believe, yet Kazuhiko is not like most people. He is one of the people that actually understand me.

"We've got a goal. Something we must do. Neither of us has to die...We'll write a scoop, no story, of there only being one murder! We'll rewrite the rules of this fucking stupid game!"

"Got to do our jobs for that...Don't do something stupid again." Having that little fight has wasted some time but our plan and teaming up with other students can make up for lost time. Working together greatly increases everybody's odds of survival.

"...I'm going then." Kazuhiko starts to walk off when he notices that Satoshi witnessed the whole fight. Satoshi watches over us, not knowing what to do and just standing there. If he still thinks we are just friends, I am marking him down as the dumbest person I have ever met. And, working with Kazuhiko, I have met a lot of people that have less than an average IQ.

"...Just gonna forget that ever happened," Satoshi comments. He innocently walks over to the cafeteria's doors and opens them. Kazuhiko, sighing, follows him. With that, I guess the only thing I can do now is return to where Akita's body is.

Before I reach the door, though, I notice that on Akita's door there is now a red stray painted X. Guess that is one of the ways Monokuma will now keep track of all the deaths that he selfishly caused for his own, messed up goals of despair. Honestly, I do not care for either hope or despair. It would be better if both of them do not exist, for that would have prevented all the events humanity has witnessed. It is better to just do nothing. Of course, Kazuhiko would not like that, and I need to keep on living for him. No matter what happens we stick by the other's side. Except for when we split up...for investigations...

* * *

With that over with, I can resume the investigation again. Just as I promised, I return back to the body, where Mitsuru, Takayuki, and Naoko stayed. Best to ask them about their findings and possibly finding other pieces of new evidence.

"Ayano, where's your boy toy?" Hotaru questions me. Wait, Hotaru? Even if she was not in the hallway, there are other ways to get to the outside patio...right?

"Cafeteria."

"Oh, you're not denying it then?"

"Wh-"

"A-Ayano, come here!" Naoko shouts out. Hotaru sighs as she goes down the steps towards the forest.

"Sure."

"If you mess up evidence, I'll bash your head in," Mitsuru threatens. Mitsuru, although she was constantly embarrassed by Akita's overbearing actions of affection, truly cared for her. There have been rumors inside the Committee that Akita was in Mitsuru's gang, the Black Guard. Even though the Black Guard and the Committee are in a truce until the True Despairs are defeated, there is still a stigma against gang members. Mostly because they are probably going to get erased once the truce is over. Having Mitsuru join Hope's Peak Academy is nothing more than a cruel joke. The higher ups love those.

"H-here! Truth Bullets!" Looking over Naoko's shoulder and on her e-Handbook, I can clearly see all the evidence that she and Takayuki gathered. Guess they are all pre-made and trigger with certain events taking place.

* * *

 _ **Truth Bullet #2-Knife/head wounds**_

 _ **There are in total twenty-one knife wounds. Eighteen are fairly light, barely breaking the skin, while the others, the wrist, the heart, and the eye are deep.**_

 _ **The head wounds, on the other hand, are both deep and could cause serious damage to the system.**_

 ** _These wounds prove that the death is intentional and not accidental._**

* * *

 ** _Truth Bullet #3-Akita's closed eyes_**

 ** _Akita's eyes have been closed by the killer. One of her eyes is stabbed and cannot be examined any further due to not being able to be opened._**

* * *

 ** _Truth Bullet #4-Akita's smile_**

 ** _Akita is smiling even though her death hints that she was tortured beforehand. Perhaps she knew the killer personally?_**

* * *

"Can I examine the body closer?"

"P-please do!" Naoko cries out. The first thing I examine is the wrist wound, because, due to Naoko's testimony from before, Akita was bleeding when they meet. It does look older than most of the scars. Examining the other wounds reveals nothing new other than they were most likely created during the same time period.

* * *

 ** _Truth Bullet #5-Time of Wounds_**

 ** _The first of the wounds, the one on the wrist, is most likely self-inflicted. All of the others are made during the same time and do not seem to be due to self-harm._**

* * *

"Oh! Look at that!"

"Interesting," Mitsuru comments as she is also paying attention to the e-Handbook. "Guess that once you witness the body everybody starts sharing the same Truth Bullets."

"...Screw this!" Takayuki, surprisingly, runs out of there and leaves the three of us women all alone. With a dead body, which also happens to be female. This turn of events is something I could not predict. Then again, this Killing Game has revealed to me that some people act crazy in these type of situation and are unable to accurately predict through traditional rationality.

"That happened."

"...There is something bothering me about this whole thing," Naoko says. "...Why did Akita die? Why did the killer have to stab her so many times?! Why is there three people stated in the Monokuma File?! Why are some of their talents censored? This doesn't make sense!"

"...Monokuma is probably trying to mess with us, that damn bear!" Mitsuru yells. Once again, she punches the wall. "But he isn't the type to lie. What the fuck is going on here?"

"Maybe somebody that knew her better would know the truth," I suggest. Although Mitsuru and Akita did have a connection, and Akita's crush on her was very clear, they still have not known each other for that long. The people that would know most about her are Kazuhiko and Takayuki. Maybe questioning them will bring some light into this very confusing mystery.

"...What's up?...Dammit, now I've got a chance of dying! Dammit!" Akemi, along with Kira, strolls through the door from the garden and, as if on cue, their e-Handbooks give out a little beep. Though the boy only reacts by kicking the door and not causing a dent.

"Seriously...? This...isn't right," Kira comments. She immediately goes back to the hallway, walking to a place I do not know. Perhaps the cafeteria since that is close by and has people there.

"Well, you guys can take care of yourselves, right? I'm off for my own little investigation," Akemi scoffs. Perhaps checking in on him will get me to know him better and gain more intel. Even though he is not the nicest person in the world, Akemi is smart and knows what he is talking about. His confidence can cloud his judgment, yet, knowing the nature of this game, he might finally be kicked off his high horse. Kyoto would be happy about that.

"Guys! Look down here! I found something!" Hotaru shouts. Guess she did not travel that far since her voice can still be clearly heard. Once again, I have to see another person's handbook to get a glimpse of the Truth Bullets.

* * *

 ** _Truth Bullet #6-Bloodied Blanket_**

 ** _Under the patio, there is a bloodied blanket that was hidden underneath some plants. It has the blood of the victim, Akita Yamazaki, on it._**

* * *

"...Bloodied blanket?" Wondering about it, I quickly hurry to where Hotaru ran off to. She is right there, right underneath our feet and the victim. Hotaru is grabbing the blanket, examining the blood on it.

"I don't know what to do. Here, you have it!"

"What?" The next thing I know there is a blanket in my arms and a Hotaru nowhere to be seen. Hotaru, from what I have witnessed from her, is interesting. She seems to be not taking the whole situation seriously and is always getting into pranks. Getting everybody drunk in a Killing Game, while fun for some people, is not the smartest idea in the world. I would love to see her with darts to examine her talent. And also examine her further as well since she seems to have a technique that allows her feet not to be infected with any illnesses. Even on this grass, which is hiding a rocky underneath, it is hard to not hurt yourself.

Talking about the surrounding, the Suicide Forest should have been investigated by the Committee already since they own this land and have the resources to make it out alive. The Suicide Forest is famous for one thing: suicide. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people committed suicide in this forest per day during the Tragedy. Why are none of their bodies showing up since the Committee was working on recovering all of them? Their recovery mission should have made them find us by now! This terrain, while still rocky, is tame for the Forest yet the trees are exactly like what people that survive this place tell them to be. And there is no sound since it is trapped here. What is happening here? What the Hell?!

...Kazuhiko would know more. Better ask him more about this creepy forest. I do the hacking, he does all the journalist stuff, including researching. Hacking does require some bit of research, but only for topics that are somehow related to your target. Kazuhiko researches stuff for the fun of it, knowing that anything can become important to any of his articles. Some of the best moments we have are when we are just on the couch, right by each other, reading some random books about random things that we are going to forget in a couple of days. We don't care...

"Hey, coming up? You've been staring at nothing for some time." Mitsuru asks while looking down at me. Quickly, I return back to where Naoko, who is no longer looking at the corpse, and Mitsuru are hanging out. Not wanting to be holding a bloody blanket anymore, I gently lay it back down to the place that Hotaru found it.

"D-do any of you have any ideas who did it?"

"Not yet! Dammit!" Once again, Mitsuru punches the wall. I guess that now that Mitsuru has her e-Handbook back she found a way to get it back. Not a surprise since the hole is now as big as somebody as short as Naoko.

"Where was everybody after the videos? Using the time of her death, Akita died an hour after..." Before I could finish my thoughts, I am interrupted by a scream coming from what seems to be next door. Which is the Hospital? Wait, if it is the Hospital, then whoever retrieved Mitsuru's handbook must have been injured. That can only be Naoko and there is what are most likely burns all over her legs. How did she get those?

"Attention, students!" Monokuma shouts. "I've to add a new rule since one of my students was acting really naughty!"

"What?"

 **Rule #17: A student may not remove their own NG Code by any** **means.**

"H-huh?!" Naoko switches her attention to Monokuma, who is whistling and avoiding eye contact. He is quite cowardly for somebody who claims to be the Ultimate Headmaster. Who would even give him, a teddy bear that is also a nefarious war criminal, an Ultimate title? It is not really out of character for Hope's Peak, though, for they did once have an Ultimate Serial Killer.

"Damn! What has Takayuki done?!"

"Takayuki?...That makes sense," I say. "I guess he was really tired of not being able to speak about the case."

"...!" Naoko immediately jumps into the hole, proving my theory. She is shaking but it is nice to see that she is taking a little bit of charge this time. Naoko is too much of a pushover for her own good. Then again I think she is the youngest out of all of us here, though I maybe wrong.

"Monokuma, explain yourself!" Mitsuru demands. "Why the Hell is there multiple people on this thing!? Chiyo? Sae?!"

"Dear student of mine, you can't boss around your superiors. That's what the Class Trial is for. Want to solve the mystery of this murder? You've to first solve the mystery of Akita Yamazaki! Puhuhuhu!" Mitsuru is about to punch Monokuma, but Monokuma actually, unintentionally or not, saves her life by disappearing at the right time.

"Shit! You aren't any superior of mine! My gang is gonna find this shithole and bust us out of here!"

"Calm down."

"Emote more! Stop being a damn robot!" She sits down next to Akita's body and sighs, looking at her old friend. "Why does everybody have to fucking die?"

"Mortality?" Everybody knows, even a child in this messed up age, that people die and go to whatever is the afterlife. You know, through all the tests I have done, it is probably nothing. Nothing. Nothing is as nothing does, that is my moto. Kazuhiko hates it. And I hate his hope talk. That makes us even.

"Shut up!" Mitsuru, once glazing the body over again, focuses on Akita's gloves. Her eyes are so determined. "...You know, I never got to see what's underneath these gloves. Akita was always secretive about it."

"Want to see?"

"...Yeah..." Without a second more, Mitsuru carefully pulls one of the gloves off of her friend's hands. The moment Mitsuru first sees what is underneath is when her eyes dilate. "...Dammit!"

"What?" Moving nearer to the hand, I notice that it is completely made out of metal. Her original hand is gone and the robotic one took its place. I have not heard about this technology. Has the Committee been hiding more secrets from the public that even Kazuhiko and I do not know about? What is the Committee planning? Throughout all of our research, we have not been able to answer that simple question. Hope? Neutrality? Nothingness? Despair? Or is it something else that we cannot comprehend?

"Akita...!"

"Do you know who did this to her?"

"I don't even have to think twice! It's that asshole, Hideyoshi Yamazaki!"

"Yamazaki?" Even though we know about his existence, and that he is the leader of True Despair, Kazuhiko and I did not know his last name. Pretty sure Akita said his name was Anno once but Mitsuru is more emotionally sound funny enough. Takayuki also told us otherwise and that they were not cousins as Akita brought up.

"...I said too much. Whatever! We're in a Killing Game! To Hell with rules!"

"So what is it?"

"That piece of shit is Akita's cousin and has kidnapped her multiple times to try to force her into his cult of despair," Mitsuru explains. "The first time it happened Akita was saved by my gang and I guess that's how she formed her crush on me. She kept calling me her 'Guardian Angel' and followed me everywhere like a lost puppy." She sighs as she glances to see what Akita has become. "Whoever did this will pay with Hideyoshi!"

"...Is there any new Truth Bullets?" I question. We have been here for some time, and the time is beginning to set. Of course, with all the trees, it barely makes a difference and is hardly noticeable.

"Look at this."

* * *

 _ **Truth Bullet #7-Baseball bat in closet**_

 _ **There is a baseball bat hidden in the closet that is covered with blood that is the victim's, Akita Yamazaki.**_

* * *

"Baseball bat...?" From what I searched, there were no baseball bats. Maybe there were some in the small gym or pool? The pool would make no sense, but, then again, this is Monokuma's game and he loves to screw with people's minds. That means the small gym needs to be searched. If there are no baseball bats there, then maybe the storage closet held more secrets then we originally thought.

"There were bats in here?! Bats were used to murder Akita!? Fuck!" Mitsuru is about to throw her handbook again, but, instead of doing that, she takes another deep breath.

"Should I go?"

"For what?"

"To investigate that bat," I say. "First, we must see if it is truly the weapon that was used to bash Akita's head in. Second, we must figure out where it came from."

"I guess so. There should be more company soon. Have fun and don't die."

"Wait!" Naoko shouts. She comes falling down the hole and Takayuki struggles to come after her. He is panting when he falls down, but, not only because of the hole, he seems to have no hand. However, there is now a bracelet on his other.

"Dammit. Almost worked." Takayuki sighs as he looks at his new stump of a hand. It is wrapped in bandages but is still bleeding. He then stares at the bracelet that came back to haunt him.

"Y-you shouldn't have done that!" Naoko shouts as she immediately hides her face afterward.

"Wait, Ayano is going to research some new evidence found in the storage closet. Do any of you want to go?" Mitsuru lays against some of the wall that she did not previously destroy. I guess that Monokuma does not count the wall as school property, or is letting it slide to mess with our investigation.

"Y-yes!" Naoko, shaking, latches onto my arm. She is adorable, that is an undeniable fact. If Kazuhiko is like a puppy, then Naoko is more of a kitten.

"..." Takayuki's only answer is to once again return to Akita's side and examine her. He then points at the hand and the glove that is in Mitsuru's hand still.

"Oh? We were just looking for evidence!" Mitsuru tries to laugh it off as Takayuki shakes his head. He may not be able to talk but the boy is still finding new ways to express his inner feelings. Feel like he is going to start spending a lot of time with Takara.

"Let's go."

"O-okay," Naoko replies. I begin to walk away from Mitsuru and Takayuki, with Naoko by my side, as she stays to continue to look after the body and he examines it more closely. Before Naoko and I could exit through the door, however, I hear somebody come up the steps of the patio.

"Hm? Is that Hotaru again?" Mitsuru asks. "It is about damn time she returns."

"...Akita...?" There is a beep. A beep that echos loudly throughout the entire forest, even though no sounds can travel far.

"Oh no..." This can only end badly. There is no outcome in my mind where this cannot end badly.

"This cannot be..." Minato stands there, right in front of me, looking at the brutalized corpse of the girl that they once called a friend.

The next thing I hear is screaming.

* * *

 **Oh my God, this is my first time writing a mystery and I don't know what I'm doing. Hopefully, I'm doing alright. Hopefully.**

 **And the reviews just get crazier and crazier.**

 **But, hey, there's now a spin-off for this series on my account named Extras of Despair, where stupid extra content takes place. And another story I'm working on called the Snowman's Replica. So, yeah, you can check those out if you want. P.S. the theme of this story is actually Neutrality VS. Nothing. This will make more sense as the story comes along. Hopefully.**

 **Now for the reviews~**

 **Harukawa Ayame-Yes, Ayano has an ahoge. You get some AyaKazu here...in the form of fighting and making up. Yea, I listen to fan desires y'all. Because of the secrets of Akita's mind. Aki will somehow return and be like BOO. Minato fans will now hate me. Yes, welcome Ayano with warm hugs. All my characters need them. Authors are cruel. Especially me.**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-Being stuck in her own mind would be way crueler than killing her. Oh, I'm known for being a messed up writer, y'all. I'm the one kid everybody worried about. I'm a big fan of Higurashi. It is one of my favorite anime and was my first horror one. Still my favorite horror one...BLAME THE CUTE BECAUSE HIGURASHI.**

 **The hazel-eyed bookworm-Indeed I did. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.**

 **0B13-Thanks. :) Ayano, we barely knew thee. Ayano went full Mulan and was like YYEEAAHH.**

 **AnonChan1-Because reasons. I love me some dream sequences. Should it surprise anyone that I'm a dream interpreter and psychology nut? Hotaru loves pranks y'all. Some girls just want to have fun...and get everybody drunk during a Killing Game. Kazuhiko is complex. NO, I'M A MAGICAL GIRL! That's survival instincts. Our shipping hearts, Mitsuru does care. Kazuhiko deserves some HUGS for how Akita hates him. Oh, Akita. Satoshi knows now...hopefully. Minato...um...uuuuummmm. LOVELY DEATH LOVELY. I'll not spoil the ships other than AyaKazu. I love that name. I'm gonna steal it. But there's gonna be destroying OTPs through feels as always.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-It is okay, you are not the only one. I've got a habit of screwing with people. I've also been told that I'm extremely good at lying. Thanks. :)**

 **dashunterman-Thanks. :D *claps too because theatre major instincts***

 **HyperBrachydios-Yes, and I'm out of cookies. I'm not saying aaannnnyyyttthhhhiiiinnngggg. Who says we're done with the mindfuck scenes? Dun dun dun. No, we're done. They're replaced with cute AyaKazu. Hotaru is Hotaru. Yes, there's a reason why there are twenty-one stab wounds. FORESHADOWING. I GOOD AT IT. When you can't reply to most of the review for fear for potentially spoiling things. I've got a bad habit of killing people that people like. Probably for DESPAIR.**

 **CaptainDallasGQ-Yep, she's dead. No fake outs. I love the good kind of bullshit. Thanks. :)**

 **YellowtheWriter-Too late, she left. Don't egg Mirabilis on, he has no hand now! Well, there's a bloody baseball bat in the closet, does that count? Thanks. It is only gonna get worse from here. Because, guess what, the next Daily Life section is a lot lllooonnngggeeerrrrrr.**

 **Dimenian-Welcome! :) Hideyoshi does, in fact, have connections to Hideyoshi Toyotomi. Who is Oda?...Not Tsukiko Oda. That's just a concidence. It actually is...I think. If Akita committed suicide, it would have been on Nagito levels...I can totally see Nagito doing this...probably because he did crap like this in his own game.**

 **CommanderofInsanity-You already kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkknnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnoooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwww...my response.**

 **SanityRequiem-Hi me again.**

 **Puhuhuhu-Welcome. :) Thanks. What's wrong with the letter H?**

 **CandiedStars-Welcome as well. A lot of new people joining because of Rin. I'll only answer to the last review because doing all of them will make this longer than the actual chapter. Hope you don't mind that. Anyway, thanks. There's reasons, especially when the investigation continues. These poor kids don't know what they're doing, and the people that do are dead or can't speak. Oh, we will. *evilly laughs* Good to know I update fast.**

 **Shadedlyht-You poor unforunate soul, so naive to what is gonna happen. I feel sorry for you. XD Yes, blame Hotaru. Goddammit Hotaru, why are you so much fun to write? Yeah, somebody is already dead...you poor, naive reader. Just wait until you get caught up and suffer with the rest of us. :P**


	13. Investigation 1-2

**Investigation 1-2: Paint it Red...or Pink**

* * *

The person screaming is Minato. There is no other way they would respond. Just thinking about Akita possibly being dead almost sent them into despair, now Minato sees their friend's corpse stabbed twenty-one times and bashed in the head.

"Akita...!" Minato, in a fit of grief, runs up to Akita, basically jumping on her corpse, and starts hugging her. She does not move. "...Akita..."

"She's dead," Takayuki tells him in an unusually monotone voice.

"She isn't dead! She isn't dead! _Akita's not dead_!" Mitsuru and I have to team up together to get Minato off of Akita. We cannot have Minato ruining more evidence like Mitsuru did. Even though Minato is strong, they are not the Ultimate Sukeban and would not purposefully hurt anybody.

"A-Akita's dead!" Naoko yells. Everybody stares at her, for the little outburst is out of character. Feeling everybody's eyes on her, Naoko runs into the hallway, crying. Which is in her character. Perhaps something about Minato's reaction triggered the emotion of anger from inside Naoko.

"Dammit," Takayuki sighs. He follows her, holding his new stump of a hand. With what schools taught students, Takayuki probably thought he could escape the action the same way Juzo Sakakura did during the Fourth Killing Game. Though the circumstances behind that situation are fairly different, which only made the success rate of cutting off the action about forty percent. It is better to keep your hand than to lose it in a gamble. Takayuki was known to be a gambling man in the Committee though since that is how he solves most of his cases. Pure luck. He is no Ultimate Lucky Student, which now results in him losing one of his hands for basically nothing.

Though I do wonder how Takayuki can be right all the time about the cases he investigates. He is smarter than the average person and knows his way around his field, but even Akita did not think he was Ultimate material when she was alive. Their relationship has always been questionable at best though, so Akita's constant bashing of him has to be taken with a grain of salt. Takayuki, however, is extremely lucky and can have ties to the higher ups in the Committee. Time for Kazuhiko and I to investigate again and piss them off again. We have a hundred percent chance of doing that.

Kazuhiko and I are not even supposed to be here. Sure, the both of us were accepted into Hope's Peak, yet we were called in for a meeting. We decided to ignore the call since it is rude to not show up on the first day of school and we both hate our directors. Being rude to our directors is the only time we love to be stubborn mules. Would not be surprised if they were our motive. Perhaps I should ask Kazuhiko about his motive, since it clearly is not somebody like Kotori, and the only one I questioned was Hayato, who I barely know. Kotori has a zero percent chance of being the motive since she has been dead for a couple years, even though her actions still leave an impact. Kotori Hiraoka, the person I personally dislike the most that is now buried somewhere only the elite of the Committee can go. Maybe we should have listened since that action is probably the only reason why the two of us are stuck here with the rest of our classmates. A simple act of rebellion has put our lives and goals in stake. One, or both, of us could end up with Kotori soon and finally get the chance to punch her in the face.

In fact, on our first day of school, we were one of the first people at Hope's Peak. We always do everything together, like the boring act at arriving at school on time. The school was surprisingly empty. Since we both smelled a potential scoop, we continued onward to the gym. A few people arrived before us, like, from what I remember, Tsukiko, Namita, Miyuki, and Hayato, and all of them were passed out. Before Kazuhiko and I could react to anything, somebody hit us on the back of the head and knocked us out cold. All this time, I could hear Kotori laughing in my head, bragging about how smarter she was than the two of us once again.

Kotori was one of the main researchers for the Committee, often being the head for many projects. She was praised for her willingness to get results by any means necessary. Her most infamous project is the remastered version of the Kamukura project from the old days from Hope's Peak, something my father would not be proud of, which failed miserably. None of the information about Izuru Kamukura survived the Tragedy except for his actions. Nobody knows how Hope's Peak created him, and the Committee has been trying to recreate him to no avail. Only the higher ups of Kazuhiko and I's branch, the one created for research about many topics, know about this. That is one of the reasons why we chose this one over all the others, unlike Takayuki and Akita, who chose the Defense Branch, and Shinichi, who is most likely in the one for language. There are hundreds of branches, with each one of them holding different amounts of power.

"..." Minato stares blankly at Akita. Their naivete has finally come crashing down into cold reality. The reality that this world is fucked up. Death does not discriminate, it does not care who or what you are. It takes you when it is your time to come. A child would know that. How Minato has seen everything, other than this, and not come to this conclusion is beyond me. They have traveled everywhere to not even glimpse at the sights before them.

"Yes, Akita is dead, but you move on!" Mitsuru, once again, is holding the pendant around her neck. Her fingers wrap around it gently but still have a firm grip. It is clearly important to her. Three of the students, Shinichi, Takara, and Mitsuru, have one, and I know nothing about any of them. Maybe I should spend more time with those three to acquire new information. Lockets usually lock away secrets of the heart.

"But..."

"Snap out of it!" Mitsuru then slaps Minato on their cheek. "You truly think that you're the only one affected? Yeah, sometimes she was an annoying shit, yet she was still always by my side! It was my job as the leader of her gang to keep her in check!"

"..." There is still a blank stare.

"Oh, still no response? I've known Akita way longer than you. I've witnessed almost everything with her! So, yeah, this fucking sucks but that means we just have to find the killer and kick his ass!" Mitsuru shouts while slapping Minato again. "If you're just gonna be sulking and be in denial, then you're fucking useless. Now stand up and be a real friend and stop it with this self-pity!"

"...Okay..." Minato sounds only a little convinced. Though, even with this little pep talk, I can tell that they are easily manipulated.

"Tough love works every time. Welcome to the cool kid's club." Mitsuru might be violent, yet she does know how to lead a group of people. Still do not want to be on the opposite side of her hits, however. A lot of people nowadays have to learn to be one of two things, strong or smart. Not having either will increase the rates of your demise, especially if you live on the streets, by way over one-hundred percent.

"What is Minato going to do?" I question. Both of them look at me like they forgot I am here. You know what, they probably did forget I was here.

"Looks like you're still here!" Mitsuru laughs. "Don't worry, I'll keep tabs on this little teddy bear. We'll guard the body together. Gotta put some of that muscle into good use."

"Alright, I'll check up on the baseball bat," I say. Somehow I think that a teddy bear will not do that much harm to people trying to mess with the crime scene. The Ultimate Sukeban however...I think Minato is really there to make sure Mitsuru does not kill anybody.

"G-good luck..." Even though Minato is no longer as big of an emotional mess, as Kazuhiko would call a mental disturbance, they are still seeming to be out of it.

"Thank you." I may not be the best detective around, but I think I can figure out this case. Mostly because our lives are at the stake. Not just Kazuhiko and I, but twenty innocent people. Well, I should take that back because at least one of us just brutally murdered Akita Yamazaki.

* * *

The hallway has more people than before. Though I see that Takayuki is no longer chasing Naoko, and instead has become the target of Mirabilis's purification. I have no idea whether or not the purification works, but Mirabilis seems to believe in it wholeheartedly. Although she also believes in her status as a magical girl, which is clearly not true. The magical girl is a trope of old television, especially Japanese animation, while was mostly called anime, that died out during the time of the Tragedy. Mirabilis clearly has access to these old television series and movies, which can only be done through very complicated means legally. Knowing her, she probably does it the legal way and does not resort to actions such as piracy.

"I'll get you this time!" Mirabilis exclaims.

"Stop living in your goddamn fantasy!" Takayuki yells as he runs into the cafeteria. Where he chose to hide last time must have really worked, since he has not met with Mirabilis's wand yet.

"Wait." Mirabilis turns her head to me and cocks her head.

"Excuse me, fine Ayano, but I must make haste to save everybody's lives," she explains. "I must make sure that no other lives are taken by heathens!" I am surprised that she knows that word. That is not because of her appearance, but education for vocabulary is usually rushed for more important topics like survival, especially in the Americas, where Mirabilis is from. Japan is one of the few countries that have it for over two years.

Her lack of education can explain Mirabilis's quite childish attitude. I used to believe that her pretending of being a magical girl was a recovery tactic, yet the evidence shows that Mirabilis is just like this. Mirabilis, although she means well, can cause a lot of damage with her wand and her act of purification. Takayuki has to make sure he does not get further injured because he did just lose a hand. He is lucky to have at least a slight knowledge of how to stop the bleeding or he would be dead by now.

"Do you have any leads for this case?"

"I'm sorry, but my duty as a magical girl makes me too busy to perform something like that." Mirabilis then waves me goodbye and rushes after Takayuki. That went nowhere, yet Mirabilis is not the type of person to reveal a lot of information. There was a higher chance of her not knowing any interesting information than actually having some.

"What is that exactly?"

"We should make a memorial somewhere to remember the victims of this cruel bear's game. I'll figure out where to put it...after purifying Takayuki and Monokuma!" Mirabilis then waves me goodbye and rushes after Takayuki. That went nowhere, yet Mirabilis is not the type of person to reveal a lot of information. There was a higher chance of her not knowing any interesting information than actually having some.

"E-excuse me, but do you know where the body is?" I feel somebody tap my shoulder from behind me. When I turn around, I notice that it is Shinichi Fujimoto. Takara Miyagi is with him, cowering. The two of them have quickly created a team. Shinichi is the only person here that seems to understand sign language after all, and Takara's notebook has a bad habit of going out to other people. A lot of my classmates are very...grabby.

"Akita is on the patio," I inform the two of them.

"S-so it is Akita," Shinichi says. "...Thanks." The two boys then make their way there. Luckily, neither of them were that close to Akita, so it would be less of a shock than Minato. Of course, Akita's body is still in horrible condition.

I make my way over to the storage closet and notice that Akemi is hanging out with Miyuki. That is a pairing I would have never excepted working together. The two of them actually took the bat out of the closet, and, just like the truth bullet said, it is covered in blood. Not that much blood, like there is on the patio, but still enough to make anybody not used to the sight feel faint.

"Hello, Nishiki-san." Miyuki is the same as usual. I do not believe she has checked the body yet, but I can be wrong. There are urban legends about her everywhere that usually involve her massive amounts of strength and speed. Kazuhiko and Hayato may have been talking with her, which is probably Miyuki uses honorifics now.

"Where did you find the bat?" I question the both of them.

"If you desire to know, I found it in the closet hidden underneath all the junk." Akemi, being his usual self, puffs out his chest. "Just as the truth bullet told you, it is covered in the victim's blood. This is clearly a weapon involved in the murders."

"Do you know where it came from?"

"What's with all the damn questions? No, of course not! The only place that would reasonably have it is the gym, and it's not there!"

"Maybe perhaps the killer found some other route," Miyuki thinks out loud.

"Have you any idea who the killer is, Miyuki?"

"No, and I shall not accuse anyone. I wield the sword of justice, the only blade that has eyes yet cannot see. Though I will help you bring the killer back to the light."

"That only makes you suspicious," Akemi notes as he rolls his eyes. "The killer had to be somebody strong enough to lift this bat up two times and stab Akita twenty-one times."

"Think whatever you want of me, I am only here to show the world true justice." With the two of them glaring at each other, and Akemi making yet another enemy, I crouch down to get a clearer view of the bat. It is made out of wood and is in bad shape, like everything else that is in here. Lifting it, I realize that it is about twenty pounds. While it is not that heavy, it is for a baseball bat, especially for one made out of wood, and is fairly uncomfortable to hold. Using this in the wrong way could easily result in splinters.

"If you're not the killer, then what were you doing around the time of the murder, 5:30 PM?"

"I was in the library, trying to find a way to the upper level with Ueda-san. Mitsu-cho joined us later. There were multiple other people there that can clarify this testimony." There is then a beep and Miyuki shows me hers while we investigate the source.

* * *

 ** _Truth Bullet #8-Miyuki's Account_**

 ** _During the time of the murder, Miyuki was with Minato trying to find a way up to the upper library floor. Mitsuru joined them around 5:40 PM. Tsukiko, Namita, Yasu, Shinichi, Takara, Ayano, Kyoto, and Hotaru were also there around the time of the murder but left. Kazuhiko, Satoshi, Kira, and Akemi joined up during sometime as well, yet the exact time is unknown._**

* * *

"You didn't say all of that!" Before anyone could respond to Akemi, there are two other beeps happening right after the other. The tab is still up, making it easy to find out why.

* * *

 _ **Truth Bullet #9-Blood All Over Patio**_

 _ **Besides the blood near the body, Akita Yamazaki's blood can be found all over the patio. Was there a struggle?**_

* * *

 ** _Truth Bullet #10-Bloodied Stick_**

 ** _Hidden in some of the bushes near the edge of the forest, there is a stick covered with the victim's blood. What could this mean?_**

* * *

"And now what is with this?" Akemi studies the words displayed on his e-Handbook.

"I shall go to the patio to further examine this." Knowing that truth bullets are appearing for Miyuki, there is a chance that she already saw the body. She leaves me alone with the chess player.

"And do you have an account, Akemi? You were not in the library, so where were you?"

"Jesus, Ayano, I know you don't like me, but don't grill me. Anyway, to answer your question, I was with your boy toy Kazuhiko, Kira and Satoshi," he answers me surprisingly straight.

"Boy toy?"

"Yeah, everybody knows you and Kazuhiko are doing the ugly with each other. Don't even try to deny it. Whenever there's a boy only competition for hacking, you dress yourself up as him and enter." Then, to break the tension between the two of us, the sound for Truth Bullets rings out of Akemi's device. He does not let me see it and walks away from me, electing to read it while going toward the cafeteria. Then it goes off again as he reaches the door, causing Akemi to sigh and continue reading.

"I guess I can check the other parts of the school." Getting up, I see that Cassius finally made his way down. The only people left that have not seen the body, from what I know, are Cassius and Kyoto.

"Hello, Cassius..." Cassius ignores me as he rushes to the patio. Guess Tsukiko, Namita and Yasu told him where the body is, unlike with Shinichi and Takara. "Nice to see you too." With that out of the way, I continue my journey through the first level of the school. There is a high chance that the upper library floor is not connected in any way, yet, with a case as insane as this one, nothing should be overlooked.

* * *

Surprisingly, I see that Naoko is in the garden, staring intensely at one spot. She looks deeply disturbed, but, with how this day is going, who can really blame her? Naoko has some of her childhood innocence left from what I tell that might have just been snatched away. Growing up on an island, I had my innocence longer than most people too. Most good things come to an end, however; just like it did for my life.

"Hello, Naoko."

"Eep!" She jumps. Realizing that I am there, she properly turns to face me. "H-hello, Ayano! How's Minato?"

"Better than before," I answer her. Naoko lets out a breath of what I presume to be a relief. It is probably not the smartest idea to leave them with Akita's body, but guess we cannot change that part of the past. Plus I really do not want Mitsuru going anywhere near me in her current state of mind.

"H-have you seen the latest Truth Bullets?" she asks me. I shake her head, so, in response, Naoko opens her tab.

* * *

 _ **Truth Bullet #11-Akemi's Account**_

 ** _Akemi, Kira, Satoshi, and Kazuhiko were in a group before the murder. They were in the cafeteria, looking for Naoko, who went missing during that time._**

* * *

 ** _Truth Bullet #12-Blood Trail in Forest_**

 ** _The victim's blood can be found in the forest, making a barely noticeable trail. One of the endpoints is a tree, where one of the lower, weaker branches have been snapped off._**

* * *

 _ **Truth Bullet #13-Traces of Blood in the Garden**_

 ** _Once again (seriously, how much blood do you have Akita?), small traces of the victim's blood has been found in the garden. This is the earliest of all the blood stains and the hardest to find._**

* * *

 _ **Truth Bullet #14-Knife in the Kitchen**_

 _ **One of the knives from the kitchen is missing. It can be presumed that this is the same knife that is currently in Akita's heart.**_

* * *

"Naoko, do you anything to add?"

"Y-yes, if you really want to know. Akita talked to me before she was murdered. S-she...she was acting very weird," Naoko states. "Y-you see, I was hiding in the closet and Akita comes up with her wrist bleeding and a knife in the hallway! Then she asks me to hang out with her, and I-I was so scared! S-so I went with her and she was acting very strange so I just wanted to get out of there! I-if I stayed, maybe she wouldn't be dead!" Naoko starts crying, so I try to comfort her. She, however, only stares at me as her device beeped. Once again, the both of us examine the new material.

* * *

 ** _Truth Bullet #15-Naoko's Account_**

 ** _Before Akita was murdered, Naoko and she talked with each other. Naoko notes that Akita was acting strangely, as her wrist was already bleeding and there was a knife in the hallway._**

* * *

"Anything else?"

"No, she just asked me stuff about my age, birthday, talent," Naoko replies. "A-and her eyes were strangely dilated! It was so scary!" She is, once again, crying.

"What are your thoughts about the case? Any ideas on who the killer is?"

"Hmmm...I-I don't want to be rude...but what were you doing?" she interrogates me with a slightly more forceful tone of voice. Though the seriousness of her words is put into question by a number of tears running out of her eyes.

"Me? I was in the library to check up on everybody but then left for the cafeteria." That information is already known, and under Akemi's account for some reason, so, as a result, there are no new Truth Bullets.

"O-oh, I'm so sorry!" Naoko begins to bow over and over again.

"Please don't." I try to make her stop, but, if I have learned anything, it is not who the Blackened is, it is that I suck at comforting Naoko. About zero percent success rate, only available if I get to know her better. Or become more forceful. Maybe Kazuhiko will be better at this, but, knowing him, he would most likely only scare her more.

"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!"

"I am just going to go now," I say. As I leave the garden, I realize that Naoko has stopped bowing and has continued what she was doing before, observing the blood stains. She does not go after me and nobody else enters the garden.

* * *

I enter the library, curious about whether or not anybody will be here. There is nobody else in the room, leaving me alone. I would try to get back up to the upper lever, yet nobody else is here to do that with. Looking over to the computers, I realize that most of them are still on.

"Hello, my beautiful new protagonist!" Monokuma exclaims. He climbs out of the hole that I made earlier. "You've only an hour left before investigation time is over."

"That is good to know."

"But I gotta show you something...Hmm...A nickname? How about Izumi-chan?"

"What?" Izumi...somehow that name has a familiar ring to it. A type of ring that I do not want to hear, however. It is quite depressing, and, in some ways, creepy.

"Don't think I don't know what happened to you. Puhuhuhu." He comes closer to me at a slow pace and all I do is back away. Then I see I am almost to the computer. Not knowing what to do, I stop.

"How do you know that? What is your level in the Committee? You have to be high up to have the smallest idea about that." There is a chance that this person can be a hacker, or knows somebody that is, but even I have a hard time uploading anything to the mainframe of the Committee's computer, let alone read top secret intel. Of course, I can, it just takes awhile. They used the talent of Natsumi Fuuma, the Ultimate Coder, to make that code become a reality. One day I would like to face off against Natsumi since our talents both involve computers but different aspects. He creates them, I destroy them. Simple as that, for that is the job description of a hacker.

Even though I have heard of the name somewhere before, I am honestly blanking. Something is not right about this. And, if I ever get that feeling, the Committee is usually the one behind it. Knowing that I am at a loss of words, it has to be restricted to high up personnel. Kazuhiko might know and has been forced to stay silent. He acts like he is completely loyal to the Committee only to gather intel from them. Even though we are the same level on paper, Kazuhiko is trusted more than me. Then again, I openly oppose the Committee and our actions against them have only me take the blame, no matter how hard Kazuhiko tries.

"For more information, Izumi-chan, how about you watch these two videos?" Monokuma reaches into...some place only his designer knows...and pulls out two CDs.

"Am I allowed to watch them? What about my Forbidden Action?"

"Yes, just don't touch the computers. Don't want there to be another dead body. Oh, protagonists, how killable you are. Except for you Matoko...and Hajime!"

"Hajime?" It is strange hearing that name after all this time. Most people that know about the Third Killing Game use it in a negative context, knowing that Hajime Hinata eventually became Izuru Kamukura. Though people like Kazuhiko and I view him as a hero that was a victim to both the original Hope's Peak and Junko Enoshima's plans.

"Yes, Horny Hajime. How fun he was until Matoko ruined everything!" Monokuma's red eye begins to glow and a singular claw pops out of one of his arms. This is very different from the old Monokuma, or from what I heard, who would not react this way.

"...I will watch the videos."

"Good, I knew I could count on you, Izumi-chan." He then becomes very happy and has flowers pop out instead of confetti. This form of his reminds me of Minato. I do not yet know whether or not that is a good or bad thing.

"...We do not have that much time left." Staying where I am, Monokuma goes up to one of the nearby computers and places the first CD into the player. He looks funny as he struggles not to make it fall or break.

"Hello, viewer!" When the light turns on in the room the video is shot in, I can see Akita Yamazaki in the frame. She is shorter than I remember and much younger. The outfit she has on belongs to a circus, more precisely somebody like the ringleader.

To be more precise, Akita wears a black top hat. She wears a red jacket with a tailcoat. Clips made out of gold litter the jacket, but only about two of them are in use. Like me, Akita wears black shorts, only hers are even shorter. Akita wears black fishnet leggings as well and black high heel boots. Her white shirt reveals a lot of cleavage that I am sure that somebody like Satoshi would love. To tie everything up, Akita finishes her look with a black choker.

"Nice to see you not dead again, Bitch-chan!" Monokuma answers. He starts laughing at his own poor excuse of a joke. I may not be much of a comedian, yet I can very clearly still tell that.

"You should know me as **Akita Yamazaki** , the **Ultimate Ringleader**!"

* * *

 **Ultimate Ringleader**

 **Akita Yamazaki**

* * *

"So, I guess this is the part of the video where I tell you to stay alive and all that jazz. But please don't. Kill. Kill and be caught. Killing Games aren't interesting if they're short, and there are so many people back here wanting you back home. How can I tell? Trust me, I can." Akita sends kisses to the camera. "Give into despair! Make it empower you!" Right before the image cuts, Akita's eyes begin to spiral and drool falls out of her mouth.

 **Graduate and this person will die.**

I stare at the screen, not knowing what to make of this. Having the existence of something like this turns the whole case on its head. If somebody like Mitsuru or Minato, or even Kazuhiko, see the contents of what is inside, they would honestly be very emotional. Monokuma, not caring about my, or any of his student's, feelings, ignores me and pops the next video in.

"Hello, Yamazaki-chan..." Now it is a boy that I do not know the face of. Maybe I would know his name, and there is something familiar about the face. Kazuhiko might have a better chance of knowing who he is, knowing he is better with faces than I am.

"That's my darling Hideyoshi Yamazaki."

"Hideyoshi Yamazaki...?" The video continues on, as I pay more attention because of the reveal of his name.

"It's good to know you're still alive. Everybody's so worried about you and all your classmates. You're all over the news, and the Committee is using all of its money on possible ways to find you," Hideyoshi adds-on. His voice is feminine, even more so than mine. My voice is deep, however, is probably one of the reasons why I can constantly dress up as a boy and get away with it. There are harsher laws now about pretending to be other genders. Being able to do so requires lots of paperwork that friends of me describe to take a couple years and is usually turned down.

On the topic of Hideyoshi himself, he is tall and looks a lot like Takayuki. Considering Takayuki and Akita are often mistaken to be related, especially by older folk, this has a clear answer. His hair is long, black and oily. He wears a white, being the base color, and grey long-sleeved shirt with lots of holes in it. The pants he wears is also in severe distress, is also made out of a dark denim. Glasses are placed over his red eyes, and there is a mole underneath his lips.

"...Survive the Killing Game...Akita, for I really love to see you again. You're lots of fun." His message is fairly shorter than Akita's. The camera zooms on Hideyoshi's face as he starts to laugh. Unlike Akita, the person he is directly addressing, there are no spirals in his eyes. Then the same message appears.

 **Graduate and this person will die**

"Who is Hideyoshi Yamazaki?" I question Monokuma.

"Since you're my student, and asked so nicely, I shall answer you. That's **Hideyoshi Yamazaki** , the **Ultimate Clown** of all things, and Akita's beloved cousin."

* * *

 **Ultimate Clown**

 **Hideyoshi Yamazaki**

* * *

"Why are you giving me all this information?" With these two videos, a lot of information is gained about a possible motive and the victim herself. Akita does not look like much of a victim anymore. Was her personality just an act or has something happened to her, like having her memories or personality erased? The Committee loves to do that, especially to people they deem a threat. People who give into despair are the highest threats.

"Because I'm not gonna tell you anything else, Izumi-chan." Monokuma begins to laugh and I can only glare at him. He himself would count as technology, so touching him could be considered a death sentence.

"You said that you would tell me more about your relation to the Committee. Are you not supposed to be a 'bear' of your word?"

"That's the past me, this is the new me! Very well, goodbye!" The bear, who is supposed to be the Ultimate Headmaster but acts the opposite of that, disappears. Then there is only silence around me.

"I do not have the luxury of time. I have to continue my investigation. There are still way too many unanswered questions." There is probably about forty minutes left, which means I have to finish collecting evidence and meeting up again with Kazuhiko in that small frame of time. That means there is no time to waste having inner monologues and standing in the middle of a currently abandoned room.

* * *

The next place that I enter the doors to is the pool, where Kyoto still is. Guess after all this time he still has not checked the body. Kyoto is smart, so him seeing Akita would increase our chances of success by a lot.

"A-Ayano, come check this out."

Before I join up with Kyoto, I examine the pool and the room itself. Just as I predicted, the pool is beyond the point of not being able to swim in it. The water itself has turned into a dark, sickly shade of green with various types of plants growing inside it. The metal ladder that leads into the pool is beginning to rust as well. It would be easier to convince me it is a portal to another dimension than have me swim in it. However, the room itself is in more desirable. Then again, none of us have bathed for days on end, making anything desirable. Sometimes it is hard to sleep with Kazuhiko's smell looming throughout the entire room, as well as mine.

The walls are not overtaken by the onslaught of plants, only being slightly faded. However, some of the wallpaper is falling off and all of it is colored with a copper blue. There is a locker in the corner of the room, with a lock so big that I can see it clearly from the other side. This room, other than the pool and locker, only has one other feature, a door that Kyoto is in front of. It is made out of metal and set slightly ajar.

"Do you know where this leads, Kyoto?"

"N-no, I was waiting for somebody else to come with me. What if the killer is in there, waiting for another victim?"

"I highly doubt that," I tell him. Kyoto still looks unnerved. "Besides, now I am with you, the killer would probably not attack. There is a limit of people that can be killed by one person, two. I think that the killer would not want to leave a witness alive."

"Y-you've got a point...anyway, I'm pretty sure that this leads to something," Kyoto says. He opens the door, and there is darkness all around us. Using his e-Handbook, Kyoto lights up the hallway. We can only see two more things, both of which being doors. Hopefully, Kyoto will not run into another door, since he will be useful in investigations, being a strategist and all. So far, Kyoto has been the only hacker that has given me a run for my money. He gives many Ultimates a challenge, yet still, ends up being second. Pretty sure the Committee uses him to keep track of possible Ultimates.

"Let's check the doors." I go the door that is to the side, while Kyoto runs up to the one at the end of the hall. Trying to open the door, I realize with the tiny amount of light hitting the surface of the door due to Kyoto's e-Handbook, that there is a key code. There are no hints anywhere and both numbers and letters appear as the code. Only if I could touch it, I could easily get through the door. Maybe if I tell somebody else the steps they can do it for me. Then again, I remember trying to teach Kazuhiko the basics of hacking, which only left him confused.

"Hey, Ayano, I found something!" Kyoto, still at the door, opens it. It leads to somewhere else. Quickly, I reach up to him.

"Do you know where this is?" I ask him. Kyoto shakes his head as he explores the room with his light. Only after a few seconds, there is something that clearly tells us where we are. There is a shelf filled to the brim with all different kinds of alcohol. This is, in fact, the cellar.

"The cellar?" Automatically, the door to the cellar opens. Both Takayuki and Kazuhiko are on the other side, staring at the two of us.

"Now Kyoto is trying to steal my girl!" Kazuhiko cries out. He glomps onto me and starts to growl at Kyoto. Another thing about Kazuhiko that makes him like a puppy, he is way too damn overprotective. Then there is a beep that echoes through the hollow walls of the cellar. Getting off of me, Kazuhiko checks his e-Handbook. I notice that there are new Truth Bullets, even from before this one.

* * *

 _ **Truth Bullet #16-Killer's Hostage Video**_

 _ **The killer's motive is a video of a younger Akita Yamazaki. She is truly the Ultimate Ringleader. Information in the Monokuma File has been updated.**_

* * *

 _ **Truth Bullet #17-Victim's Hostage Video**_

 ** _Akita's motive is of her cousin, Hideyoshi Yamazaki, who happens to be the Ultimate Clown._**

* * *

 ** _Truth Bullet #18-Secret Passageway_**

 ** _There is a secret passageway that goes from the pool to the alcohol cellar. Another door can be found inside, but it can only be opened with a key code. The key code can only be given to a person by the mastermind._**

* * *

"What?" we all ask at once, except for Takayuki, who is biting his own lip.

"The mastermind?" I question. Along with that, the videos I have viewed are now evidence. Is that the true reason Monokuma showed them to me? To make sure they are evidence and to try to screw with my mind.

"Ding dong, bing bong!" Monokuma, instead of the usual bell, has his voice boom through the speakers.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Takayuki yells out. He, seeing the liquor, grabs a random one and begins to drink it in one go. Shortly afterward, he throws it back up, probably regretting his decision.

"Alrighty guys, it's finally time! That's right. It's time for the long-awaited class trial!" Even I view this as weird, as I am pretty sure that it has not been an hour yet. Monokuma is certainly different this time, for he is an open liar. All the stories I have been told only says that Monokuma does this when backed up into a corner. Has Monokuma planned this so poorly that he already is in danger of being found out or stopped?

"Class trial?" Kazuhiko is very worried. Of course, everybody in this room is that as well, including me. There is a real chance that all of us are going to die today. It is about fifty fifty right now for who will win, the students or the killer.

"Guys, are you hearing this?" Right before Monokuma continues his speech, Mirabilis comes into the room as well. This time, however, she is not chasing Takayuki down with her wand. Satoshi follows after her, with Akemi being behind him.

"Now then, we shall all meet where we started this journey of self-realization! My students, we shall embark on the next stage of this quest together! Puhuhuhu, I'll see you soon!"

* * *

 **Okay, since this is my first time doing a mystery, this took longer than most chapters. I want the mystery to feel real. While the killer is not obvious, I want there to be some clues every here and there and it is possible to guess the killer's identity. If you've any advice on writing mysteries, I would love to hear it.**

 **With that out of the way, and homework coming out of my ears because I'm an idiot in college that decided to take four non-freshman classes at a time (way to go, Kaleigh, real smart XD), here are the reviews. I now will no longer complain when there are no updates for fanfiction because of college. :P Trust me.**

 **Reviews~**

 **Hyperbrachydios-Yeah, this mastermind is very different from Junko. Ayano knows a lot more about the past than Akita, so she is here to clarify all the WTF questions from Akita...well, almost all of them. Well, Kotori is dead. Very, very dead. Nope, no new body. I don't like killing a lot of people in the beginning of stories for character development reasons. The mastermind has something up their sleeve with that rule. ;)**

 **Harukawa Ayame-Math: my main enemy, even though Ayano likes it a lot (since, you know, she's a hacker). Akita popped up again...or should I say Akiza. Yuki is impulsive...really, really impulsive. Because I love torturing people.**

 **0B13-Yuki is impulsive...and, yeah, there goes his dominant hand. Byeeeee. That's actually a good idea. Now he's the Ultimate Pirate! Mitsuru is not gonna be happy with the killer. YES, SHIPPING!**

 **AnonChan1-God is needed. Kazuhiko is our flawed little puppy. Mitsuru and Takayuki need to calm down...well, everybody needs to because they can't focus and have no leads. Ggggrrreeeaaattttt. Naoko needs hugs. It was casually mentioned by Akita a few times that Ayano is really, really tall. Nope, Ringleader. Minato is not having fun...especially with being with Mitsuru of all people. Poor teddy bear needs a break. These kids have no idea what they're doing except for Takayuki, Naoko, and Kyoto. Poor, poor kids. And Takayuki can't even do anything.**

 **YellowtheWriter-True culprit is Monokuma, everybody. No, not Mirabilis! Our precious little magical girl! NOOOOOOOOOOO! Hello, moto, how are you doing today? Yes, yes, he did. Thanks. :)**

 **CommanderofInsanity-HELLO!**

 **Puhuhuhu (Monokuma's favorite username)-Beware the Hs, everyone! They're out to get you!**

 **TheRoseShadow21-No problem. It is better than my reviews...that don't exist. XD Thanks. Akita was kinda bias about Ayano...and Ayano doesn't know how to make very good first impressions.**

 **PowerPlayer-And I'm finally responding...in chapters you are nowhere close to. I'll answer the latest one because I'm lazy. Tsukiko is somebody that gets more importance later on. Oh, people are gonna hate me *evilly laughs*. Minato...how we love thee. Namita is also gonna get more development later and have people want to wring my neck. Waiting for it. ;) Miyuki is cool. Take care too. :D**

 **Shadedlyht-Come join us in our mourning over our little Ringleader. I'm very sneaky. Never trust me with anything. ANYTHING. I know. The killer knows. Akita knew. The mastermind knows. Monokuma too.**


	14. Trial 1-1

**Trial 1-1: In the Dark of the Night**

* * *

When we reach outside, I notice that it is darker than before. It has officially become night, as shown by the hidden moon above the trees. Only the faint outlines of the once familiar sight can be vaguely seen by the naked eye in this pure, uncomfortable darkness. The forest, as usual, is silent. The only sound that could be heard is the twenty of us students crowded in front of the door that marked the beginning of this journey of ours. It is the old abandoned building behind the school itself, where only the plants feeding off whatever is left of the walls thrive. That and possibly Monokuma and whoever, or whatever, is controlling him.

The beginning I was suspicious of the Committee, but, looking at it, they have nothing to gain out of this. Or do they? Then again, with their pure hatred of the past, and especially the Killing Games, there is no reason they would get rid of us in this way. All they have to do is kill Kazuhiko first, then make everybody else die in an apparent car crash. Kazuhiko is a journalist that could easily get their plans out to the public. Of course, none of us can really do our talents here except for a lucky few.

Though, the day before, Kazuhiko noted that he heard something weird when he overheard one of our director's conversations with the head of this school. I have heard she shares the first name as me, Ayano, and is one of the children of Matoko Kirigiri, naturally having his last name due to her possible young age. The director told her something along the lines of...You're right about your father.

There has always been tension between the Committee and the Future Foundation...

"Ayano, you're staring off into nothing," Kazuhiko whispers into my ear. Hearing him talk makes me jump back into the present reality. Waiting outside for Monokuma to come, starting to freeze since the temperature is dropping. Although the world is generally hotter than past generations, that does not mean that physics has changed. It still gets colder once the sun goes down. Also, the days have generally become longer and the nights just a short fragment of time. Ultimate Despair really messed up how the world worked, which is what caused the most deaths. People in deserts burned, others in the ice froze to death. Even though those temperatures would generally be able to support life.

"Before the trial starts, we should look over all of our evidence again." Nodding his head, Kazuhiko shows his e-Handbook to me and opens up the tab to the Truth Bullets.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #1-Monokuma File #1**

 ** _Victim: Akita Yamazaki: Ultimate Ringleader, Chiyo Jinya: Ultimate Mediator, Sae Emiya: Ultimate *Spoiler*_**

 ** _The victim is Akita Yamazaki, along with Chiyo Jinya and Sae Emiya._** ** _The body was discovered on the outside patio, where one of the entrances of Hope's Peak Academy: Suicide Forest Branch is._** ** _The estimated time of death is believed to be around 5:30 PM._** ** _There are eighteen mysterious stab wounds that only pierce the skin and nothing more. Three wounds, on the eye, the wrist, and the heart are deeper. There is blunt force trauma applied to the back of the head_**

 **Truth Bullet #2-Knife/head wounds**

 _ **There are in total twenty-one knife wounds. Eighteen are fairly light, barely breaking the skin, while the others, the wrist, the heart, and the eye are deep.**_ _ **The head wounds, on the other hand, are both deep and could cause serious damage to the system.**_ ** _These wounds prove that the death is intentional and not accidental._**

 **Truth Bullet #3-Akita's closed eyes**

 ** _Akita's eyes have been closed by the killer. One of her eyes is stabbed and cannot be examined any further due to not being able to be opened._**

 **Truth Bullet #4-Akita's smile**

 ** _Akita is smiling even though her death hints that she was tortured beforehand. Perhaps she knew the killer personally?_**

 **Truth Bullet #5-Time of wounds**

 ** _The first of the wounds, the one on the wrist, is most likely self-inflicted. All of the others are made during the same time and do not seem to be due to self-harm._**

 **Truth Bullet #6-Bloodied blanket**

 ** _Under the patio, there is a bloodied blanket that was hidden underneath some plants. It has the blood of the victim, Akita Yamazaki, on it._**

 **Truth Bullet #7-Baseball bat in closet**

 _ **There is a baseball bat hidden in the closet that is covered with blood that is the victim's, Akita Yamazaki.**_

 **Truth Bullet #8-Miyuki's account**

 _ **During the time of the murder, Miyuki was with Minato trying to find a way up to the upper library floor. Mitsuru joined them around 5:40 PM. Tsukiko, Namita, Yasu, Shinichi, Takara, Ayano, Kyoto, and Hotaru were also there around the time of the murder but left. Kazuhiko, Satoshi, Kira, and Akemi joined up during sometime as well, yet the exact time is unknown.**_

 **Truth Bullet #9-Blood all over the patio**

 _ **Besides the blood near the body, Akita Yamazaki's blood can be found all over the patio. Was there a struggle?**_

 **Truth Bullet #10-Bloodied stick**

 ** _Hidden in some of the bushes near the edge of the forest, there is a stick covered with the victim's blood. What could this mean?_**

 **Truth Bullet #11-Akemi's account**

 ** _Akemi, Kira, Satoshi, and Kazuhiko were in a group before the murder. They were in the cafeteria, looking for Naoko, who went missing during that time._**

 **Truth Bullet #12-Blood trail in forest**

 ** _The victim's blood can be found in the forest, making a barely noticeable trail. One of the endpoints is a tree, where one of the lower, weaker branches have been snapped off._**

 **Truth Bullet #13-Traces of blood in the garden**

 ** _Once again (seriously, how much blood do you have Akita?), small traces of the victim's blood has been found in the garden. This is the earliest of all the blood stains and the hardest to find._**

 **Truth Bullet #14-Knife in the kitchen**

 _ **One of the knives from the kitchen is missing. It can be presumed that this is the same knife that is currently in Akita's heart.**_

 **Truth Bullet #15-Naoko's account**

 ** _Before Akita was murdered, Naoko and she talked with each other. Naoko notes that Akita was acting strangely, as her wrist was already bleeding and there was a knife in the hallway._**

 **Truth Bullet #16-Killer's hostage video**

 _ **The killer's motive is a video of a younger Akita Yamazaki. She is truly the Ultimate Ringleader.**_

 **Truth Bullet #17-Victim's hostage video**

 ** _Akita's motive is of her cousin, Hideyoshi Yamazaki, who happens to be the Ultimate Clown._**

 **Truth Bullet #18-Secret passageway**

 ** _There is a secret passageway that goes from the pool to the alcohol cellar. Another door can be found inside, but it can only be opened with a key code. The key code can only be given to a person by the mastermind._**

* * *

"Damn you, Monokuma! Come out!" Mitsuru yells out.

"Keep cursing and I'll purify you!" Mirabilis calls out right after her. The two of them start to stare each other down, looking deeply into their opponent's eyes. Mitsuru towers Mirabilis, being a lot taller than her. I am actually slightly taller than Mitsuru, though I do not want to mention this to her...ever. Zero percent chance of survival. Run as fast as you can or pray to whatever God you believe in for mercy on your soul. None of these actions have a high percent chance of success.

"This is no time to fight-"

"Sorry, Tsun-Tsun, but I'm gonna have to take the wheel from here!" Monokuma exclaims. Tsukiko cocks her head, most likely confused about her newfound nickname. "Plus, one of my students has a bad habit of wandering off alone."

"...Tsun-Tsun?"

"...Oh..." Once I look around, I notice that Minato is not here. They probably got lost again, even though all of us should have seen it. Maybe this is why they earned the title of the Ultimate Traveler. Minato is the only person that can get anywhere without having anybody know, traveling to whatever they bump into.

"Since you all are so useless, I'll go find Idiot-kun! Your parents should've taught you better!"

"What if our parents are dead?"

"Or shit?!" I could not tell what voices belonged to who. Guess Monokuma might have hit a pressure point. The first voice is way too raspy for a normal teenager, and the second is weak yet sounds like a yell. Only if they were closer to the closest sources of light.

"Then screw them!" Monokuma disappears. He really should stop pretending to be the Ultimate Headmaster and be the Ultimate Escape Artist. Chances of him actually being what he claims to be, let alone an Ultimate at all is extremely slim.

"...So...um...any leads?" Namita's question is followed by silence. She is probably looking at Takayuki. "Wait, you can still point!"

"..." Takayuki punches the wall with his one hand and Namita jumps. He tries to point his finger at somebody, but Monokuma comes back and slaps his wrist. Then he continues to his injured arm, and that causes the wound to open.

"No telling them by any means!" Monokuma returns to finding his missing student, while Takayuki's knees give out and cause him to fall.

"B-but...that isn't against the rules!" Naoko yelps. Rolling his eyes, Monokuma pops out of nowhere, right in front of Naoko. She screams but stands her ground.

"Yet that wouldn't be very fun. Poor Takayuki can't be that kid in the group project that does all the work."

"Then I'm leaving." Takayuki, in a surprising turn of events, starts to walk off. I know Takayuki is impulsive, but this is a new high for him. Then again, I have never held a conversation with him while in a forest, during the night, with one of his closest friends dead and without a hand, so he will be highly unpredictable. Grief has a high chance of making people do what they usually will not.

"Are you insane?" Kazuhiko questions him. The only answer he receives is Takayuki glaring at him.

"Even I think that is absurd, and now I am covered with filth!" Cassius shouts out. "Is this what commoners feel like every day?"

"Shut up, you fake jeweler!" Kira tries to look him in the eye, but she has to stand up on her tip toes to even get to his chin. Cassius smirks. These two are doing what we call a waste of time, for they have already had this conversation. Wasting time on the same discussions is only something the government should do.

"You are the fake jeweler! For I am one of the noble sons of the Jacobson family and will never lie about my pride! All your existence is built on stealing the talent of those above you!"

"This isn't the time to fight about that!" Akemi scolds the two of them. He gets in between them and breaks up the staring contest that never happened.

"Well, isn't this fun?" Hotaru is watching everything from the sidelines, like me and many of the other students. This must be the reason poorly made reality TV shows were popular back before they were banned by the Committee for not meeting its 'non-despair' standards.

"Fighting this way will only bring suffering," Miyuki comments. She sighs. "You do not raise your sword if it is not to protect the others. Doing it for yourself is only selfish and causes misery and sorrow."

"Yes, Yuki!" Satoshi agrees. She does not seem to react to the new nickname that Satoshi has given her.

"Kids, we all need to calm down!" Yasu advises everybody. They run up where Takayuki is and block his way. Minato follows after them...Wait, Minato!

"I've found the idiot! Please keep a better eye on our poor, pathetic soul that cannot learn directions no matter what." Monokuma returns to where all of us are fighting. "It hasn't even been the trial yet and my students are at each other's throats." Everybody's focus is now on Minato and Monokuma.

"...Huh, where did Takayuki go...?"

"Oh, he's just going to Hospital like a good little child, unlike the all of you," Monokuma cheerfully explains. Then he pulls out a random weed out of the grass and tries to make it into a shape of a flower. It fails.

"Shit!"

"Remember, kiddos, the rules. Have you forgotten them already, you heathens?" The bear takes the weed and begins to tear it up. Afterward, he stares at the ground underneath him and his face turns to a shade of blue. Whoever made this technology is amazing and must be an Ultimate. The type of coding and equipment to even make the base of Monokuma is incredible, then add all these extra features. If he was not forcing all of us to kill each other, he could be amazing. The amount of deaths that can be avoided on the streets with these robots as medic or law enforcement roles would be incredible. Some of Monokuma's features imply he was created for a different purpose than killing people, but people are good at tainting objects that once appeared holy.

"The rules?"

"...You all forgot, didn't you? Even though it is right there, on your stupid little devices! Maybe you should spend less time killing each other and more time reading the rules. Bitch-chan would've liked that!" Nobody searches their handbook for the information Monokuma speaks of, opting to just awkwardly stare at him.

"..." Monokuma does to the same thing that his students are. The forest is so quiet that I can hear Kazuhiko's heartbeat, which is understandably fast. At least I think that is he, for I can hear multiple different ones going about the same speed. That one is clearly the closest though based on how loud it is compared to the others.

"...You're making stuff up, aren't you Monokuma? For that, I shall draw out the latent power of my wand and purify the dark spirit that's holding your true soul captive-"

"Don't we have a trial to get to?" Kazuhiko asks, interrupting Mirabilis. She bites her lip and points her wand at him.

"Yes, yes, somebody is finally paying attention. Right, Kazu? Maybe you should tell your pretty piece of ass Aya the same thing." Hearing those names makes me blush. Oh dear, he might have learned our nicknames with my conversation with Akita, but he could have done so any other way too. Those names are only for...interesting times.

Wait, Monokuma is calling me Aya here. Where did Izumi-chan go? There is a chance that he might have changed his mind, yet I highly doubt that. Maybe Monokuma does not want to others to know that name, but why? What is so important about the name Izumi? It is a fairly popular name in Japan, with thousands of people having it, so it is not like it is rare or anything. Monokuma surely is hiding a lot of things from us.

"Alright, my students, you get a freebie. It's stated under rule eight, people can skip trials if they're in the Hospital. However, let me warn you, future killers, the Blackened cannot follow this rule. It would be rude not to attend your own trial!"

"Hmm, if what you say is right, then it means that Takayuki is not the murderer. That's one suspect down!" Namita comments. She is now wearing a smile.

"Y-you forget that we have no suspects, to begin with. T-that leaves us still with nineteen potential killers!" Shinichi corrects. Namita glares at him but continues to smile afterward.

"This is good and all, but keep such discussions to the Class Trial!" Monokuma, snickering, walks into the old building. With nothing else to do, all of us follow him, walking into the dark abyss of the old building. The chances of winning this trial are slim, especially with the only person that knows what they are doing sitting out, yet there is a hope inside me that tells me to ignore the science and jump right into it. So I did.

* * *

In one of the rooms, there is a staircase that leads underground. I have always been curious about what lies beyond the door, but the last time I tried it, the first day all of us were abducted here, it was locked and neither Kazuhiko or I could open it. After all this time, it turns out it is the entrance to the trial room. It is not that surprising actually. Where else would it be, some random place in the forest? Upstairs? No. The purpose of this whole building could be for the room hidden underneath the floorboards.

Monokuma, somehow holding the key without disposable thumbs, opens the door. It is creaky and has mountains open mountains of dust on it. Without looking back at his students, or telling any of us anything, Monokuma steps door the steps. They are tiny, making it easier for a small bear like him to climb down them.

"So...whose going first?" Namita questions. Mirabilis, as if on pure instinct, runs down the steps, not caring about the pure darkness below. "Well, that answers that question."

"Wait, fair maiden, don't go down by yourself!" Satoshi calls out. He is the next one down.

"I'm surrounded by idiots," Mitsuru comments.

"Whoever is the first one down is the true jeweler!" Kira challenges.

"I will not go along with your commoner games, thief, for I am Cassius-"

"Dude, she's gone," the sukeban interrupts him. She, with a smug look on her face, travels down the staircase after Kira. Cassius runs after Kira, not realizing that the stairs can only fit one person. What happens next is currently censored by the darkness. All I know is that it is not pretty. Hotaru, smirking, follows suit. Naoko, Takara, Shinichi, Yasu, and Kyoto all travel down without saying a single word or making a fuss.

"You're coming with me. I've to make sure you don't get lost," Akemi tells Minato. Minato safely makes it to the staircase and Akemi is after him.

"Guys, before we go down, do none of us truly have any leads?" Namita questions. She, instead of continuing after her classmates, opens the Truth Bullets section of her e-Handbook.

"It would be good to have a focus in a trial," Kazuhiko comments. "Ayano and I looked over them before, yet we haven't had any time to develop theories."

"I have said this before, and I will say it again, I will not accuse any of my classmates. All I would do is make sure that the truth is out there." Miyuki looks steadfast and has a gesture of mixed with confidence and doubt.

"I will stay neutral as well but support the side with the most evidence," Hayato explains. "Whoever makes the best pitch is the person that wins in the end after all." They, both deciding to be in the middle, go down with the rest of the students to whatever awaits us down below. I have always heard stories of the trial rooms, and even seen some pictures, yet actually being here and experiencing this despair is a lot different from the romanticized fiction.

"Out of all the people..." Tsukiko, as if onto something, pulls out her own tab on the Truth Bullets. Her eyes light up. "One known person was alone at the time of the murder..."

"...Oh, my...You're right..." Kazuhiko's eyes light up as well as if it is contagious.

Wait a minute, somehow that is late. There is only one known person that arrived late as described in the Truth Bullets. Mitsuru Banda. That does not seem right though. More evidence is needed and I severely doubt that Mitsuru would end up killing Akita. They know each other too well, and, with her being a gang leader, she would have many more enemies that can be her motive and would suffer from the loss of one of her members.

"Wait, it's just like murder mystery parties! The person who shows up late is the culprit!" Namita shouts out. "Mitsuru Banda!"

"Let's collect our thoughts more," Tsukiko advises. "Just because she does not have an alibi at the time of death doesn't mean she's a killer. There are more students that don't have alibis as well-"

"Students you should know by now you shouldn't be late to a trial!" Monokuma comes after us with one of his claws out. "I've been super lenient with you, such as not killing Mitsu-cho when she destroyed my precious wall! And this is how you repay me!" Switching his emotions, Monokuma begins to cry uncontrollably. "After all, I've done for you, you throw me to the side like trash!"

"Alright, we'll go." Namita and Tsukiko travel their way down the stairs with Monokuma. That leaves me with Kazuhiko, which is how I like it. Although Kazuhiko is an extrovert, I am the very definition of introvert. Most of the time he introduces us to strangers and all I can get out are one-worded phrases. He loves to hear himself talk and I love that about him. Kazuhiko is too adorable for this world.

"Let's stay for a moment," Kazuhiko tells me as he nervously grabs onto my hand. I nod my head. His palms are sweaty.

"What has gotten you so scared?"

"Well...I don't want to lose you," he answers me, voice shaky. "This is the most dangerous either of us has actually done. There's a real chance one of us could die tonight."

"You are being too emotional again."

"I know that...but I love you too much to let you go."

"Now you are just being cheesy and cliche."

"And that's what you like about me." He pulls me close, embracing me. I obviously return the favor. His actions are predictable, yes, yet that does not change the meaning behind them. We do not have a lot of time now to think outside the box...or privacy.

"Well...I love you..." Standing on his tip toes, Kazuhiko makes his mouth reach mine. Both our lips are in horrible condition, with them being chapped, our teeth slowly rotting away because of a lack of toothbrushes, and the smell being awful, but that does not change anything.

"Ahem!" Monokuma shouts out. With that, we both jump off of each other. We are both blushing. That is something that most teenagers do not want adults to see, least of all Monokuma.

"Um..." No excuse can be thought up at this time. Error. Basic functions not working, resort to basic impulses and hope nobody dies.

"Now go to the trial or I'll punish both of you! I hate being this rough, but you leave me with no other choice."

"..." Still error. Basic thought patterns terminated.

"...Okay..." Kazuhiko, seeing me like this, grabs my hand and leads me to the staircase. Sometimes my brain can go haywire. Pretty sure there is something wrong with it, but there is something wrong with everybody's brains nowadays. Since the Tragedy ended, it is more the norm to have a mental disorder and the people lucky enough to not have one are considered not normal. It is very different from how the world used to work yet exactly the same. People perceived as different are still prosecuted for something they have no control over. There is a very slight chance that this will ever stop, way below one percent. Better to not reach for that when it is so low.

Kazuhiko and others may disagree, yet I have seen the truth. Humans, at the core, at emotional beings to a fault. Even I am controlled by my emotions, even though many accuse me of being a robot. That is why I like taking the route of nothing. Nothing can hurt you if you decide to not take apart of anything. The only reason I am even going to try in this trial is that Kazuhiko is here. He does not like my nothingness ideology, resulting in many arguments. Surprising how he can break me out of my mold. Love does activate chemicals in your brain that change your behavior. It is the same chemicals that tell you chocolate is good...right?

"Ayano, you're drifting into space again," Kazuhiko reminds me. He softly nudges my shoulder.

"...Oh..."

"We gotta be at the top of our game if we want to accurately write this." Even now, Kazuhiko is thinking about his job. Considering that is the only reason why the Committee does not silence him or me, I do not blame him.

"That would help gain facts and engage the reader into the true events of an event-"

"Stop talking and move your asses down the stairs!" Monokuma commands us. We are only at the entrance while our classmates are waiting down below. They probably know what is going on up here.

"Alright, alright, we're going." Kazuhiko glares at Monokuma, with him looking very annoyed. To be honest, I find Monokuma annoying as well. He is constantly trying to mess with us while cracking jokes that my father, or even Kazuhiko's, would be ashamed of.

When we finally travel down the massive flight of stairs, I notice how cramped it is. Monokuma closes the door behind us and that was the only source of light other than the bear's red-eye, except for a vague one at the end of the tunnel. Kazuhiko quickly pulls out his e-Handbook and uses it as a flashlight. That, however, does not the fact that this would be a living Hell for people who are claustrophobic. Due to my height, after some time, I have to kneel down to simply fit. Kazuhiko does this after me, despite being about five feet and eight inches.

"Ayano, I've something to tell you," Kazuhiko whispers in my ear. I look back to see that Monokuma is gone, once again escaping.

"What is it?" I use my usual tone since nobody else but the two of us is here.

"I don't think Mitsu-cho is the killer."

"I have presumed the same thing," I respond. "There is a chance that we are wrong, however; and Mitsuru does end up being the Blackened. Neither of us has done something like this though." During our whole conversation, we go down the stairs. They are long, but the light does seem to be getting nearer.

"I know this sounds crazy...screw it, it is crazy. But...um...I think that Naoko is the killer." After hearing that, I stop on the stairs and turn to face him. Kazuhiko is completely serious.

"Naoko...Naoko _Kawabata_...is the killer?"

"I knew it, just disregard everything I said." Kazuhiko is blushing, but differently from before. Most likely he realized that saying his idea out loud made him sound like an amateur. All of us are amateurs though except for the one person that is not here and probably already knows who the killer is. This trial will be...something. Not even I can predict what craziness is going to occur, only that it will not be pretty.

* * *

"And finally, the two lovebirds are here, Aya and Kazu. I shall nickname you as AyaKazu!" Monokuma announces to our entire class, except for Akita, for the basis of being one-hundred percent dead, and Takayuki, who is really lazy and is hanging out somewhere else.

All of our classmates are in podiums that are placed in a circle at the center of the room. The room itself is the entire length of the old building behind the school. There are a lot of stairs, my estimates being about four floors worth, and some of the weaker students are fatigued. Everything is in better condition than the rest of the school, with the podiums themselves being crafted from what seems to be solid gold. At the other side of the room, there is a golden throne that Monokuma is sitting in. Fitting that he now gives himself a crown to match the new setting. Also, for both sides of the room, there are doors fitted with the same gold from the throne and podiums.

On the ceiling of the room, which is high up since this is four floors underground, grey chains are hung up. I do not want to question why they are there. Overall, they only go down to one floor from the ceiling. The only section of the wall that they do not cover is the middle. The middle instead has a logo of Hope's Peak Academy. It is somewhat faded but still in better condition than the school we are forced to stay in.

"Because you're so late, you're gonna have to figure out where you stand." Monokuma glares at us from the sanctuary of his throne. The weight of the crown does not bother the bear one bit.

"The seats have name tags," Mitsuru informs us.

"Mitsu-cho, I said no talking until everybody is seated!"

"I don't follow the rules of a coward that hides his face using a damn mask!" She slams her fists into the podium. Kyoto and Yasu, both of whom are standing next to her, jump.

"Kid, calm down," Yasu says.

"Wasting your energy like this is only gonna make facing the final boss harder!" Mirabilis shouts. Most of the students are not close to each other. The circle is huge on the account that it has to fit twenty-one students instead of the usual sixteen.

" **SILENCE**!" The chains begin to rumble and everybody looks up. There are enough to get all of us and they look quite study.

"...Um...Let's just get seated already..." Kazuhiko notes, gulping as he looks up again.

* * *

I, as if Monokuma wants to mess with me, is seated on the seat opposite of Monokuma, forced to maintain a constant view of him. In the seat reserved for Akita, which is about three seats away from me, there is a stand. It is made out of a rusting metal that is barely holding itself together, ready to break at any moment. On the very top of this poorly made stand, there is a frame. The frame has a picture of a younger looking Akita without her scar, much like the one from the video I saw just in a calmer state of mind. She is actually smiling. Not the quiet smile that her dead body has, but a genuine one that can be found on a kid just promised a trip to the theme park by their parents. Which is rare since there is only one open in Japan and that it has tickets that start at a thousand dollars. However, the thing that stands out the most of this is the pink x mark over Akita's face. It is dripping and would be tricked for real blood if it was red.

In a list, the order people are placed is me, Naoko Kawabata, Miyuki Kobyashi, Kira Iwata, Kyoto Kamui, Mitsuru Banda, Yasu Matsuhita, Satoshi Nakajima, Akemi Nakatani, Shinichi Fujimoto, Cassius Jacobson, Hayato Akimoto, Kazuhiko Hiraoka (only if he is a little closer), Takara Miyagi, Rosalina Folium, Hotaru Amemori, Minato Ueda, Tsukiko Oda, and Namita Nakahashi. There is a seat to my right that is empty, which is the only reasonable place that Takayuki will stand.

 **Class Trial: All Rise!**

"Let's begin with a basic explanation of the Class Trial! So, your votes will determine the results. If you can figure out 'whodunnit' then only they will receive punishment. But if you pick the wrong one...drumroll...then I'll punish everyone *besides* the Blackened, and the one who deceived everyone else will graduate!" Monokuma informs us without his face changing once from what is considered his default. The crown is seated next to him.

"Does the killer really have to be punished?" Mirabilis asks. "They've killed someone, but what if they don't deserve it? Why do they get the death penalty?"

"Because, sweetie, that's how the real world works." Monokuma begins to laugh as Mirabilis pulls out her wand again. Hotaru, who is right next to her, takes a hold of it and begins to shake her head.

"Anyways, let's not focus on that for now. We've to discuss subjects relating to the case on hand," Namita explains. "Which leads to the only lead we got!"

"A lead? Who might that be?" Kira asks. Her interests are peaked but she is paying more attention to the ceiling above than Namita.

"Mitsuru Banda-"

"You gotta be shitting me," Mitsuru sighs. "If you're serious, I'm gonna come over there and punch you in the face." She begins to roll up her sleeves. Kyoto backs away as far as possible in his podium.

"I am!"

"Mitsu-cho does not have a motive," Kazuhiko corrects Namita. "There's no reason for her to kill Akita, who was one of the members of her gang. That's incentive to keep her alive, don't ya think?"

"U-um, how about the motive video?" Shinichi questions. "Don't hurt me...but lying about your t-true self seems like a motive!"

"And her connection to Hideyoshi Yamazaki?" Kazuhiko asks. Somebody else is about to answer him, but all of us feel our podiums move. We are all silenced by the random turn of events.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence: Battle Arena Preparation**

"Non-stop debate?" I ask. I remember these from the stories that my father used to tell me. He just seemed to make names up to make everything sound cooler for a child, yet, here I am, witnessing it. Now there is a hundred percent chance that I owe him something for when I see him again.

"Holy shit!" Satoshi yells. I break away from my thoughts to see that we are floating in the air. The words _Holy shit_ can be seen in front of us in the form of some kind of holographic floating text.

"This is some advanced technology," I note as I see my words pop up. "I wonder how long it would take me to break into the code of something like this."

"Huh? How come this is so fancy and not where we're staying at?" Namita questions.

"That is not important now. I'm here to explain to you the rules of this system." Monokuma explains. He is riding a jet pack to see what is happening up here, where he circles all of us. His words do not appear. "Since this is the Class Trial, Ayano is allowed to touch technology, yet she is not allowed to tamper with it in any way."

"Yes!" I can feel my eyes sparkle. Finally, technology! I love technology. Even though my talent is destruction, the whole creation of these works of art amazes me, especially their coding. Maybe that is why I like tearing it down so much. It is the only thing, other than Kazuhiko, that makes me this happy.

"Ahem! Anyway, there should be tablets in front of you." Right as Monokuma says that, tablets pop up from where are name tags are. They are the same as the e-Handbooks but only have the Truth Bullets section. "As you, students can see, the Truth Bullets are up. The only statements you can break are the ones in pink. You can, however, always make a statement yourself, yet people can freely ignore yours if they so wish if not broken. So, listen up, kids, you better break some statements, or you're gonna be ignored by your shitty classmates! So somebody please say that Bitch-chan isn't dead."

"Bitch-chan isn't dead..." Satoshi says. The text, as predicted, comes out as pink. By this point, we have all figured out that Akita Yamazaki cannot be alive. Minato, however, still looks down, clearly disturbed.

"Now a student...Aya! Aya, break his argument!" Monokuma exclaims. I pick the first bullet, the Monokuma File, and press to fire it at Satoshi's statement. I am not dead, so that means that Monokuma is keeping his word. Now the text breaks.

"Wow, look at that, he actually kept his word." Akemi stares at the bear across his view, to the middle of the room, and then back to the bear. His whole response is quite deadpan, especially for somebody with his arrogant personality. People with personalities like him usually do not understand the meaning behind that kind of humor.

"Now, everybody in your class has a unique color, even Bitch-chan, to help you clarify your arguments," Monokuma adds-on.

The information is listed on the bottom of the page of Truth Bullets. Everybody truly has a different color. Things are about to get too hectic to analyze them all, but I notice that my color is grey and Kazuhiko is white. I notice that Akita's color is also listed down as pink, which is quite odd.

"That's the basics! Now I trust you kids can take it from here."

"As I stated before, there's no proven connection between Hideyoshi and Mitsu-cho. He is the person in the killer's hostage video, so, unless somebody can prove me wrong, Mitsu-cho does not have the same motive as the killer," Kazuhiko explains.

"Of course, there's no evidence proving you to be right. Mitsuru can easily be lying," Hotaru retorts. "One of the possible murder weapons, the bat, is also a sign of gangs. And guess what Mitsuru's Ultimate is? Of course, this doesn't automatically mean anything but...it still is there."

"Don't fucking associate me with those things!" Mitsuru cries out. She kicks the bottom of her podium, which almost causes her to lose her balance. That is probably something I should not discuss with a person that is perfectly able to beat me up.

"Why not, commoner? I'm curious to hear why you react so badly to a simple bat-"

"Bats aren't simple you piece of shit!"

"Huh, how about we figure out which weapon is the real tool used to murder Akita Yamazaki? That could make this a lot easier." Tsukiko brings up a good point. There are many possible murder weapons, yet the most likely is the knife. Although that would not erase all blame off of Mitsuru, it would make solving the case a lot easier.

"Yes. Change subject." Text appears on the screen without having anybody talk. Takara is staring quite intently at his pad and seems to be typing something. He can finally speak.

"Puhuhuhu, you gotta finish this current conversation first." Monokuma presses a button and a giant red x appears on a screen. "Did I mention to you all have Trial Points?"

"You serious?" Yasu asks.

"Yes, everybody starts with ten, except if they do something very stupid. Things like having your points proven wrong, trying to change the subject out of turn, and anything else will be punished by one Trial Point. Once the Points hit zero, your podium returns to the ground and you can't enter back into the conversation, except if you're the Blackened, who has an endless supply of Points."

"If there is anything else, Monokuma, maybe you should tell the whole class before the Trial resumes," Hayato says.

"There's more, but I'll guide my students when they need to be guided by my superior knowledge. How you kids are so cute! Now stay on topic, or more people will be punished. Now, this is when the true trial for the murder of Akita Yamazaki, the Ultimate Ringleader, takes place!"

* * *

 **I've no idea what I'm doing...Hopefully, it is enjoyable. And, yes, the court system is slightly different from the games. And, yes, Satoshi did get a point deducted for being the guinea pig. Poor Satoshi, too innocent for this world.**

 **But, trust me, next chapter is gonna be crazy. And some of you will want to kill me. ;)**

 **Anyways, onto the reviews, since I don't have a lot to talk about. Just that this chapter was supposed to be more trial but I got carried away. And I've no idea how kissing works. I've never kissed anybody, let alone be in a relationship. #ForeverAlone #ImDatingTheatre**

 **CommanderofInsanity-Oh my God, you get here early? That's it, it has been the Judgment Day and everybody's dead. OH, MY GOD. (Still, love you XD)**

 **AnonChan1-Hello, friend. Welcome to Hell. Takayuki just won a gamble for the first time in this story. Congrats, Takayuki, you're not dead. Mitsuru knows, trust me she knows. Poor kids only have two suspects and have no idea what they're doing still. The question is whether or not you believe Namita or Kazuhiko's theory more. Monokuma and Akita are just torturing those fourth walls. Poor fourth walls. Exactly. What can I say, clowns are freaky. Well, not to me, but to a lot of people. Especially Akita. Wait till the end of the trial to figure out. Takayuki knows that...he's just sometimes really impulsive...and may have problems. And then Takayuki fucked with him.**

 **Harukawa Ayame-Clearly, Sae is the Ultimate ?. That's the best talent. Oh, you're not gonna be disappointed. Naoko and Minato both need hugs and both for very different reasons. Minato is not gonna be happy. Well, this story is gonna be loooonnnnggg so why not add some mysteries? It is only the first chapter and it is the length of a novel...screw me...I totally didn't make a mistake and overlooked it. Tottalllllyyyyy not. Hope I didn't disappoint and won't disappoint in the future.**

 **HyperBrachydios-There was a lot of screaming, so I don't blame you. And now the characters are suspicious too. Hideyoshi is gonna be cleared up in the trial. Well, this chapter took me about eleven days. I blame college and being the idiot who decides to take four non-Freshman classes. I'm smart...I swear.**

 **The hazel-eyed bookworm-I need to get off my ass and do something. XD I'll do it soon...hopefully. If I learned anything in high school, it is that I can be the laziest person I know. And I know a lot of lazy people.**

 **0B13-I feel like this is one fanfiction book thing people are gonna reread when it is finished and be like...oh my God. What can I say, those rings need a leader. Point twist, Kyoto is actually that for the Committee since they're the only people lazier than me. Aw, thank you. :)**

 **TheRoseShadow21-And here's more questions. I got a lot of explaining to do. I'm not telling. I'm busy...but today is the day I don't go the class till 5:00 PM...but I have a test...Oh dear...Yes, Hideyoshi is the Ultimate Joker Wannabe. He is like if Joker, Hisoka, and Pennywise had a weird baby together. I don't want to see that, but I made Hideyoshi...Be very afraid. None of you should've trusted me with any of your characters. Puhuhuuhuhuhuhuuhuhuhuhuu.**

 **ShadedLyht-Welcome to the world of the people that have caught up. Yeah, I wanted to change some things about the original formula, so I'm glad you like it. Or is it, and the killer hid it in some way? There are some hints here and there but I didn't want it to be anything that would spoil it like PANCAKES. Those who get that joke get a free pancake. Don't hang around me, Hazel can tell you how bad I am about keeping up with things...and all my teachers ever...how I've ever got to college is beyond me or written this much without PANCAKES**

 **YellowtheWriter-Or was she? Dun dun dun. Well, I just destroyed your theory. Sorry about that. XD Requiem: The Destroyer of Theories.**


	15. Trial 1-2

**Trial 1-2: Our Love is God**

* * *

"Okay, back on topic! The main piece of evidence that proves Mitsuru is the killer is the murder weapon, _the bat_!" The bat is colored in pink and the next thing I see is Namita's words breaking apart. Her face immediately drops.

"N-no, that's wrong!" Naoko shouts out. She points at Namita with her finger shaking and having her eyes all watery. "The most likely cause of death is _the stab wounds_ and the bat could have possibly been _the cause of the blunt force trauma_."

"Okay, students, now that you finally successfully broke the argument, you can change the subject," Monokuma explains, grinning suspiciously. "You can talk about anything, even things completely unrelated. The person who successfully did it is the only person that can choose though. So, you should talk about pancakes! Too bad I haven't turned any of my precious students into butter yet, or it would be perfect! Oh well, that's despair for you." He starts to rub his belly and lick his lips.

"U-um, let's talk about the murder weapon." Naoko tries to hide behind the bars of her podium, but she can still be clearly seen. Her eyes dart all around the arena because that is what this place basically is, only to spot nothing that can be used as a refuge. Miyuki and I look at her, not knowing what to do with our neighbor. The poor little girl is surrounded by the two people that absolutely do not know what to do in this situation.

"The Monokuma File actually does not state the cause of death," Tsukiko points out. Hearing this, I rush to the description of the first Truth Bullet. What Tsukiko says is true, as it only tells the events but nothing more. My own lack of detective skills is starting to embarrass me. Perhaps I can find a book on the upper level of the library that will help me with this problem.

"Clearly it's the twenty-one _stab wounds_ that are littered all over her! That kills people!" Hotaru yells. She is sitting on the top of her podium, letting her feet hang off the edge. Her feet are a lot cleaner than they used to be.

"It does kill people, but what if it happened _after death_?" Kazuhiko asks. Even though I will support Kazuhiko, if he does not think the blunt force trauma or the stab wounds are the cause of death, then what is? It is either one or the other. It could help clear up the mystery behind Akita's smile. Having somebody smile after being basically tortured to death is one of the most disturbing things I can think of.

"What if it happened before death?" Kyoto questions, surprisingly serious. "The _blood on the patio_ hints that there was a struggle before death."

"I will not point out anybody, but I shall present evidence. Perhaps the stick that Takara found is _directly linked to her death_ ," Miyuki suggests. That clears up the question of whoever found that. Takara could have used his talent of treasure hunting to find new pieces of evidence. Knowing that will be beneficial for the next trials. Most people, much like Kazuhiko, would claim that this will be the only death if all of us survive. There is about a zero percent chance of anything like that kind of miracle happening in any sort of timeline. The only reason why the third Killing Game resulted in no deaths is that of the players all being inside a virtual reality, nothing more. If it was not a virtual reality, most of them would have died instead of the singular AI based off a person that was already killed by Junko Enoshima, Chiaki Nanami.

"The stick? That could make sense if the killer asserted enough force," Hotaru points out while pretending to throw an imaginary dart at Monokuma. Monokuma plays among and pretends to be hit, only to pop up seconds later. "However, there's a knife directly in her heart that's more likely. The stick could be something to distract us." She stands up on the edge of her podium and puffs out her chest. Her face drops when she sees her words break apart.

"Sorry, but t-that's wrong!" Naoko cries out. No wonder Takayuki trusts her, she is smart. Kazuhiko, however, thinks she is the killer and this helpful attitude could be a tactic to put the blame off her. "The knife is not involved in the murder at all! A-Akita is the one that bought that knife out of the kitchen! S-she...she hurt herself with it! And the killer used it to distract us!"

"If that is true, then the killer is somebody that witnessed that," Hayato notes. "Most people did not know about the knife's existence until after Akita's body was found." With that, our podiums start to shake, and everybody holds onto tightly. Hotaru jumps back to the safety of the stand. The chances of her falling would have been too great if she did not do so.

 **Non-Stop Debate Stop: Free For All Mode**

"Free for all?" Minato asks. They are still opting to take a more silent position in the trial, but it is good to hear Minato say something. Minato is still keeping their eyes on Mitsuru even though they are not near each other. I am still feeling happy that I am not near Mitsuru since there was a decent chance that it could happen. Miyuki is also a good person to protect me from Mitsuru since the two of them seem to know each other somehow. Why else would Miyuki call her Mitsu-cho, a nickname only used by Mitsuru's friends and Monokuma?

"Attention, kids, since this is still the tutorial! In this mode, for five minutes everybody can say anything they want without penalty. So, have fun!"

"So the murder weapon is either the bat or the stick," Namita tells her classmates. With all the evidence so far, my theories all have a zero percent chance of being right. "My theory is that it's the bat and the cause of death is the blunt force trauma with the killer being Mitsuru Banda!"

"I object! My theory is...is that the killer is Naoko Kawabata who ambushed Akita Yamazaki with the stick using the other weapons as distractions," Kazuhiko shouts. He quickly raises his hands over his eyes only to see that nobody is wanting to attack him. Everybody only stares at him, not wanting to believe the one so far leading the trial is the person that is the killer.

"M-me?" She responds. Naoko is visibly shaking.

"Huh, where's your evidence? Mitsuru has a missing alibi and could easily lift one of the murder weapons, even though it's quite heavy!" Namita is glaring directly in Kazuhiko's eyes. Even from where I am standing, I can feel the immense amount of hatred in their stare off. If I have learned anything other than Kazuhiko is like a puppy from my years dating him, it would be that he is stubborn and will not go down without a fight. Now that I think about it, puppies do that too.

"Let's not do this right now! Confirming which is the true murder weapon should come first," Tsukiko says. The two sides ignore her and she sighs. Namita might be right next to her but she is solely focused on something she deems more important.

"You forget, Naoko is the last person who saw Akita before her death and was with her while viewing the hostage video," Kazuhiko reminds his classmates. Tsukiko is treated like she is not even there. Stop ignoring your critics, Kazuhiko, or they are just going to get worse. By a number of times, you have done stupid things, and me telling you about it, you should know that by now.

"Both of these theories are stupid! All you people are idiots!" Mitsuru once again hits her podium. And, just like last time, Kyoto and Yasu jump. Yasu places their hand near their tool belt box, where their bunny, Mochi, is sticking his head out.

"Kids, calm down, you're scaring Mochi-"

"I agree with Namita. She may not be of my rank, yet she brings up good points. Right, other commoners?" Cassius is standing stand and trying to look more presentable than he actually is now. Shinichi keeps quiet, knowing that Cassius is talking about him.

"Well then, I believe Kazuhiko!" Kira shouts. There is a lot of shouting even though everybody clearly can tell what everybody is saying, due to the text still appearing in the middle.

"Taking aside this early is only impulsive. Think everything through and everything will reveal itself in due time." Hayato is crossing his arms. He is trying his hardest to hide his current anger.

"Everybody calm down!" Mirabilis demands in an unusually forceful tone. "If we don't join together, I'll be forced to purify all of you!"

 **Five Minutes Over: Free For All Mode End**

"Looks like all of you are disagreeing," Monokuma comments, seeing the current tension in the room. "In situations like this, we go into a Debate Scrum. Usually, there are only two subjects, but, since there's so many of you, I can let there be three."

"Debate Scrum?" I question. In all of the stories that my father told me, nothing like this happened. Is this possibly something that is new? Maybe this mastermind wanted to create something new to stand out from Junko Enoshima. That would make sense with all of his actions so far.

"You'll see." Then the screen on our pads changed to another image except for the Truth Bullets. On this scene, there are three options: Kazuhiko Hiraoka, Namita Nakahashi, and Tsukiko Oda. Under their names, there is a short description of their side. It is asking the people of this makeshift courtroom whether they think Naoko Kawabata, Mitsuru Banda, or somebody else is the killer. Although I personally agree with Tsukiko, I will go with Kazuhiko's side for this one. Kazuhiko clearly has more up his sleeve with his argument or he would have backed down already.

"Naoko Kawabata...I am truly sorry..." My finger taps lightly on Kazuhiko's name and my vote is locked. I do not even know why I wasted my precious time saying that as nobody could have heard me and the words did not appear.

 **Votes In: Debate Scrum Start**

The class is divided into a three-way. The people who think Mitsuru did it are on the right and the group consists of Namita, Cassius, Satoshi, Shinichi, and Akemi. My group, on the left, thinking that Naoko is the killer, has Kazuhiko, myself, Hotaru, Kira, Kyoto, Minato, and Takara. Lastly, Tsukiko's group, are circled around everybody else like Monokuma ran out of places, other than Tsukiko herself, has Naoko, Mirabilis, Mitsuru, Yasu, Hayato, and Miyuki. Surprisingly, the groups are pretty equal.

"Okay, now that you're successfully in your places, I shall explain how the Scrum Debate works. It's simple, the groups take turns presenting arguments and breaking them. Whoever presents the best arguments in the person that wins. If you're part of the group that loses, you lose one of your Trial Points. First up is Namita's group!"

"Alright, Mitsuru appeared in the library, at 5:40, ten minutes after the murder took place. She has no alibi for when the actual murder took place!"

"So does many other people, Namita. Cleaning up the murder and putting everything in place would take way more than ten minutes. Naoko has no alibi either and was the last one seen with Akita," Kazuhiko debates. His voice is shaky even though his eyes are entirely focused.

"Yes, they're different people without alibis! That means Naoko and Mitsuru can be the killer, yes, yet other people as well. All that does is protect people who are listed in the alibis! Then again, with how weird these Truth Bullets are, we cannot even put those people out of question." Tsukiko is about done with everybody on the other sides. She, like Hayato, is trying to keep it together but it is clearly shown on her face her true emotions.

"Ahem, as somebody from noble blood, I feel inclined to inform all of you about the preferred weapon of heathens that call themselves gang members, the bat. It was also hidden away like some little rat did not want somebody like the honorable Lord Cassius Am-"

"The stick was hidden as well and has more blood on it despite being smaller," I interrupt him. Wasting time listing his name will only make this trial harder and everybody more annoyed. I am pretty sure what I just did is against the rules, but Monokuma agrees with me and lets me go without any punishment.

"H-how does the murder weapon prove anything? A-anybody could've wielded the stick, and the b-bat only lowers the suspects to the stronger members!" Naoko is not doing so well under all of the pressure of being possibly charged with murder. Once we both finish this trial, I am giving Kazuhiko a firm punishment. No more fun times.

"Mitsuru has the strongest motive of the strong people! Even I know that!" Satoshi debunks.

"Pointing out that only makes you more suspicious, as you're being oddly protective," Hotaru smirks. She has returned to standing on the edge of her podium and stares Satoshi directly in his face. "Who else would have the time to go out to the forest to a random tree, take off the weakest branch possible, and attack Akita? So far, only Naoko."

"This isn't the point! Proving the murder weapon is more important than these meaningless arguments. I already hit her with my wand and Akita was fine," Mirabilis says. To somehow help her point, she raises her wand above her head and starts to twirl.

"T-the killer's h-hostage motive is of Akita h-herself, so the killer must have known her beforehand." Shinichi brings up a good point, but a lot more people than Mitsuru knew Akita before the Killing Game. Even I personally knew of her, even though we did not interact that often. "T-they needed to hate Akita and b-be able to take demand."

"N-Naoko could have had a secret connection to Akita." Kyoto and Shinichi are equally as shy as each other and cannot look the other in the eye. It is almost like a battle between the socially awkward smart people which cannot end well.

"No, idiots. Let's not make this any harder on ourselves," Mitsuru responds, her words feel like daggers. "Now let's agree that the Blackened is either me, Minato, Takayuki, and Kazuhiko." Automatically, everybody on Naoko's side is put out and pushed to the side and replaced with the neutral side.

"Looks like Naoko is proven to not be the Blackened, so her side is now eliminated. Which can happen. Don't question it, I make all the rules!" When I look down to my pad, one of my Trial Points is erased. Should have trusted my gut but now I can be with Kazuhiko. It is only one point, and Tsukiko's side is most likely to win.

Wait, if there are only four suspects left, and two of them are proven innocent, then only Kazuhiko and Minato are the only people left. Kazuhiko has an alibi with Miyuki's account. Minato, though, does not seem like the person who would kill somebody. Mitsuru would not kill her either. Who would kill her? I have no idea.

"Hm, let's continue. How can you prove Mitsuru's lack of an alibi?" Akemi interrogates the other side. He then glances back to where Kyoto and I are and flashes a cocky grin. Mitsuru whispers something into Yasu's ear. Both of them are putting their bodies the closest they can be to the other.

"Simple, kid, Mitsuru was in the cafeteria with Hayato and Cassius before your group came in, which happened at 5:20 and then went to the bathroom in her very own room before joining Miyuki's group in the library!" Yasu destroys Akemi's arguments. Mitsuru looks at them and gives Yasu a thumbs up.

"To add more merit to the claim that Akemi's account does not count as a correct alibi, both Lord Cassius and I were in the cafeteria at the time of the murder. They didn't appear to 5:40!" Hayato adds-on. When he finishes his thoughts, the Truth Bullets update with the correct information. Cassius, when everybody looks over to him for approval, nods his head in the most formal way I could imagine.

"Now, to provide more evidence, as somebody who knows a lot about weapons, I have a conjecture to propose. Perhaps the weapon used for the blunt force trauma was the bat, and then the actual murder weapon in the stick," Miyuki proposes. With all of their thoughts expressed, the neutral group all smile.

"This is our answer!" they all exclaim at once. It is like all of our arguments against them broke at once.

 **Scrum Debate End!**

"And, with Akita's eyes being closed and her peaceful state of slumber we can propose that the killer is somebody she knew personally," Namita says. She seems to have taken their side now after being proven wrong. That is very quick, even for somebody who knows people on the other side personally.

"There is still something wrong here," Kyoto states. "Why is there blood in the garden? Did the attack start there? If it did, how did the killer move Akita and the bat without being caught?"

"The blanket!" Hotaru basically screams. Mirabilis, even though she can be loud at times as well, and Minato, both having the bad luck of being seated right next to her, cover their ears. She jumps up and almost falls onto the ground. Although the fall would not kill her, it would still hurt a lot. Hotaru most likely does not want to be put out of commission again in the Hospital.

"I highly doubt that covers everything," Kazuhiko comments. "There has to be something more."

"Perhaps the killer wanted the kill Akita in the garden yet she escaped to the patio?" Mirabilis asks. She now has her wand put away, yet her hand always stays right by it.

"No, there would've been a blood trail in the hallway," Tsukiko answers. "Akita herself is way too big to be covered with that blanket..." The wheels in Tsukiko's mind seem to be turning. Before she can think anymore, the podiums return to their original places.

"How did the killer get the baseball bat in the first place?" Takara, when the podiums are set into place, asks with the words in the middle. I can only imagine his relief of finally being heard.

"The secret passageway? Where else?" Akemi responds. Although I do not like him, I do personally agree with Akemi for once. He is finally using his brain of us to help find the true secrets of this case. Now that I am thinking about it, why was Kazuhiko hanging out with Akemi? Then I remember that he is doing his usual thing of not wanting people to hate each other and bringing them together. Does he not realize that is impossible? It is nigh impossible to do that with this class alone, let alone the world that has billions of people living on it and fueled by negative emotions most of the time.

"I...agree," I say. Akemi gapes his jaw for a moment but then smirks.

"If that's the case, then the killer has some ties to the mastermind," Kyoto reminds us. "Just what exactly? Does the killer know who the mastermind is-"

"Precisely! I gave permission for the Blackened to go to the room since he promised to kill somebody! Of course, that meant he caught a glimpse of my beautiful face!" Monokuma smiles. Whether or not it is intentional, Monokuma drops us all a hint to the killer's true nature. The killer is most likely a man, which only makes Naoko and Mitsuru more in the clear.

"Why are you telling-"

"Time for another Non-Stop Debate!" Monokuma cheers. It is almost like he does not want the class to discuss that subject even though he gave us that Truth Bullet. "And, no, you've to discuss something other than the door."

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"Okay...First, we shall discuss the issue of the lack of blood in the hallway. The garden, forest, and patio are all painted with blood," Namita notes. I honestly have no idea who is the killer. Everything about this confuses me. My father is far better with these kinds of things, considering he helps solve many murders much like this one. Sadly, I have not been taught his ways, so that decreases my odds of survival a lot.

"Maybe because _all of us_ were in the cafeteria and library at the time, or supposed to be, the murderer used that time to pass our defenses," Satoshi suggests.

"No, you are incorrect!" Using my pad, I use the updated bullet of Akemi's account. Satoshi, once again, has his argument broken apart by me. That is probably one of the shortest debates in the history of humanity, even for ones with Hagakure in them. Even history classes would not hide the fact that Hagakure was what most people would call an idiot. There is a lot of censorship and lies, with over ninety-nine percent of it not being true, yet that is the one thing the Committee kept intact.

 **Non-Stop Debate Stop!**

"Wait, what if Akita herself is the one who used the blanket?" Tsukiko asks. All of us, curious about what she means, stare at her, hoping for an answer. "There was a giant gash on her wrist, and trauma to her head, she might have used it to cover up those areas. It is big enough to cover those two areas, even though it would cover her eyesight. Nothing ever said that the killer is the one who used everything."

"If that is the case, though, perhaps the killer also used the blanket to cover up the blood on the bat while he hid it in the closet. Monokuma did let it slip that the Blackened is a man after all." Hayato has his hand on his chin and his eyes have the images of the holographic letters shine off them.

"Oops, I always seem to do that. Don't mind me." Monokuma begins to laugh and is enjoying this way too much to not be planning something. Even Satoshi, by far the person in this group with the lowest I.Q, raises his one of his eyebrows.

"Male..." I personally note.

"Now, precious students of mine, can I purpose a change of subject-"

"No!" we all shout at the same time. Monokuma's red eye glows and the chains on the ceiling begin to shake around again. They are closer to our heads since we are about one story up. Still unsettling, especially to taller students like me, Minato, and Mitsuru, to have them come closer and closer to us.

"Could we perhaps talk about the victim? Poor Bitch-chan is getting her feelings hurt in Hell." Monokuma begins to try what I can only presume to be fake tears.

"...What about Bitch-chan?" Satoshi questions our supposed headmaster. He is truly somebody that will hinder further investigations and trials with how idiotic and easily manipulated he is.

"Anything! Even her boob size! She got big knockers for somebody who's got stabbed twenty-one times!"

"Say that again and I'll purify you!" Mirabilis threatens. Her generally cute magical girl persona makes Monokuma laugh at her threat other than scaring him.

 **Free For All: Akita Edition Start!**

"U-um, what are we supposed to say?" Shinichi asks. Most of us are lost because of Monokuma's random changing of the subject. We only have five minutes though, so we should think of something. Akita...Other than what others personally know about her, I have the contents of that video. Monokuma, however, will most likely punish me for revealing that information and that is too much of a risk to not even get close to finding who the killer is.

"W-when she talked to me last, she told me about stuff. A-afterward, I think she s-said something like...um...f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f...Fuck you to Hell!" Naoko is blushing. She is probably not used to saying words like fuck and shit. Most of the time I do not use them since it is rude and not needed, but that does not change moments where they are most fit for: moments of pure rage. I, for one, am not the only person in this world to want to say fuck you directly to the head of the Committee. In fact, I have actually done that even though the chances of survival were only about thirty percent. By then, I was a high enough member in the Committee for them to decide to keep me around.

"Does anybody else remember how batshit insane Akita was while drunk?" Mitsuru is cocking her head. "She was going on and on about being stuck in her own body and shit like that. Calling herself Sae Emiya...which is...which is one of the names listed down on the Monokuma File and the only one without a talent revealed."

"Don't use those bad words again! I don't want to purify a comrade!" Mirabilis attempts to throw roses at Mitsuru, perhaps as a way to cheer her up, yet that fails and they all fall to the ground.

"I just passed her off as drunk, even though she did not drink anything I had...Oh yeah, I remember finding a completely emptied bottle of strong vodka! Anyway, she asked me where she is and all that kind of jazz. Then went on and on about how she needs to get back home or something." Hotaru's face is neutral and is more bored than anything.

"Yeah, she went directly up to me and begged me to help her. Saying people named Aki and Akiza were taking control of her mind," Kazuhiko adds on. "She was scared, trying to make me promise her to not make them reach her again."

"Puhuhuhu, hey, do you want me to reveal Sae's Ultimate? It will cost you all three Trial Points." Monokuma cannot contain his laughter. He cannot drive his jetpack straight, ending with him planting his face directly into one of the walls. Seconds later, he returns from his trip to see that a lot of the kids are trying to contain their very own laughter.

 **Free For All: End!**

"Yes!" Kazuhiko cries out. Before anybody could object, I see that three of my life points are taken, leaving me with only six left. Now I have to be super careful with my words or I could be sent out of the Trial.

"Be careful about what you wish for, Kazu. **Sae Emiya**...is, in fact, the **Ultimate Experiment Subject**."

* * *

 **Ultimate Experiment Subject**

 **Sae Emiya**

* * *

Right as Monokuma introduced her talent, the Truth Bullets update. There is a smiley face right next to the one for the Monokuma File which was not there before. Monokuma seems to have the habit of messing with his students.

"...No...Don't tell me...That's the truth..." Kazuhiko's voice starts to shake along with his whole body. I would do anything to go over there to comfort him, but there is a reason why Monokuma placed us away from each other. Us being together would only make our chances of success skyrocket. Something that Monokuma does not want by any means.

"What the fuck does that mean!?" Mitsuru cries out. "Ultimate Experiment Subject? What the _fuck_ is the Committee doing?!" She kicks and kicks the podium in front of her until she has no energy left. Her knees give out and she falls on them.

"Calm down! You're using those bad words again!" Mirabilis does the same flower trick, just with more of her rose petals, with the same results. Yasu, being one of the closest people to Mitsuru, tries to show her their rabbit, only to get ignored.

"Only if we had a therapist in here," Hotaru comments. Still sitting on the edge of her podium, she hooks her legs in and allows her torso to go down, hanging her whole upper body off of it.

"We should focus more on solving the murder now," Miyuki sighs. Her hand is on resting on her sword. "Thinking about what ifs will only waste time that we do not have."

"Time to change the subject again! Get back to finding out who the dreadful murderer of Bitch-chan is!" Monokuma is spinning around in circles, teasing Mitsuru. There is a high chance that if he continues to act this way in Trials, one person will snap. One person will give Monokuma exactly what he wants: despair.

"Wait, what are you planning?" Kyoto interrogates Monokuma. He is trying to sound tough but his shaking legs are clearly visible.

"Stop changing the damn subject!" Mitsuru calls Monokuma out. "This isn't a Trial, it is just another playground for you to assert your will!" Monokuma flies over to where Mitsuru is but is far enough not to be reached. Mitsuru is about to jump for him, yet Yasu jumps from their podium, almost falling in the process, and stops her.

"Acting this way won't do anything, kid! Relax." Yasu, once again, shows Mitsuru Mochi. This time, to the surprise of everybody, except for Yasu, Mitsuru begins to pet him. "See? Mochi likes you."

"Yes, relax, acting recklessly is something that Monokuma wants. We must team together to bring him down!" By this point, I believe that it is safe to say that Tsukiko is the leader of our group. She is using her skills as the Ultimate Band Manager to great use.

"Still, you've to obey my rules. There's nothing you can do about that."

 **Free For All: Murderer Edition Start!**

"The fact that the killer closed Akita's eyes shows that he cares for her," Minato notes. They are probably trying to find something that will keep their last piece of innocence intact. There is a zero percent chance of this working.

"Hmm, let's focus on the blood for now. There are hints of Akita's blood on the patio, in the forest, and the garden. How could this happen?" Namita is tapping one of her fingernails on her own golden podium.

"Tsukiko's theory is most likely correct due to Monokuma's response," I respond. "That covers why there is blood in the garden but not the hallway. Now we just have to figure out about the forest and why she put the blanket on in the first place." It strikes me as weird that Akita would not go to the Hospital. She died before Mitsuru made the hole, so that is out of the question.

"...Maybe...s-she wanted to help the m-murderer." Naoko tries to hide behind her podium again.

"Help?" Kira is dumbfounded by Naoko. "Who would want to help their murderer? What is she? One of the True Despairs?"

"Actually...Stop the Free For All, computer!" Monokuma commands. He has finally moved away from Mitsuru. Both Mitsuru and Yasu are too busy petting Mochi to pay attention to what is happening.

 **Free For All: End!**

"Perhaps I should show all of you the video. It wouldn't be fun if only one person watched it!" Monokuma then pulls out something that looks like a TV remote with a bunch of buttons. In the middle is the biggest button that is also colored red. He, predictably, presses that one. At that moment, out of the walls, TV screens appear all around us. The next thing I see is the younger Akita Yamazaki. One without her scar, but with an obsession with despair and not neutrality.

"Hello, viewer!...You should know me as Akita Yamazaki, the Ultimate Ringleader!"

* * *

"...No..." Kazuhiko and Minato are the most distressed. Yasu somehow convinced Mitsuru not to look, or, if Mitsuru did look, they are really strong and used the strength needed for their Ultimate Engineer talent. Mitsuru does have ears, and she is covering them tightly.

"Dammit, that only leaves more questions!" Namita, in a rare moment of rage, follows in Mitsuru's footsteps and kicks her podium.

"Only if I had bought my stronger purification powers, then I could be able to handle this situation." Holding onto her wand tightly, Mirabilis is one of the calmer people in the makeshift courtroom.

"...Wait...People that she knew...Male...Akemi's account not being trustworthy..." Tsukiko is thinking aloud. There is a light in her eyes. She looks at the other students. Miyuki and Hayato both look away but seem to be nodding their heads slightly. Others like Namita, Kyoto, and Naoko are more direct. Honestly, I have no idea what the six of them are thinking.

"Tsun-Tsun, do you truly have an idea?" Monokuma asks. He is now directly over Tsukiko's head, but she pays no attention to him. Tsukiko points directly at my boyfriend, making him jump. Both Kazuhiko and I exchange glances at each other.

"I propose that the Blackened is...The Ultimate Journalist: Kazuhiko Hiraoka!" At that very moment, everything in my small, tiny world begun to freeze.

* * *

 **Dun dun dun.**

 **I have no idea what I'm doing with this trial system. Hopefully, you guys like it. I purposefully made it so that trials go up in how hard they are as we go along in the story, so hopefully, this works.**

 **So I already wrote this chapter before which is why it only took me a day or so. I split up the original chapter since, well, it was really, really long. And, well, updates for everybody! Because...well, I'm gonna get busy. Because I'm starting to apply for work as an actor. Since I've never acted in anything before...Kill me. This is my damn major!**

 **And, yes, that's a Heathers reference. Because I'm an actor and I'm Heathers trash. If you haven't seen Heathers, see it now. It has a play and movie and needs love (and, well, I'm mostly a stage actor so I'm biased and say the play is better).**

 **Also, thank you for making this story reach 200 reviews and almost 7,000 views! I couldn't have done it without you guys...Literally.**

 **Now that I've finished ranting about theatre (you can always tell if somebody is too obsessed with theatre based on their spelling) things, onto the reviews! (And, yes, I do always voice act the characters in my stories because that's fun)**

 **0B13-It's the new Angry Birds! Looks like Tsukiko agrees with you, but will the plot? Here you go, didn't even have to wait over 48 hours.**

 **AnonChan1-More updates for the updating all at once craze! You can thank me later. Because I'm so short, I made Ayano tall. She is over a foot taller than me. That would be spoilers for characters. Ayano will realize later...hopefully. Or I'm lying. The poor kids, they do know what they're doing! Well, now they do, before they didn't. Monokuma is the best tutorial character. Hope you feel better. My dad is actually sick too so...in a couple of days, I'm gonna be feeling like death. Just waiting for it. We shall suffer together.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-PANCAKES! Who doesn't like pancakes? Good. :) Thank you. Short reviews are still welcome here. Here, at the review section of Forest of Despair, we don't discriminate. Everybody suffers.**

 **CommanderofInsanity-I mean, Ayano and Kazuhiko are innocent little angels who don't do anything naughty...anyyytttthhhhiiinnnnggg.**

 **Puhuhuhu-Hey, look, my favorite username is back~Thank you.**

 **YellowtheWriter-I'm actually an Ultimate in real life...the Ultimate Theory Destroyer. Rawr. Time to destroy the WMG page. Thanks. It is different from the games since everything works differently. No minigames. Only talking. Lots and lots of talking. Mirabilis wants to get them so bad but doesn't want to fall either. Well, I took alllll this time and this chapter took fffoooorrrreeeeevvvvveeeeerrrrrrrr.**

 **HyperBranchydios-There's a lot of preparation for the next trials of this series, which are gonna be a lot longer. Because this is the tutorial and even the Blackened has no idea what they're doing. Tsukiko agrees with you. She has gained Akita's fourth wall powers and found a way to read the reviews for this story. I never do the boring thing because that'll be boring.**

 **The hazel-eyed bookworm-Thanks. :)**

 **Here's the list of everybody's colors that hasn't been listed yet: Takayuki (Yellow), Naoko (Light purple), Hotaru (Orange), Mirabilis (Light green), Kyoto (Blue), Shinichi (Dark green), Mitsuru (Dark purple), Yasu (Brown), Takara (Indigo), Hayato (Light red), Kira (Black), Cassius (Gold), Akemi (Dark red), Tsukiko (Neon yellow), Minato (Cyan), Namita (Turquoise), Miyuki (Sliver), Satoshi (Maroon)**

 **Shadedlyht-Here's more of the trial! :D Monokuma is truly the Ultimate Cockblock. Giving the shippers what they want will bring them too much hope.**

 **Harukawa Ayame-Well, you didn't have to wait long. XD Tsukiko really did truly read the comments. I will say nothing. Thanks. :) See, AyaKazu is hope! You can say that...their love is God. I'll never stop.**


	16. Trial 1-3

**Trial 1-3: Say Hi to God**

* * *

"What...?" The words can barely make it out of my mouth. If it was not for the words on the screen, I would have doubted anyone would even notice them.

"..." Kazuhiko is silent as well. He is entirely focused on the screen and there is a chance he did not even realize he is being put on the spot now. It is almost like he realized something huge after watching that video of Akita.

With Monokuma playing the video of Akita, I wonder if he is going to show the rest of the class the one about Hideyoshi. He does not seem to want to do so. Though I do find it weird that out of all the people he could have shown it to, he chose me. There has to be a reason since this mastermind is not one to leave things up to chance, or there would be fewer rules. Monokuma is also possibly leading the court right now based on his words alone. Our headmaster is planning something and there is a zero percent chance of it being good.

"Kazuhiko Hiraoka, where were you at the time of the murder?" Tsukiko interrogates him. She also has her eyes on Satoshi, Akemi, and Kira, the people most likely to vouch for his alibi. All three of them say nothing.

"Stop it! There is no _fucking_ way Kazuhiko is the killer!" I scream out. All of this is just based on conjecture. Sure, the only one other than Kazuhiko fitting the description of the killer is Takayuki, who has been proven innocent, but that just means that the conjecture itself is wrong. Monokuma is very clearly trying to mess with our heads by implying the killer is male.

"Awwww, from his girlfriend, how sweet," Hotaru comments. Her smile is big and her eyes glow. "But, you must know, Kazuhiko's body fits the one for the murderer as well. Surprising to see a reporter that isn't a lazy ass." It is now official that I do not like Hotaru. She is one-hundred percent getting on my nerves right now.

"Do you think this is easy for me? I know Kazuhiko too, not as much as you but it still hurts! We were in the same class! He was so bright and cheerful, but this is the only thing that makes sense!" Even Tsukiko now is on edge, looking like she is about to cry.

"It's okay..." Kazuhiko comforts her. He is acting like his old self, and that is always a bad sign. Something is bringing him down.

Now that I think about it, I meet Kazuhiko about when most people start high school, at the age of fourteen. The world has changed for Ultimates, since, if you have a talent, you can go to training school or get other forms of practice, and you can enter high school at any age. That is why most of us are older than the cast from all the other Killing Games, except for the third one. Kazuhiko is surprisingly the oldest of us all, being twenty. He was held back a couple years because of Kotori and that is how he was the same class as Tsukiko, who is eighteen like me.

We meet when he was fifteen, and I thirteen. By then both of us were going through our training based on our talents with Kotori. Fuck that bitch. Okay, if I keep thinking about Kotori, I will lose my shit and that is never helpful, so better just focus on this stressful situation playing out in front of me.

"So, what's your alibi-"

"He was with me!" Satoshi cries out before Namita can finish her sentence. "We were both in the pool area around the time of the murder because we spit up from Kira and Akemi to find Naoko. Then we got back together and went to the cafeteria!" Out of all the possible events that could have transpired, I would have never guessed that Satoshi would do that. Maybe there is something more to this person that most of us pegged as a total, a complete idiot.

"I remember that Kazuhiko was out of the cafeteria when we all meet up together," Yasu notes. They have their back facing the other way so it is hard to hear. "You were with the group that came from the library."

"Clearly, we sent Kazuhiko back to the library when we saw that Naoko wasn't in the cafeteria," Akemi responds. "The rest of us stayed in the cafeteria and then Naoko came."

"If you do not mind, can I ask you a question? Why would you send Kazuhiko out alone when there was a great chance that a killer was out there?" Hayato, once again, is placing his chin on his hand, which itself is resting on his podium.

"Sometimes, Hayato, you've to make risky moves to win the game," Akemi replies. "Kazuhiko is not the type to kill someone and won't easily be taken down by a murderer stupid enough to fall for that motive." Mitsuru glares at him as she stands up again, with Mochi in her hands. Yasu is staying with her and is watching over their rabbit.

"Excuse me, but somebody did and now a person is fucking dead!" Mitsuru calls Akemi out.

Naoko is grabbing onto her hand really hard and is about to cry. Hayato is trying to keep his cool again, but there is trembling in his lips. Shinichi is hiding his face with all of his brunette hair. Yasu themself is purposefully keeping their face away from any who could see it. Minato's face is lacking any emotion and makes them look dead inside. Kazuhiko looks like he is about to speak but elects to be silent instead. There are so many different kinds of reactions for every person involved in this sick, twisted game of life and death.

"So...Does anybody wants to discuss something else?" Namita is trying to ease the intense mood.

"U-um, d-does anyone knows where that l-laugh came from?" Shinichi questions. Now that I think about it, I do remember a laugh while all of us were in the cafeteria.

"I, as somebody from noble blood, think it belonged to Akita Yamazaki. We did just witness that video of her, yes?" Cassius responds. He is sounding logical for once but something does not seem right.

"It came from inside the room," Tsukiko notes. I wonder how Tsukiko could possibly know something like that, but she has a talent related to the music business. Maybe her sense of hearing is better than most people since she constantly has to use that skill for her job.

"No...I don't think the laugh relates to the murder." Namita stares deeply at the pad in front of her, presumably at the Truth Bullets. "See, it would be marked down if it was related to the murder."

"Isn't it weird that there are no game things going on?" Minato asks. As an answer, Monokuma only laughs and is circling us closer than before. Whenever he passed me, I could feel a wind generated by his jetpack.

"U-um...can I propose something?" Naoko is still shaken up and one tear escapes her eye. "W-what...What if the time of death is wrong!?"

"...The time of death...?" Kyoto starts to think. Maybe Shinichi, Naoko, and Kyoto should team up together since they all seem to have good ideas and could improve their social skills. Having them interact with each other could help them in the long run. The chances of success for their friendship is higher than paired up with most other people.

"Are you saying what I think you are saying?" Akemi's question catches both Naoko and Kyoto off guard. Covering Akemi's mouth with tape might also help improve the success rate of this trial by at least fifty percent.

Looking over the Truth Bullets again, the Monokuma File only says around 5:30. Monokuma is the master of manipulation, so around can mean almost everything here. The last time Naoko saw her was...Naoko never stated the time where Akita and she talked to each other last. There is a great chance that not even Naoko knows because she was in extreme distress at the time.

"...Holy shit..." Mitsuru's own words drag.

"If that is correct, then the suspect could be anyone that was only during that time," Hayato notes.

"The sword of justice is closer to exposing the truth to us all." Miyuki and Hayato are on the same page. Even though there is a great chance that they want to take a side, they stand as the neutral party. Akita...the Akita that we all got to know would be proud of that.

"And, low and behold, somebody was alone!" Hotaru sing-songs. Her smile is almost wicked. "Kazuhiko Hiraoka, what did you do during the time you were with Akemi's group in the cafeteria and Miyuki's in the library?" My stomach falls...there is a chance...no...there is a high chance...no...there is a hundred percent chance...yes...

"..." Kazuhiko elects to stay silent. His hand is grabbing onto his neck.

"...Hold up here! How the Hell did Kazuhiko get to that locked door in the hallway?!" I blurt out. There is a hundred...no, zero...no, hundred...no, who fucking cares about numbers right now!? I surely do not.

"That's a good question," Satoshi responds.

"Puhuhu, for once you are right...um...Sugar Kane-"

"Sugar Kane-"

"Yes, deal with it, Sugar Kane! I'll say it right here and now, Kazuhiko is the Blackened-"

"WHAT THE FUCK, MONOKUMA!?" I interrupt him. "What the Hell are you planning? Revealing the Blackened? Giving us hints?! Playing around the Trials?! WHAT. THE. FUCK. You sure as Hell didn't do this to my father, or anybody else beforehand. What are you fucking planning?!"

"Nothing. Just being my usual self. Whose your father-"

"You say we can interrupt you all the time in Trials, and that's what I'm gonna fucking do, you bearfucker!"

"Now, Aya-chan, that's not a nice word...I'm pretty sure that's not a word either-"

"Why don't you call me Izumi? Why don't you say that I was the one that saw the videos? You sure loved giving away the whole mystery! There's something very wrong with this fucking Trial! No, fuck the Trial, this Killing Game! This sure as Hell ain't what Junko Enoshima would've planned-"

"Calm down, Ayano," Kazuhiko calmly tells me. Everybody else around all of us is silent, not knowing what to do with my outburst of emotion. Everybody looks like they are at their breaking point. Except for the ones that are not that emotionally invested, like Hotaru, Akemi, Kira, and Cassius. Even Mirabilis is down, waving her wand around as a last-ditch effort to save everybody.

"WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU KILL AKITA!?" Silence. More silence. Even more silence. "Why...why... _why_?"

"Well, looks like Kazuhiko totally is taking his right of the remain silent...wait, we don't have that anymore! Oh well, I can use my monologue voice...or just show the whole damn thing..."

"No, there is still a lot more we need to discuss about this murder. A lot of unanswered questions. Things like motive, escape route, how the room factored into the murder, etc," Tsukiko says. She is highly emotional as well.

"Silly Tsun-tsun, the purpose of the Trials isn't to find the truth, only the Blackened. All that other stupid shit is for after the Trial," Monokuma explains. His red eye is glowing and I can feel that whoever is controlling him inside this room and holding in their sick, twisted laughter.

"...Huh...after?" Namita asks. "This goes everything against the basics of event planning!"

"Ready to cast your votes, my precious bastard students?"

"What the Hell!? This ain't closure! Nothing near it! We still have a lot of things to discuss!" Mitsuru screams out. Monokuma flies right up to her and tries to make her accidentally fall by knocking into her podium. It fails...Just like everything in my life...

I miss my dad. I miss the island I used to live on. I miss all my aunties and uncles that weren't really my aunties and uncles. I miss the other kids on that same island. I miss the smell of the ocean. I miss playing with my dad in the waves. I miss being a child. I miss not having a burden of being an Ultimate on my shoulders. I miss having my innocence. I mess feeling Heaven. I miss everything.

...To be honest, the Committee makes me lie about my name because everything about me is a lie. My last name is not Nishiki, it is Kamukura. Nishiki is not even a last name in the first place, so I have no idea how I have tricked so many people into believing that it is mine. Maybe I am better with words than I think. That would make sense. Anyway, I have always been a Kamukura. Ayano Kamukura. Raised by Hajime Kamukura. Not like any of that matters now. I miss not being a lie.

My only light, Kazuhiko Hiraoka, is about to be taken away from me. Hundred percent chance of death. There is always suicide. That sounds good about now. But what can I commit suicide with? There are the knives, but I feel like people are going to guard those now. I am pretty sure that the bat belongs in the secret room, where I cannot go. And then that would be guarded too. Touching technology sounds like an easy way, but there is a chance that I will be stopped by doing that as well. It is too much of a pain to commit suicide too. I should just lie in bed and never get up. That sounds like a better idea.

"You all have those pads in front of you! Touch the picture of whoever is the Blackened to cast your vote!" Monokuma's cheery voice sounds more like a taunt than anything close to comforting.

"I reject!" Mirabilis stands up for everybody here, not realizing that everything in life is pointless. Who cares about hope, despair, or neutrality when you have the comfort of nothingness?

"Hey, you bastard!" Suddenly, when we all focus on the floor, we see that Takayuki has joined the fray again. He looks like Hell and is about done with everything. Like me.

"...Yuki-chan, what are you doing here?" Monokuma is offset by the sudden appearance of the private eye. Now looking closer, I can see that Takayuki's other hand is gone and he is trying to do his best holding a piece of paper in his mouth.

"I've learned the hard way that it is hard to write with your mouth."

"Yuki-chan, can you please stop cutting off your limbs? You need those to survive...How are you alive anyway?...Don't tell me...wow, Takayuki...I mean Yuki-chan, that's messed up even by your standards."

Now that I think about it, the new rules state that you cannot cut off any of your limbs to get rid of Forbidden Actions. The only way that Takayuki cannot violate that rule...is to use...Akita's corpse. Maybe I should pressure Takayuki more on the details later...if there truly is a later. Gaining information is too much of a hassle...I'll rather stay in bed.

Also, he is only allowed to stay in the Hospital. There is that hole though. With a little positioning of the body, there is a way to stay in the Hospital while letting a dead, rotting corpse cut off your hand. The more I think about it, the more I want to throw up.

"Riddle me with this, Monokuma. You can't have us figure out anymore since it would reveal your identity, wouldn't it? Kazuhiko knows who you are, doesn't he? You want him dead because he knows too much." Takayuki's words do not appear but he has a loud voice. Perhaps he learned that from Akita because being a ringleader and mediator would make the skill of using your diaphragm.

"Aw, so you're truly a sore loser," Hotaru says.

"Let us continue the Trial after we vote Kazuhiko guilty," Tsukiko proposes. "That way we will both-"

"Nope!"

"You fucker!" I scream out. I seem to have the bad habit of using the word fuck whenever I am upset. It has been something the Committee, and especially Kotori when she was alive, and not murdered, would say.

"Calm...calm." Takara, probably still not used to having a voice, pitches in. In times like these, I can relate to Takara. Wanting to say something and having no power to do so. The mastermind this game is truly somebody worth fearing. Not for the same reasons as Junko, since all evidence points to this person being a coward.

"So, what's on that piece of paper?" Namita asks. Monokuma flies down to Takayuki and places another Forbidden Action on his neck. He grabs the piece of paper, but, rather than destroy it, the teddy bear begins to read.

"Ahem, my beautiful students, pay attention to my even more beautiful voice. I'm only gonna state this once, you hear? It states that...hmmmm...that all those stab wounds were caused by Akita and all poor Kazu has done is whack her a little bit too hard with a baseball bat. Damn, Kazu, you've got a bad habit of doing that."

"...What?" The word barely comes out. Looking over the fifth Truth Bullet again, I see Monokuma trying to trick us again. It only says does not seem, not stating that they were not self-inflicted.

"Monokuma, can I ask you something? Why is Akita's whole hand replaced with robotic parts when I remember her only having fingers like that?" Kazuhiko speaks up. His words are faint and sound weak and defeated. Damn, even Kazuhiko is defeated by this, but, knowing that he is going to die, it makes sense. At least he has the comfort of death. Maybe I should just kill someone and become the Blackened. That requires too much effort too.

"That's something for me to know and you to find out little ones." Monokuma, like always, begins to laugh. How the person who is the mastermind is not drooling over all of this is beyond me since even I can feel the despair all around us.

"Kazuhiko, why can't you reveal the mastermind?" Tsukiko asks. She is practically begging for answers by this point. Even with that, Kazuhiko refuses to speak. There is a chance of a Forbidden Action, but there is nowhere to put it without it being easily seen. All of Kazuhiko's clothes are tight and cannot hide something like that. Then again, even with the faint chance of having an Action, Kazuhiko would be glowing red since, unlike the ones from the third game, the little light cannot be turned off.

"Things are going on for way too long, students. This story is already a length of a novel and we aren't even one-fifth of the way through this wonderful journey together-"

"No, I need answers dammit!" Mitsuru injects. She is promptly ignored by Monokuma.

"Time to cast your votes." Monokuma's voice is much darker and lower than usual. His red eye glows and there is a type of aura surrounding him. An aura that tells all of us to not question his judgment. He is the judge, jury, and executioner while all of us are just his puppets to toy with. Not believing I am saying this, but I want to be in my father's Killing Game instead of whatever this is.

...But it has been over forty years, so it makes sense that the Killing Game has changed. This is the new generation of a new generation. Nothing needs to stay the same except for the premise. Have teenagers kill each other. Death is nothing to Monokuma but it is everything he cares about. With that, I stare at the screen in front of me. My finger lingers over Kazuhiko's face. It stays up there awhile until I can feel Monokuma's intense stare focus on me. That is when my finger touches my boyfriend's face, damning him to death.

"Your votes have been counted for," Monokuma states. He still has that same tone of voice but it is clear that he is trying to hold back his laughter. His smile will haunt me.

 _ **Kazuhiko Hiraoka - Votes: 20**_

 _ **Congrats on finding the Blackened, kids!**_

"You fucking told us!" Mitsuru and I shout at the same time. Then I can feel our podiums coming back to the ground below. Takayuki has to move out of the way.

"But you believed me~" Monokuma is back to his usual self. A self that makes me want the chains about my head to come grab me somehow and kill me. Oh, I could always attack Monokuma, yet I highly doubt I can do that without asserting a lot of effort. Bed sounds better.

"I'm sorry..." Kazuhiko has a bad habit of saying sorry.

"Why...why did you kill Akita?" Minato asks Kazuhiko. They are crying and have fallen down to the ground. Some people around them, mostly Tsukiko, Namita, and Mirabilis with a little help from Hotaru, help them up.

"..It was the video, wasn't it?" Naoko is still hiding behind her podium, but, since we have made it down, Miyuki goes over to her and comforts the small girl by placing her hand on her shoulder.

"Puhuhu, Kazu over here was stupid enough to believe that poor little Bitch-chan was me."

"...Sorry..." It seems that everything that is coming out of Kazuhiko's stupid mouth is an apology. If you know who the mastermind is, tell us! Please...please...please don't make your death in vain!

"Why didn't you tell any of us about this?" Tsukiko is broken up too but all of her tears have dried. Though now she seems to be hugging Minato and Minato is hugging her back. Now Minato is the one that is doing all the crying.

"Didn't you say there was a video you were gonna show us?" Akemi interrogates Monokuma. He is about ready to punch the little teddy bear, but he seems to not have a death wish like me.

"...Nah!"

"You said you would!" Kira shouts. She, although quiet for most of the Trial, is done with Monokuma's bullshit as well. All of the students here are done with his bullshit. Even the mastermind is done with his bullshit and he controls the damn thing.

"See, kids, in this world, you've to learn about betrayal. That nothing you know is the truth," Monokuma explains. He is back with his serious voice. "The world is unfair and you will never learn the truth. All of you are going to die, one by one, and fall into the deepest depths of despair. Nothing is going to save you since this is a world without hope."

"I would beg to differ, Monokuma," Hayato says. "Although I am not going to vouch for hope or despair, we are smarter than you think we are. We are going to figure out the truth of this case together..." Hayato is interrupted by a beep. Still able to touch the pad in front of me, I read the new rule.

 **Rule #18: No discussing the events of the first Class Trial without the permission of the headmaster.**

Another rule to keep us in place. Another rule to control all of our actions. Another rule is to make us lose all hope. Monokuma does not realize that he is killing my last hope already, but I will not give into despair. Giving in to despair involves effort. An effort to inflict despair upon yourself and others. Nothingness requires no effort. Nothing is as nothing does. If there is a chance of failure, it is better to do nothing than reach out for that hope only to fall deeper into the depths of despair. Though there has been a question that I have been wondering about for awhile that maybe Kazuhiko will finally tell me. After all this time, I will be finding out a few answers. Ironic, isn't it? It almost makes me want to laugh.

"Kazuhiko, what did you write in that article? The article Akita always went on and on about?" I question him. He softly smiles.

"Why I talk about her possibly being a member of the True Despairs," he answers me. Kazuhiko is still on the other side of the room, far away from my reach.

Thinking about it, I do not blame Akita for being so mad at him. No wonder the Committee basically grounded him for a week and Kotori gave him a firm talking to.

"That was stupid," I sigh. This Killing Game was truly set up to try to drive people to despair. Instead of having a hopeful motive that makes you gain something new, like money, or get back what is yours, like the hostages, the mastermind started with a motive that only could be described as despair. The opportunity to cause despair upon those who wronged you or others in the past. A motive entirely fueled out of despair, not things like love. Even the money motive had greed, which is not despair.

"I know...I'm sorry."

"Well, well, well, isn't this touching? Oh well, I have a vvveeerryyyy special punishment for Kazuhiko Hiraoka, the Ultimate Reporter!"

"It's journalist-"

"Whatever, reporter, journalist, same thing. He's gonna die anyway," Monokuma says. "He's gonna die painfully. Since, you know, that's my thing. Causing despair and all that jazz. I seem to be doing a good job so far." Knowing what happens next, I can feel my body telling me to run. So I did. Before anyone can stop me, I run over to Kazuhiko and start hugging him real hard.

"Ayano!"

"Nope."

"Ayano, this isn't the time!" Mitsuru scolds me. Considering she is not that close to him, I wonder how she got here so quickly, but, like me, she seems to be a good runner. Both of our long legs and training must make us good at it.

"Stop freaking out, Ayano! Even if Monokuma says we cannot find the truth, we're gonna find it!" I can feel Tsukiko try to yank me off with Mitsuru only for the both of them to fail.

"No!"

"Ayano, sweetheart, you've to calm down-"

"You're _fucking_ dying! How can I stay calm about this?" I only hold onto him tighter. Hearing everybody come closer, I can only beg that I can keep holding him like this. If uncle Fuyuhiko can be a part of aunt Peko's execution, then this should not be a problem. I am pretty sure this is not a virtual reality so both of us are going to die together. Seems like the best bet. Kazuhiko would not be happiest about it though, but it has the highest chances of my happiness. Sometimes you have to learn how to be selfish and do something solely based on your desires.

"Take me instead! This is too far! Nobody should be punished with death! I'm a magical girl that should protect my classmates! I don't want to fail again!" Mirabilis cries out. She is full on sobbing. "I'll punish you, Monokuma!"

"Sailor Wannabe, that's impossible," Monokuma promptly tells her. She tries to throw her wand at him but he dodges. "If that hit me, that could've hurt. Try again!"

"Stop it," I demand Mirabilis. She stares at me and begins her way towards me slowly like everybody else. Mirabilis, like so many others, though they knew how it was to be in the situation of the Killing Game, really they did not. They would believe the stories and everybody dying heroes except for the big bad herself, Junko. Oh, how Monokuma has crushed their hopes. Maybe some of them will finally join me in the nothingness.

"Ayano!" Kyoto calls out for me. I ignore him.

"Let's give it everything we got...It's our very first _**PUNISHMENT TIIIIIIIME**_!"

* * *

 **Story Over**

 **Kazuhiko has been found guilty by the court of Monokuma**

 **TIME FOR PUNISHMENT!**

* * *

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Monokuma is back in his throne with his jetpack still on. He has a red mallet in his hands and I can see that it has already met with the button in front of him that I do not remember from earlier. The throne is moving to the side, revealing a door behind it much like the other two in this room.

The door gets thrust open and a singular chain comes from within it. It, the chain, latches itself around Kazuhiko's neck and begins to drag the both of us inside. Everybody else tries to catch up to us, but, before they know it, the door has closed. There is no turning back now. Sure, uncle Fuyuhiko survived aunt Peko's execution, yet I do not plan on being that lucky.

"Ayano, get off of me!" Because of the added weight, the chain drags us on the ground. Kazuhiko is on the bottom, which is causing him to get his back damaged from the uneven concrete digging deep into his skin. I already see drips of red blood and the execution has not even started yet. Though, to our surprise, the both of us stop moving.

"Aya, Izumi, whatever, you should get off your boy toy," Monokuma says. He is now with us and using his jetpack again.

"No!"

"Ayano..." Monokuma grabs me and forces me off. I try to hit him and struggle, but nothing I can do can touch him. I do notice that his red eye is faintly lit like he is trying to hide his anger.

"No! No! No!"

"Stop being a child, you need to stay strong through this. Who else would write my scoops?" Kazuhiko asks.

"You!"

"Ayano, I'm gonna be dead soon," Kazuhiko bites his lips and looks over to the distance. There is another door and he checks to see that the collar is still tightly on his neck. "Take care of Kindra."

"Kindra?" I have never heard that name before. It sounds like it could come out of the European region but I am not sure. It is for sure a girl's name, but it is not that rare to give boys girl names nowadays so that does nothing to lessen the search.

"...Sorry...that would take too much time to explain." As Kazuhiko tells me that, I take a hold of his hat. His goofy grey hat with that even goofier black strip coming down the side. Then I take off my own hat, revealing my ahoge again, and give my red beanie to him. Our hates are now swapped and his hat is comfier than it looks. No wonder he wore this everywhere, even while he slept.

"Time to go~" Just like that, before we can do anything else, Monokuma grabs me by the hood of my grey jacket. He begins to drag me across the concrete and now I can see my own blood. Then we go out to the main room where I see nobody else is there.

"What?" One of the doors are opened and I see them crammed into a small space. There is a black fence dividing them from whatever they are looking at. I could see that all the taller students are in the back while the smaller must be in the front.

"Now, Ayano, since you're the protagonist now that Akita's dead, gone and kicked the bucket on me, you gotta witness your boy toy's passing." Monokuma using my full name catches me off guard. He is serious about this, even though I have no idea what he is talking about. Protagonists are heroes, people who believe in hope, and not even Akita Yamazaki fits that description, much less me. "Plus, with all the chaos you have caused, you gotta be punished...different kind of punished with a different kind of punishment."

"Huh?"

"You see, I'm not very happy with you. I thought I've taught my students better than this, but, nope, seems like we've got a lot of learning to do." Still dragging me, Monokuma makes his way to the other door. He gets out a key from somewhere and opens the door. Inside, there is a singular chain. There is some kind of contraption on it, but I cannot make out what it is. The whole room is pitch black and the only reason why I can see the chair is the small amount of light coming from outside.

"What?" I try to look around, yet Monokuma knocks me on the head. Good for him that I am still on the ground or else it would have been hard for the small, little bear.

"Punishment!" He then drags me into the room and props me onto the chair. Once I am situated on the chair, I could feel my arms and legs being buckled in. The conception from before now has Monokuma working its magic. My eyes are forced open. I can already feel them hurt from the lack of blinking, but my eyelids cannot move.

"Shit!"

"Now Ayano, don't panic. I know you've heard stories like this from the Committee. I'm not gonna cheat and show you some despair video! That would be no fun. No, rather I'll do it the fun way, just like I did Akita, and break you from the inside until you'll know nothing but true despair!" Monokuma the leaves the room. Coming down, I see a screen that is just showing some static. Then a picture comes on. Kazuhiko is still inside the same passageway as before. He is trying to open the door closest to him, the one that does not lead to the courtroom, and also attempting to pull his collar off.

"God, that took forever, sorry for the fuss but Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan is finally out of the way. Now, without further to do, let's proceed with the execution!"

"...Bye, Aya." With that, the door finally opened. Kazuhiko was already pressed against it, so all he needed to do was fall. So fall he does. Kazuhiko notices that he is on a conveyor belt with newspapers, each one of them being bigger than I am, on it. Looking bad at the entrance of the execution, it is now closed. There is a small slot underneath the door that the newspapers come from that only somebody as small as Naoko can fit through. He finally looks in front of him to see a giant, grey block that acts as a stamp. It comes crashing down, revealing the story of the day.

 **Breaking News: Death of a Journalist!**

 **Ultimate Journalist Kazuhiko Hiraoka's Executon: EXECUTED**

Already being on one of the newspapers, Kazuhiko tries to set himself free only to realize that his feet are glued on and cannot move. The block comes closer. Kazuhiko, I know you are smart, so there has to be a way out. There are open areas around the conveyor belt but they look deep and have a high chance of death. Do anything, Kazuhiko, just do not die.

Another paper gets stamped. Another paper closer to death. Yet another paper gets stamped. Kazuhiko finally kicks off his shoes and jumps the furthest he can on the conveyor belt. He lands on a spot that is not covered in paper, only to realize that he is right underneath the oversized stamp. Before it can crush him, a spot of the conveyor belt opens from underneath him after the belt itself stops moving. I know luck is on his side. Some people will say I am denial, others will claim that I'm a hypocrite, yet I'm just somebody who wants to see their hope survive.

Kazuhiko holds onto my hat and continues to fall down. When he finally does, Kazuhiko lands directly on a red chair. There is only one spotlight and it is directed entirely at him. He tries to get up, only to realize he is in a similar situation as I am. All the lights come on in the room at once. Kazuhiko notices that he is in a TV studio in front of an audience entirely made out of Monokumas. There is a chair in front of him with a sheet covering it and a TV filming it all showing the words Monokuma Theatre.

"Do you feel guilty?" Surprisingly, this is the first time somebody speaks during an...execution. Even though Kazuhiko is not going to get executed, he will find a way out of there. He is going to be like...uncle Matoko. There is silence as the sheet lifts to reveal that it is a robotic Akita which is falling apart. "Do you feel guilty? Do you feel guilty?"

Kazuhiko tries to speak only to get interrupted by the loud noise of his constants falling off. He tries to get out of there, only for the audience of Monokuma to start booing and begin throwing rocks at him. The rocks begin to scar his skin, making him bleed everywhere but only lightly. Suddenly, as Kazuhiko begins to move, two other robots of Akita come out of nowhere and bring out their guns. The first one reveals her gun as well.

"Do you feel guilty? Do you believe in God?" They all inch around him, giving him nowhere to run. They all point their guns at each other, shooting the others in the head. Kazuhiko only gets gazed by all three of the bullets and his ears are bleeding. The pure weight of all their bodies makes all of them fall. That is not all, as the whole place begins to shake and the conveyor belt from before comes crashing down.

Thinking that this is the end of Kazuhiko, I begin to cry. But that would be too kind. Kazuhiko finds his way out of the wreck using his right arm, possibly one of the only bones not broken in his body. His legs are a mess with both of them having bones sticking out of his flesh. His feet are completely crushed and his left arm is completely limp. There is blood everywhere, more than I have ever seen.

Looking over to where I am at, Kazuhiko reaches out his right hand. "Aya...I love you...I'm sorry" He coughs up blood. Not caring for my imprisonment, I use all my strength to break out. It is easy since this is all worn out and even Naoko could do it. It is only a psychological barrier that causes the victims to become trapped.

"Kazuhiko!" My left hand reaches out to the screen. Right afterward, Kazuhiko gives into all of his injuries and dies on the spot. Along with him, the truth of what happened between him and Akita dies. The truth is dead.

* * *

 _ **Kazuhiko Hiraoka, the Ultimate Journalist, the embodiment of the truth, has been executed.**_

* * *

 _"This is a difficult one. Hey, Aya, can you help me here? Can you hack into that website again?" Kazuhiko asked. He was sitting on the couch like he always does, smoking a cigarette. Although Kazuhiko was far from addicted, he found them an easy way to cope with mass amounts of stress._

 _"The Delaney case giving you trouble again?" I was in the bathroom, dying the tips of my blonde hair red again since they were beginning to get faded. The door was open so I could easily see the couch of our apartment. Since the Committee offered free apartments for those with high status, like us. "Wait a moment...actually a lot of moments, I'm dying my hair!"_

 _"Seriously, why do girls love dying their hair so much? That crazy bitch Kotori and you! It's strange seeing you do something she used to do while she was alive. Next thing you know even Akita Yamazaki, who is somehow the Ultimate Mediator of all things, would be getting in with the trend!"_

 _"Hmmm...but why focus on the Delaney case? We're going to our first day of Hope's Peak tomorrow," I tell...no, told, this is the past, him. I looked at myself in the mirror, looking nothing like the mess I am now._

 _"I want to finish this up," Kazuhiko sighs as he sees the smoke come out of his mouth. "Say, after I finish this, and we finally get to high school, we say screw you to the big guys at the top and go somewhere to eat together outside this prison of a place. How about Nagoya, have you ever been there? There's a rumor that the Ultimate Dart Thrower, Hotaru Amemori, has a family that owns a restaurant there! A restaurant! Do you know how rare those are nowadays? I wanna go there and do a scoop! Of course, I'm stuck with Delaney and dumb politics. Oh well." He begins to laugh..._

And now he's dead, a brutalized corpse is in view for everybody to see. Kazuhiko will never laugh again.

* * *

 **Monokuma is up to something and I am not saying what. Welcome to the true Trial system of this cold, twisted game. Monokuma is just playing with everybody, including all of you.**

 **Thank you ForThoseWhoAreLost for the wonderful character of Kazuhiko Hiraoka. He truly was a wonder to write and thank you for your permission to make him Ayano's boyfriend. Because Ayano is still the protagonist. She is still the narrator. That ain't changing.**

 **I would love to hear all of your thoughts on the execution. This is not my favorite, that is obviously a later execution, but it is Megan's. You know, cause multiple people run this account...and those people read all my outlines. Including Rin. But it was fun writing it...even though it is all around torturing both Kazuhiko and Ayano.**

 **There's a reason why Chapter Two Daily Life is longer than Chapter One...**

 **Now for reviews! Yippee! Reviews are gonna be fun for the next time around. Because Monokuma.**

 **Harukawa Ayame-Yeah, earliness! Well, Kazuhiko is very, very dead now. And now Ayano is like fuck (I feel like that is the word used most often in this chapter) life. Kazuhiko got smashed for what he did to poor Naoko. Very smashed. Don't become smokers kids or you'll get painfully executed by Monokuma in front of your girlfriend that is getting tortured. Light purple is in fact my favorite color. Make of that as you will. I feel like the color just matches Naoko so well. And color symbolism. There's a lot of symbolism.**

 **dashunterman-Yes, it is indeed a double V3 spoilers moment. On the bright side, V3 is out soon so...SPOILERS! I don't have any money because I'm in college. And I just figured out I have wisdom teeth...that's gonna be a lot of fun.**

 **AnonChan1-It has started and Monokuma is like screw it I'm gonna end it and kill your boy toy, Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan (10/10 nickname). The murder weapon is still confusing and the Trial ended. *reads hopefully everything is cleared up at the end* *begins laughing* Only if you knew. It only gets worse from here, folks. There's a reason why this story is rated M. You really shouldn't have trusted me with any of your characters. And now I'm getting over a cold too. I caught it from the internet, guys. You can now catch colds over the internet...That actually could be a cool story idea if in the hands of the right author...hhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**

 **Hyperbrachydios-Here's another! I think most reference titles don't work because it is just a reference but that's just my idea. From what I've planned for the sequel (yes, there's a sequel, prequel, and spin-off based off this since the world is huge and fun to explore and I had the perfect idea for the sequel), it will be more like traditional DR than this story. Well, the next cases are more traditional too and this one is a outsider since this thing is already the length of a novel. Monokuma is choosing his words very carefully to screw with everybody...to kill Kazuhiko. Poor boy knew too much. Yeah, that's another reason why Tsukiko started to think it was him.**

 **0B13-I'm just imagining the Hell of these reviews being, well, how Ayano was. WHAT THE FUCK. Nothing is the truth since the truth is dead. The Committee don't care about simple things like ethics. Who needs ethics when you can have dream sequences and multiple Akitas? Ask and you shall receive.**

 **ShadedLyht-Well, Kazuhiko is the one that is currently just a mess on the floor. That's gonna be hard to pick up. That's what Monokuma wants. Can't have them figuring out who he is like Kazuhiko. Now you know! I love both the play and the movie. It is a Persona 5 reference. Thanks.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Kazuhiko got some explaining to do...wait, he's too busy being dead. Very, very dead. I want that curly straw but how about curly fries? Or slides? Thanks. Tsukiko is true MVP and Mochi is best supporting role for making sure Mitsuru doesn't kill everybody. Yeah, this has answered no questions. We shall all follow in Ayano's footsteps. Say it with me. WHAT THE FUCK. Thanks. Hopefully I haven't scarred people for life. Wait, I did that with Ayano. Oops.**

 **CommanderofInsanity-Yeah, lateness! Stop predicting things, you posted this right before I finished writing. How did you predict Monokuma screwing more with people? XD The door is the door to Kingdom Hearts! LEAD ME TO EVERLASTING DARKNESS! Kazuhiko couldn't handle the darkness considering he's deader than dead.**


	17. After Trial 1-1

**After Trial 1-1: Depths of Nothingness**

* * *

I stay in that small, little room. Something about that small, little room feels strangely comforting to me. The screen stayed there but it started to dim, allowing the room to be blanketed by darkness.

"A-Ayano!" Kyoto comes running down the room as fast as he can. He comes right up to me but does not bring himself to touch anything.

"Is she alright?" Shinichi comes in afterward. Right after Shinichi takes a single step in the darkness, I accidentally throw up on Kyoto's shoes. "...T-that answers my question."

"Nishiki-san, you need to come out." Hayato squeezes between the other two boys. There is barely enough room in this small room to fit the four of us together. Something about the closed-off space feels way more comforting than the harsh reality. The reality that nothingness is the only road to walk if you don't want your heart to be crushed.

"..." Answering them is too difficult. Probably will have to clean up Kyoto's shoes afterward since I'm too much of a failure to know that you are not supposed to throw up on anybody's shoes. Only the mastermind deserves that, but it is too much of a pain to pursue him. Kazuhiko had been successful and look where that got him. Now he's a dead body slowly withering away on a pile of scrap metal. I know most people will want to live in their significant other's dream about finding the truth, no matter what. All I want to do is rot in my bed and not throw up on Kyoto's shoes.

"Kids, I know you love staying up late and all, but I think this is way past your bedtime," Monokuma tells us. "I think it is the time that we leave this joint!"

"Motherfucker, you said we can stay wherever we want during the nighttime!" Mitsuru cries out. How Mitsuru has so much energy after losing so much is beyond me. She should just give up. It makes the pain become more null.

"Now, now, it's not safe in here when it is after the Class Trial! You guys could get hurt. Don't want any of you accidentally executing yourselves."

"I rather be executed than listen to you!" Mirabilis shouts. "I'm supposed to protect everyone! And I couldn't save two of my friends!"

"People like you never last long," Monokuma sighs. "How despairful it is to watch people with so much hope die painfully! Like poor, poor Kazuhiko."

"I don't care about lasting long! I just wanna protect everybody...which would probably be easier alive...oh well!" Mirabilis is about to go to Monokuma, but Mitsuru, Hotaru (of all people), Minato, and Miyuki are holding her back.

"Monokuma, I do not agree with this torture of commoners! I swear on my family bloodline to make sure nobody else dies! As my duty as a nobleman!" Cassius proclaims. He then places his hand over his heart.

"I don't know whether or not I should be offended or proud," Hotaru comments. Although she clearly not bored anymore, Hotaru is still taking this too well. If I did not want to die, I would like to know more about her. Something about the way she reacts to everything is intriguing and has a part of me want to seek out the already dead truth.

"Um, we should go," Namita says. "I think it'll be easier to think outside of here." Most of the classmates follow Namita onto the stairway and leave the trial grounds. The ones who are staying are Shinichi, Kyoto, Takara, Naoko, Takayuki, and I.

"T-there goes Hayato," Shinichi notes.

"H-h-how are you going to wash that out?!" Naoko asks, her eyes focused on Kyoto. Oh yeah, I threw up on his shoes. I forgot about that. My mind is a mess right now. Just what is Monokuma doing? I am not going to stop the mastermind, yet I wish somebody else can. With my fingertips, I start feeling the rim of Kazuhiko's hat now resting on my head. It kinda sucks that my old hat is now soaked with blood and probably has bullet holes in it.

"..." Takayuki and Takara stare at each other, both silent. Takara makes some kind of hand signals that cause Takayuki to...smile?

"Hey, kiddos, I gotta go. Please kill each other when I'm gone~" Monokuma tries to use the trap door underneath him to escape the room, yet it falls underneath him. It is good to see something bad to him, yet it is nothing compared to the Hell I would do if I actually gave a shit. Nope, challenging Monokuma is something that requires actual talent and drive. All I am good at is hacking and Monokuma has taken that away from me. The one thing that could have helped me cope is gone.

"And Monokuma is finally gone..." Shinichi looks deeply into my eyes. He then turns his head and nods to Takayuki and Takara. Naoko gets the memo and squeezes behind the chair, allowing everyone in. It is very crowded in here now and it is hard for any of us to breath. Then the five others with me begin to search their area of the room.

"T-there's no cameras in here," Kyoto comments.

"W-we gotta be quiet since there are some out there," Naoko says. I feel like there is going to be a lot of awkwardness in this room. Takara nods to Takayuki, causing the other to sigh heavily and pull a paper out of his jacket pocket with his teeth. It must be a spare one.

"You owe me." Takayuki crosses what is left of his arms. Takara, covering his eyes with one hand, slowly takes the paper from the other one.

"What is going on here?" I ask.

"W-we're outsmarting the mastermind," Kyoto whispers into my ear. "With all these rules, I feel like useless little me could finally use his talent for something good." I see, using strategy they are trying to win this Killing Game...but I do not want any of that. Monokuma is clearly planning something. They will be caught eventually and all killed. Just like Kazuhiko. Like the truth of this Killing Game.

"We proposed to Takayuki to write two notes. Since the mastermind would be too focused on the Class Trial, they wouldn't pay attention to the Hospital," Naoko adds-on. "But you didn't need to cut off your other hand! That's too far!"

"Too bad." Takayuki turns his head the opposite direction of Naoko.

"...What?" I am lost here. When did they have the time...oh my. I remember that after the drunk scare, Naoko, Takayuki, and Takara meet with Kyoto and Shinichi, since those three were the first up. Now that I think about it, I wonder what happened during that meeting. They were supposed to update me, but I guess everything became even more chaotic after that. What am I thinking...I should not get involved in this whole mystery! Learning the truth will only lead to death!

"Now what did you put on the other-"

"Kyoto, why am I still here? Shouldn't you be doing this without me?" I interrupt him.

" _No_." Shinichi, surprisingly, sounds angered. "You cannot just give up! So what if Monokuma is going to kill us if he finds this out? Human beings all die anyway! Better to die to do something you believe in then die in old age wallowing in your own damn self-pity!" Everybody is now staring at Shinichi. Note to self, do not mess with Shinichi. It would make my time in the bed less fun.

"S-Shinichi, you're being too loud," Naoko reminds.

"...O-oh, so sorry!" He begins bowing and accidentally crashes into my forehead. It does not hurt that much for me, yet Shinichi is now holding onto his forehead.

"..." Then everything is silent. I try to sneak out of there, but Shinichi grabs onto my hand.

" _Nnnnnooooo._ " Shinichi is holding on tightly onto the small pendant that is on his neck.

"O-oh dear, it is going to happen again!" Naoko begins to hide behind the chair after covering her ears.

"You think that you can act this way because your boyfriend died?! No! Look at Mitsuru, Akita was one of her friends and she continues to go on! She even did her part of the plan!" Wait, Mitsuru punching a hole into the Hospital was part of their plan? This is really well thought out, but that should not be a surprise since the Ultimate Strategist is the one who made it.

"Calm down!" Takayuki then tries his best to punch Shinichi, only to realize he does not have hands anymore. Then blood just gets everywhere since he accidentally opens his wounds.

"Now how are we going to clean that up?!"

"S-shut up, you idiots!" Takayuki screams. He points one of his stumps at Takara, who still is in his corner, trying to hide. Maybe Naoko should join him since that is a better spot. Takara then goes to Naoko and shows her the note. She is even more careful taking it, making herself smaller than before. Oh yeah, Takayuki cared for Akita too. But it just is not the same.

"S-should I read-"

"Yes!" Takayuki shouts out. Naoko squeals.

"Ahhh! Okay, okay!" Naoko then begins to read. "The blood in the...forest...This is hard to read-"

"Try to write with your mouth!"

"O-okay!...Um...The blood in the forest...Akita probably took the stick and began...stabbing...herself..." Naoko then throws the paper to the floor and begins to cry. Takayuki is still an asshole. Good to know. Akita's death changed nothing about him.

"...Time to read it," I say. I take the paper since I do not believe any of these people can handle it. Accept the cruel world that we live in. These people will need to toughen up if they want to stop this Killing Game.

"..."

"So she stabbed herself twenty-one times in a fit of despair...despair?...Akita has been acting weird, and so has Kazuhiko...What?"

"There has to be a clue to the mastermind and what is behind the door somewhere," Kyoto comments. "But I do not think somebody as worthless as I can figure that out." Then I throw the paper at Kyoto. Half because I did not want to read it anymore, half because part of me knows that he can do it. If I am giving up, might as well make Kyoto carry on.

"Do not say that about yourself, Kyoto." Before anyone could react, I run past the all of them and got out of the room. Now I am in the trial grounds. I hate these fucking trial grounds. Then I carry myself to my podium and read what is supposed to be my name: Ayano Nishiki. Then I kick it. Over and over and over.

"Fuck. This. Shit." Then, in a frenzy, I run to Monokuma's throne and try to move it. Of course, it did not move. Why would it move? Nothing in this world is hope anymore, just despair. Ever since the Committee started to slowly take over the world. I would rather live in the Tragedy since at least you got rights during that period.

...And, then, giving up, I enter the stairway. It is dark and cramped, a lot like the room. If this is not how despair feels like, I never want to feel something like Akita felt. Every part of me wants to hate Akita but then I know it is not her fault. It is the damn Committee. For doing this to all of us.

"...Why...?" Just wanting to get everything over with, I rush my way up the stairs. Opening the door, I realize there are some people waiting at the other side. The people are Tsukiko, Namita, and Miyuki.

"Hello, Ayano," Tsukiko says. "You should not give up." I notice that Tsukiko is laying on one wall, while Miyuki is in front of the door. Namita is standing in the middle of the room.

"Please just leave me alone-"

"Even if you're alone, Nishiki-san, you need to live," Miyuki tells me. "No matter what happens, become the blade of truth, otherwise there's no reason to live." She then leaves.

"Yeah..." Namita is about to speak before I leave the room. I run out of there, and Namita and Tsukiko try to run after me. Miyuki is already nowhere to be seen in the dark of night. I realize that I cannot see anything.

"Why is going to my room got to be so hard?" The only light source not around here is in the distance, where I assume the entrance of the school is. There is nowhere to go, so, like a moth to a flame, I reach for the light.

* * *

At the light source, I see Hotaru, Mitsuru, Minato, and Yasu are there. The first three at digging a hole while Yasu is on the patio. A horrible smell fills my nostrils that makes me want to vomit again.

"Oh, Ayano, how are you coping with Kazu's death?" Hotaru asks me while still digging what I presume to be a grave. The light comes from their e-Handbooks, which are turned on and placed on the patio for lighting.

"..."

"We're gonna need a serious talk, Hotaru," Mitsuru sighs. "Please ignore her."

"..." Like me, Minato looks dead inside. Maybe the only reason why they are doing anything is that Mitsuru is scarier than anything in your brain can tell you. Minato might still have a desire to live.

Reaching the patio, I see that, using the sheet from below, Yasu covered Akita's body. Seems like this time Monokuma is not cleaning up the body since there is still blood everywhere. Good, because that means that the investigation team still has evidence. I wish them for the best of luck and Kyoto to finally believe in himself. Then I open up the door, ignoring Yasu whom I presume is watching over the body. Their nose is plugged by their fingers.

Inside the building, I make it all the way to my room, realizing that I do not have an e-Handbook to open it. Now I cannot even enjoy my bed in peace even though I am inside. There is nowhere completely safe to sleep outside the room, but I do see that the door to the cafeteria is ajar and is emitting light. Maybe I can ask for help and then slowly wallow in my self-pity. Damn, Shinichi was right.

Peaking inside the room, I notice that Mirabilis is leading Hayato, Kira, Cassius, Satoshi, and Akemi...or maybe Hayato is the true leader and just pretending Mirabilis is in charge (because he loves being the neutral party like Miyuki and Akita)...in transforming one of the tables into something else. They are cleaning the room as well and have various kinds of cleaning tools and flowers.

"Only if there were pictures!...Hm..." Mirabilis has gardening tools and is covered in dirt. The amount of work the small team of them have done in only about thirty minutes or so after the trial started is incredible. That may be the true power of the Ultimates and why the Committee desires them so much. And why people addicted to despair love to see them break down and forced to kill each other.

"Maybe we should do the next best thing: something that represents them?" Hayato recommends. Maybe they are making a memorial? There are places better than somewhere that we visit every day. "...Oh...Ayano! Do you desire to help us?" My answer to Hayato is quickly closing the door and running off of there.

"...Perhaps I should at least try to open the door," I whisper. Reaching my own door, I take a deep breath and open the door. Surprisingly, it is unlocked and I am allowed to walk inside. Seeing inside I notice that it looks exactly like Kazuhiko's room, just lonelier.

I jump into my bed and close my eyes, trying to force myself to sleep. It does not work. Perhaps because everybody else is working on somewhere and slowly becoming more of a team while I just stay here in bed. Well, they can do what they want to do. I am an adult so I can make my very own stupid decisions. So I force myself some more and wish for sleep to overwhelm me. To send me to a requiem and out of this place. My desire to be taken away to the afterlife in my sleep. There is a small chance that I will suddenly stop breathing. That would be a painless death with an easy Class Trial. She died in her sleep. The end. Finally, a Class Trial that does not continue for hours and hours on end. Just short and sweet without the need to cry or scream.

"Kazuhiko..." That damn Class Trial. The mastermind was sloppy this time. And, because of that sloppiness, my boyfriend is dead with nothing answered. Why did he write that article about Akita being part of the True Despairs anyway? Could this have been all avoided if Kazuhiko never butted in Akita's personal business? What is her business anyway? And what the fuck is the Committee planning?

Somehow, asking all those questions make me go to sleep. Maybe because I am thinking too hard and made my mind tired? Whatever, I only wish to visit the requiem of souls. Kazuhiko would not be glad to see me again so soon, but it is his fault for not explaining anything. Especially who the Hell Kindra is. Seriously, how am I supposed to know that? How many secrets has Kazuhiko been hiding from me?

* * *

 **Monokuma Theatre! (screw you Akita for stealing my time to shine)**

I am always thinking why. Why do bears die? Why do bears care about when humans die? We all know that humans are useless sacks of meat except for the amazing mastermind! Oh, but the mastermind must be a bear since humans can't be enjoyable. They just eat, shit, fuck, and die. That's no fun! You gotta despair! That's why the True Despairs are the best people~

"This is boring," Izumi states. She is sitting in a chair with her legs crossed. There is a TV right in front of her and a remote in her hands. "Oh well, looks both of us are stuck with Monokuma Theatre. Akita was a lot more interesting."

* * *

I jump out of bed, not knowing what Izumi is doing inside my dreams or Monokuma. The first thing I notice about my room is the horrible smell that makes me desire to vomit. Do I really smell that bad already? My eyes still feel heavy, so I assume that it is still nighttime (and also because the morning announcement is not playing). Though, I do notice that my door is open. Closing it, I then quickly look for something that can be used to block it.

"Puhuhuhu~" Monokuma is playing on the monitor, making his voice echo throughout the whole room. Just hearing that laugh makes me want to slam my goddamn head into a wall over and over again. "Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan, I want you to look behind you."

"Behind me?"

"Trust me, since I'm a bear." You are a bear alright. A bear that destroys things without realizing the truth. Sure, that is not like most real bears, but real bears do not exist anymore. Every single one of them was hunted down. If anyone tried to protect them, then they were gunned down by the Committee. That is how father explained Uncle Gundham not returning home after taking a trip somewhere. I remember Aunt Sonia being very sad but still being strong, unlike how I am now. Only if I could be more like Aunt Sonia.

"You are only a despair-obsessed freak that is a coward with delusions of grandeur!"

"What are you gonna do? Defeat me?"

"No, I'm nothingness. Hope is gonna defeat you, only to repeat the cycle all over again," I retort. He then stays silent. Good, since hearing that voice might strangely give me hope of getting out of this place. Monokuma has not won once. Chances of him actually winning is about zero, but that is not the purpose of the Killing Game (something I feel this mastermind does not get). The Killing Game is not about winning, it is about giving people the most despair they have ever experienced.

Sighing, I think that I might as well do what Monokuma says. It smells too bad in here to go back to sleep. When I turn around, I see a glimpse of something in a dark corner. A familiar something. I must be seeing things.

"...Kazuhiko?" I rush into that corner, not thinking, with tears in my eyes. Touching his body, it feels ice cold...ice cold... _ice cold._

"What!?" I screamed. That is now all I can do, as I fall onto the floor. I could feel Monokuma's demonic presence surround me.

"Puhuhuhu~"

* * *

 **After trial chapters are usually going to be the shortest ones. Since they're usually the shortest parts of the games too.**

 **Yes, this Monokuma not only make things unfair, make his students live in Hell on Earth, and give them basically no will to do anything without extreme planning beforehand, he also does not clean up bodies and loves sending them as gifts.**

 **Now the students are forming groups as well. Who would Ayano join, if she would join at all? Who knows?...Wait, I do.**

 **And, oh, Despair in Our Stars is a thing. Why am I doing two at a time? Not telling~ But it does have a full cast and outline. And people are gonna hate me more since despair! More experimentation!**

 **Now for reviews~**

 **The hazel-eyed bookwarm: *cries with you***

 **0B13-Thanks. Guess what Ayano is. XD Monokuma now has a new present: dead, decaying bodies. Lovely. Ayano is not having fun.**

 **HyperBrachydios-Hotaru is just having fun. Ayano needs hugs. That is the point of the trial since the others are a lot longer. I mean, a lot. *evilly laughing* Welcome to Chapter 2, where I call it True Character Introduction: The Chapter. Chapter one is more focused on making the world a character in of itself and the atmosphere.**

 **Harukawa Ayame-Yes, or else Ultimate Shipper would be in a lot of trouble. Thanks. I always make sure my characters have meaningful names. It is gonna be discussed by the ghosts of the cast. Naoko is trying to help. Trying. She ain't doing well. His nicknames are the best nicknames. Miyuki is smaller than Naoko, but Naoko is always making herself smaller.**

 **ShadedLyht-And now Gundham is confirmed dead. Damn you Committee! Ayano is now in a worse place. *evilly laughing still***

 **AnonChan1-Don't worry, Kazuhiko and Ayano are together again. Monokuma is truly now the Ultimate Roadkill. I broke Anon, guys. Oh, I got all the ideas.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-I've a bad habit of making people cry. Monokuma wants to truly be Big Brother. They've got a bad habit of dying though. XD Curly fries are the best.**

 **SHSLJester-So many death flags. Poor, poor Kazuhiko. Satoshi has done nothing wrong, he's just a poor, innocent idiot. I resubmit chapters when I fix things or add small details...which happens a lot...**

 **CommanderofInsanity-That is for stealing my Ultimate. XD Yes, fall into the depths of despair~ Puhuhuhu**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Welcome to the Forest of Despair, where I treat all my readers the same way. Inflicting them with despair. I'll change those mistakes so thanks for pointing them out. Monokuma is a control freak this time. Thanks for the support. :)**

 **FOD-Fan-Oh, just wait~Just you wait. There's a reason for everything in this fic.**


	18. Chapter 2-1

**Chapter 2-1: Happiness is Eternal**

* * *

"Huh? What's going on here!?" Namita shouts. She, along with Takayuki, Tsukiko, and Miyuki, are the first ones to arrive. Takayuki must have joined up with the three girls sometime earlier. Really regretting that I cannot lock my door now.

"...Monokuma..." Takayuki, even with the fierce circles under his eyes, punches the wall, only to realize he does not have hands anymore and looks completely alive. All of us look like shit so he matches everybody.

"What. The. Hell." Tsukiko faces away from the rest of the students there, trying to hide the pure rage on her face. Even somebody as calm as her can be affected by something as messed up as this.

"This isn't Junko's Killing Game..." I tell myself. "This isn't Junko's Killing Game...this isn't Junko's Killing Game...this is worse..."

"This is not just," Miyuki comments. She examines the room and has her hand on her sword. Her red eyes seem to shine in the pure darkness.

"Guys! It is like, three AM or something, can you...Oh my God?!" Kira is the next person that wakes up. She was wiping away her eyes until she saw the dead body. She must have had not been sleeping in her room like a lot of other people strangely did not.

"W-what...? Why must this always happen?" Shinichi asks. He tries to push forward, but, after a few seconds, he just stops.

"Attention, my beautiful, bastardly students~" Monokuma's voice booms over the intercom again. "There is more to explain about the Killing Game. I don't care about the time! Escort yourselves to Ayano Nishiki's room."

Next, in line, there is the rest of the team of people trying to overcome the mastermind, Kyoto, Takara, and Naoko, who must have just behind Shinichi. They, being all of the more timid characters, are horrified, and are completely silent. Takara covers his eyes. Kyoto, on the other hand, stares directly at...just stares into the corner, everything shaking. Naoko is the worse, with her legs almost giving out underneath all of her weight.

Kyoto, snapping out of his daze, rushes over to me and helps me get up. Then I go over to where everybody else is, a.k.a huddling closely to the door as far away from the body as possible.

Then the group in the cafeteria area enters, minus Kira, who might have been going somewhere at the time, including Hayato, Cassius, Mirabilis, Satoshi, and Akemi. They, very different from the previous group, is very vocal.

"What...Monokuma must know what this causes..." Hayato says. He is surprisingly one of the quietest of the group. "This does not help anybody."

"This is a barbaric display of...whatever this is!" Cassius shouts. He is the opposite of his...friend...sort of...you know, I have no idea what is going on with those two, with yelling about nonsense every couple of seconds. "Somebody of true noble blood will never stand for this chaos!"

"I'm gonna punish you, Monokuma!" Mirabilis has her wand out. She is standing right next to Miyuki, who now I notice has her sword sightly out.

"Please do not anything rash. We do not need any more meaningless deaths," Miyuki comments. She places her hand off her sword for a second to place it over Mirabilis's. Mirabilis takes a deep breath but still has a fire in her eyes.

"This is my fault..." Satoshi tries to whisper under his breath, but everybody can hear it. Which makes this awkward for everybody here. He must be blaming himself for his stupidity during the Class Trial. Good. If he just shut up, a lot of things could have been avoided. But he did try to save Kazuhiko...Damn.

"Do not waste energy by pitying yourself," Takayuki scolds Satoshi. That is the first time I have ever heard Takayuki saying anything like this.

The conversation is interrupted by the last batch of students, Mitsuru, Yasu, Minato, and Hotaru. Everybody besides Yasu is covered by dirt, but that is better than Kyoto, who is covered by dried blood and throw up. God, everything is so disgusting now that I think about it.

"What. The. Hell." Mitsuru somehow has the same reaction as Tsukiko. That's...interesting. Hopefully, there is no plan to destroy my room by making Mitsuru punch it. Hopefully.

"Now, this is messed up." Hotaru is still...Hotaru. Even with a brutalized body right in front of her.

"..." And, quite predictably, both Minato and Yasu respond to silence.

"And now everybody's all together! All...nineteen...yeah, nineteen of you are now closer together!" Monokuma jumps out of nowhere like he always does. Mitsuru tries to get to him again, but Miyuki and Hotaru are the ones holding her back. "Death brings people together. Nothing like a good helping of despair to become the closest of friends! That's why the education system works so well! It beats you senseless until you're nothing more than a zombie. Compared to that, I'm a saint-"

"Screw you! We're all going to beat you!" Tsukiko declares.

"Calm down," I tell all of them. Tsukiko turns her head over, her eyes filled with confusion. "...Let's listen to what he has to say."

"What!?" Mitsuru punches one of my walls, after she shakes Miyuki and Hotaru for a second, the one that leads to the bathroom, and puts a hole in it. Blood covers her hand but she does not seem to mind. Now looking closer, Mitsuru's pink hair is starting to fade and now looks more like what I presume the original color is, black.

"Oh, Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan, you're really learning." Monokuma begins to laugh. Still having my thinking cap on, I remember that the old Monokuma usually did not give his students nicknames. Now everybody has one. That is weird...I now realize that overthinking about other things is making me forget about...what is in the corner of the room.

"Get on with it," Shinichi demands. His rage from our previous interaction is back, making him way more confident.

"That was really close to interrupting. You're really lucky that I wasn't talking. Anyway, you can see that I gave you all a present. On top of this, because I'm a generous soul, the next floor is open." And, just like all of the times before, Monokuma disappears underneath the floorboards.

"...The next floor...?" I remember the staircase at the moment. Because of...situations, I kinda forgot about that. It would be helpful to know more about this school. I might not care about getting out of here, yet I still want people like Kyoto to find their hope in this vast sea of despair. Oh, I am sounding out of character.

"Okay...we need to plan!" Namita explains. "Hmmm...We should be relatively half and half. Half of us check the next floor, half...tend to Kazuhiko's body." She turns over to Tsukiko, who is silent still.

"That's a good idea..." Tsukiko takes a deep breath and now looks more determined. Only if I could be like that.

"Um, so the team that explores the second floor is you, Tsukiko...Ayano...Takayuki, Minato, Satoshi, Miyuki, Naoko, Kyoto, and Takara. The rest can come with me." Namita sighed while she looked into the corner. "...I think the second team should leave before...you know...stuff happens."

"This is gonna be fun," Hotaru comments sarcastically. Even she is not looking forward to the next part. Because I have a hundred percent chance of falling into nothingness if I stay here, I decide to leave with the rest of my assigned group. Guess my plan of just staying in my bed will do nothing.

* * *

I quickly remember why I wanted to rot in my bed for all of eternity...

"Yuki~Yuki~Yuki~" Right as I was starting to like him more, Satoshi proves himself to be the most annoying of all of us here. Why Kazuhiko thought it was a good idea that hanging out with this idiot and Kira and Akemi was a good idea?...Wait...I do not want to think about that. "Love me!"

"I'm not into you-" Takayuki is not amused.

"No, not you! Yuki Yuki!" Satoshi interrupts. Miyuki is even more not amused.

"..." Takara just stares at the both of them, like everybody else, not knowing what exactly to do. Satoshi is really lucky that Mitsuru is not with us. A long time ago, although I used to be in the front because I just want this over with and continue rotting in my own bed, I decided to go with everybody else in the back. Poor Takayuki and Miyuki have a zero percent chance of getting away from Satoshi.

"If I was not a respectable onna-bugeisha, you do not want to know how you would be right now," Miyuki states in a tone surprisingly threatening for her. Everybody else is changing while I stay in the same place, not moving. Good to know that Satoshi is the only loud person of this group, except for debatably Takayuki sometimes, since this is mostly quiet. Only if I could tune out Satoshi altogether.

We are all climbing up the stairs. All of us are going slow. Not because of Satoshi, but since it is the middle of the night and all of us just want to go to sleep already. Permanent sleep sounds really good to me. No pain, no suffering, just sleep.

"We're here," Tsukiko comments. I must have spaced out since I did not remember going to the next floor. The moment I see it, I look around to see sparkles in my classmates' minds. I cannot care less.

It is the same layout as the first floor from what I see, just without the garden or patios. Those areas are for obvious reasons not a part of this floor. The area surrounding us is cleaner than downstairs, having bearly any plants eating away at the walls, but it is replaced by dust. All my classmates, after the initial moment of wonder, begin to sneeze. And that includes me. Nobody is safe from the invasion of dust. If Kazuhiko were still here, he would not be having fun. He hated dust. Kazuhiko said that there are dislikes for every student stated, with his being dust. Mine is...you know, I never did ask Kazuhiko about that. Well, he is now gone, and, during that time, there were more important things to do. Too bad all of it was meaningless in the end. All of us are gonna die here since this is another Killing Game, not Junko's.

Though, now that I am thinking about it, Kazuhiko strangely did not show any hatred towards the dust in the library. Maybe the whole situation made him accept the environment of this Hell, but I am not sure that I can trust anyone anymore. I don't know what to think anymore.

Getting back on topic, since I do not want to create yet another scene today, the walls and floor are actually visible. Sure, they are a lot lighter than they are used to be, but that defeats what we have on the first floor. The walls are painted with a baby blue and the floor is light brown wood. And there are still no signs of any wildlife or insects or anything other than plants that are usually in the forest. Monokuma giving me...that...might have been some kind of sick joke considering this is the Suicide Forest infamous for finding dead bodies and the like.

"Behold, Yuki dear, I shall-" Right as Satoshi stepped onto the official floorboards of the second floor, they give out from underneath him and he falls down.

"..." None of us know how to react. We all just stare. Maybe because most of us are half asleep at this point.

"Oh...Satoshi!" Tsukiko is the first to react, running down the stairs as fast as she could. Before she could reach the end, Monokuma pops out right in front of her. She stops herself by forcing herself to stop running and grab onto the handrail.

"I forgot one thing, my precious students. These floors are highly unstable." And then Monokuma disappears yet again. Only if I could disappear like that. But, of course, I have to be stuck in the real world where the truth fucking hurts and lies are what get you to sleep at night.

"Bullshit." Takayuki follows Tsukiko as they both hurried down the stairs. Miyuki is the next of them to go. Now I am alone with Minato, Naoko, Kyoto, and Takara.

"I guess I should be going too," Minato says as they walk down the stairs slowly. Minato is doing better than me, but that is not saying that much. It is pretty much given that they will never be the same after this. But now I am alone with the three shyest people in this school. I try to get away, but Kyoto grabs onto my hand. He is blushing when he does so.

"Ayano..." Quickly, I shake him off of me and proceed down the stairs. I cannot bear being touched by somebody else.

* * *

"..." Satoshi is strangely quiet while he lays unconscious on the floorboards. Well, most people are still when they are knocked out. He must not be dead or else the announcement would have already played.

"This is really bad," Tsukiko comments. She, Minato, Takayuki (at least trying until he realizes that his hands do not exist anymore and giving up), and Miyuki now carry Satoshi and are heading towards the Hospital. "Who is gonna place him there?" People look over to Takayuki, who then shakes his head and places his arms up.

"May I try?" Miyuki questions. Before I can witness the end of the conversation, they are too far away for me to hear clearly and the investigation idiots come down the stairs. There is only silence as they all return to their own dorm rooms.

Seems like Monokuma was just tricking us. With us being in these living conditions that make living on the streets seem like a more favorable alternative, having a chance of having a better life could be a motive if the other one did not work to kickstart the Killing Game. Damn that bear, nothing he does is fair! There is no way to escape this game other than death! And dying means you played into that game!...But what...No, do not think about that. That is what Monokuma wants, and he should pay for what he did...He is debatably worse than Kotori even, yet that would be a conversation that would go on forever. Kazuhiko would not like me thinking about Kotori so much and what we did to her...I should have predicted everything.

"That was useless," I say. I would love to return to my room, but then...I remember _that_.

* * *

I wander aimlessly around the school, but I actively avoided anything that is outside and not the garden. Only if we could see the stars, then there would be something beautiful to look at other than the pure dread surrounding me.

This is one of the times I completely regret having no access to a map, especially since everybody else can easily see the locations of the other students. I wonder if the map has my location because I clearly do not have a handbook. If it is not, then the handbooks are some sort of trackers, and, if it is, then that means something has been planted inside our bodies to let the mastermind have access to our locations. Only if I could hack anything, I could send our locations to the Committee. They might be scum, but there is nobody else to cry out to. It is not like the Future Foundation can do anything anymore other than struggle to stay alive. A lot like everybody else in this situation.

Bored out of my mind, since it has been a couple hours, and everybody seems to be back in their beds, I go to the cafeteria. It might be close to the morning announcement, yet, considering last night, most people will sleep through it. Even if Monokuma screams on top of his lungs. My own body is shutting down, begging for the reprise of sleep. But something keeps me awake. I do not want to go to sleep considering the last time I made that horrible decision my dead boyfriend's mutilated corpse was placed in the corner of my room. And Izumi...Why am I thinking about Izumi?

The lights have been left on by somebody, who probably forgot due to the chaos of the night, and everything is lit. I can see on the table Mirabilis and Hayato's group were working on is now littered with white, small flowers. I wonder what type of flower they are. Akita and Kazuhiko's names were written with the buds and can be easily disturbed. Sad to say that all that is left of them is a bunch of flowers...

...Kazuhiko is nothing but a corpse and a hallowed memory anymore...

Traveling my way through my hypnotic state, I next find myself in the cellar. I do not remember even going through the kitchen. My eyes travel to where I know the entrance to the hidden passageway is. There is nothing else to do other than succumb to sleep once again, so I open up the door and find myself inside. The only source of light is from the kitchen, which also apparently had the lights on, and can be bearly be seen through both of the doors as I travel more into the rabbit hole.

"Damn, what was that code again?" somebody says. I jump and try to find where the voice came from. For some reason, I do not recognize that voice as any of my classmates. The second afterward I see a light focus on one of the walls. Whoever this is, they must not have realized I am here. They probably think that all of the students are asleep. And, just like the universe wants to spit me more, I could not tell who it is with the light. There is some kind of mask on their face that looks round.

...Wait...Why did I not think about this before? That person might be the mastermind, idiot! I see that the person is now opening the door and I rush in after them. Killing whoever this is will end the Killing Game, right? There is no other way that this can end any other way. The door shuts behind us. Both of us are enveloped in darkness since the moment they entered the room, the 'mastermind' turned off their handbook.

"Hello, Izumi Kamukura. Nice to meet you." Before I can even ask what they are thinking about, I feel something grab me from the back. It is like a human hand but something about it feels off. Like it is not even real, for it is too cold but is still somehow alive. "Did you really think you could kill me?"

"..." I try to speak, yet my voice does not come out. Even when that other force goes away, I cannot breathe even though there is air coming into my lungs.

"Like that worked for your boytoy so well. Did you like the little present that Monokuma gave you?" the person asks.

"Screw you-"

"Oh, do you really think we're Monokuma? That's stupid! We're something far worse!" I hear footsteps coming closer to me. Now I can feel this person basically on me. If it was not for the mask, I could feel their demented breath.

"Who are you?"

"We're not to that point to the plot right now. But, since you're being a naughty girl and not going to bed on time, I guess we could have some fun with you," the stranger responds. Then again, with everybody here, I am a stranger to. Kyoto is the only one I can say I know as more as a stranger. Even myself.

"What-"

"For somebody that is depressed, you sure ask a lot of question. Do you want to have some free time or something?"

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with the 'Mastermind'?**_

 _ **Yes/Yes**_

* * *

"Good to know you love me that much, Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan," the 'mastermind' comments. Then, suddenly, a red light emits the room. It is dim and does not cover anything other than the mask. It is of Monokuma. One of the masks that were used by the Ultimate Despairs in the Tragedy. Then it rooms returns to darkness.

"Don't call me that-"

"You're acting quite strangely. C'mon, show more despair or nothingness or something like that! Are you that heartless to not be mourning poor Kazu's unfortunate, untimely death?" The stranger's words truly hurt. Why am I not crying? How heartless am I? No, do not think in that kind of way. People have different ways of mourning...that's all. "But, enough about that, because I already know everything. This Killing Game is predictable. Of course, the decoy protagonist and the real protagonist's boyfriend die quickly!"

"What are you talking about!?"

"There's some emotion! I believed in you, just like the Committee. Taking in a Kamukura like you took a lot of guts-"

"They did not-"

"I know, geez, can I not tell a joke?" they ask. Whoever this is, they have a bad habit of getting on my nerves. I try to move away from them, possibly see what the Hell this room is, yet they grab on tightly to my hand. "I know everything. Izuru, Izumi, Kotori. Things you do not know and everything else you could possibly imagine! So let me tell you something." I hear something drop to the ground. Whoever this is going up to my ear. I could feel their breath invading my ears and their body feels slender and flat.

"...!" Once again trying to get them off, I could feel that hand once again.

"With all the tech here, I can't have you accidentally killing yourself. We have to make sure that it is purposeful." Suddenly, a red light once again emits from somewhere in the room. There is some sort of TV in here or some other kind of electronic device that can play a video. "Goodbye, Ayano Nishiki."

"What?" The video begins to play. There is some sort of timer counting down from the number three. The middle of the video has Monokuma's signature evil eye. As the countdown ends there are curtains shown and they go away to show Monokuma sitting on the stage surrounded by various kinds of junk objects. However, there is one thing that stands out to me, the white font taking center stage.

 _Monokuma's Gloomy Sunday_

Now the horrible sounding music invades my eardrums. The person does not move and I still cannot see their face, though I feel the strange presence leave once again.

"It was truly a blast having you," the person says. Then they move to the side, careful to not be in my view, since my eyes cannot leave the screen in front of me, and then leave the room. Even with the music, their footsteps were loud. I did not hear the door close.

The video continues. All I want to do is stare deeply into it, let myself be completely immersed in its world. And then the color inverts. That is my last bit of consciousness.

* * *

I find myself on the shore of my island again but not feeling the nice ocean air. Looking behind me, I see that the island is like it was before the Committee got involved in anything. All of my aunts and uncles are smiling and waving at me.

"Hey, Ayano." Hearing that voice, I can finally feel water falling onto my face. I look up to see that it is raining. This island really needed rain.

"Kazuhiko!" Turning around, I see that Kazuhiko looks like he did when we first meet a long time ago. He is crying and is chained to somewhere underneath the water. Then I turn around to where my aunts and uncles were, only to find that those that did not survive the Killing Game lie on the sand, dead. The sand is now pink.

"Join us, Ayano." The dead on the sand chant. They raise up, showing all of their wounds and their emptied eyes.

"No-"

"Join me, Ayano." Now facing around to see Kazuhiko, he is now his current self. Nothing but a corpse but still somehow standing and speaking. Kotori is behind him, holding onto his shoulders. I try to reach to him, but, the moment Kotori lets go, he gets dragged into the sea.

"Go to him, Izumi," she whispers as she goes to my ear. She then disappears.

"Yes, Ayano, join us." Now all of my aunts and uncles are in the ocean, and also Kazuhiko, with their arms reached out. I want to go into the ocean, but something stops me. I am supposed to take care of Kindra, right? How could I forget about Kazuhiko told me before this?

"Come on, Ayano, be a good girl." Hearing that voice, I forget all that I have been thinking about. Izuru is now in the water too. Father knows best, so maybe I should die with all of them. It is better than living without any of them. Hell, some of them might still be alive, but, with the Committee always haunting them down and keeping me away, they are very much already dead.

"Yes," I answer. Putting my feet into the water, I am almost to them until something pulls onto my shoulder...

* * *

"Ayano!" Shinichi yells. Next thing I know I am in the kitchen with one of the knives in my hands. "What are you doing?"

"Shinichi...?" Out of everybody here, I am surprised that it is Shinichi here with me right now. Looking around, the two of us do truly seem to be alone.

"What were you-" Shinichi is interrupted by the same music from the video playing loudly on the speakers. My ears are ringing and so must be his. Right as the music ends, letting our ears rest, another voice forsakes that sanctuary.

"Now that I got your attention you bastard students, I've got a very special announcement. We got a new motive for all of you bastards! If a murder doesn't happen every week, I'll show one of my precious students a special video. And don't worry, as another present, I already have shown one of you bastards it~" Then the audio feed cuts, leaving only silence in its wake.

* * *

 **Sorry, this is a shorter chapter that took so long. A lot of things are happening in my life now and I might have gotten too addicted to the extra content of V3 as well (damn you Ultimate Talent Plan). But, hey, this chapter is going to be much longer anyway so...this was a logical place to end this chapter too. Right where the next motive is announced.**

 **A poll for who you want Ayano to free time with is now on my profile. ^.^**

 **Now for the reviews~**

 **The hazel-eyed bookworm-Trust me, I'm a twin. If I could find a way to accept them, I would have. XD I'm super bias. Here's more Shin for ya.**

 **Scissor-Snipper-DESPAIR! And now new motives already. Give the investigation team some credit, they know how to hide themselves better than the Phantom Thieves. I shall never stop making Persona 5 jokes.**

 **AnonChan1-Ayano has the 'mastermind' to help her out. Everything is planned in this series. Everything. Everybody is now screaming with you. Thanks. ^.^**

 **Harukawa Ayame-Monokuma loves messing around with Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan. Yeah, this story remembers that the other students are actually doing something outside of the plot with Ayano. Well, I think they're a little smarter than the kids of Persona 4. XD I love those guys but still...yeah. Hotaru is just hanging out, doing her own thing. Don't jinx it. :P Thanks. :D**

 **0B13-Ayano ain't doing so hot. Kyoto, I feel sorry for you man. The mastermind ain't even done with everything yet. Poor shoes, your cleanliness shall be missed.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Thank you. I love being messed up. Mitsuru is Mitsuru...thanks. :P Now hopefully the chapters will be longer after this.**


	19. Chapter 2-2

**Chapter 2-2: My Heavenly Earth**

* * *

"...Fu...Okay, this is bad, stay strong, Shin," Shinichi tells himself. He takes a deep breath but his eyes are still crystal cold. However, my focus quickly shifts to the knife in my hands. The very second afterward I drop it, letting it loudly cling onto the floor. With everything that has happened, the video must be only one thing.

"Do they have the suicide video?"

"The suicide video? Ayano, what is going on?" he asks me. There is then a very awkward silence between the two of us for a couple seconds. "Ayano, please tell me what is going on."

"Nothing," I answer. Trying to leave and return to my room, to finally go to sleep, Shinichi is surprisingly forward and latches onto my hand.

"Listen, normally I would not be like this. I want people to be content and I do not like going out of my way for these kinds of things, yet the Killing Game is happening right now. Sure, all of us die one day, and there might be nothing after death, but I am sure that you have something to live for," he says with a comforting smile. Thinking about it, this whole Killing Game I have only been focused on myself and Kazuhiko...and sometimes Kyoto. I really do not know anything meaningful about these classmates of mine than simple background checks and some information gathering for the Committee.

"Not really, no." The only thing I have been entrusted with is Kazuhiko's secrets and whoever this Kindra person is. That is hardly any reason to live.

"Please be quiet, I know somebody cares about you-"

"Hello, my precious, bastard students, it's time to wake up and smell the flowers or something. You know, forget the last part. It's 6 AM but most of you are still probably gonna be lazy and stay in bed all day. Typical teenagers. Bye-bye." The announcement would be nothing if it was not played so loud every single time. It seems like the sound is just slightly under the volume of which your ears bleed and makes me envious of Takara. I try to take this opportunity to overpower Shinichi, and, since he is not strong at all, it works. Though, at that same moment, somebody else pops into the kitchen. Cassius.

"Greetings, commoners, do not mind me for I am just passing through. Admire my beauty all you want," Cassius says with the most severe case of sleepy eye I have ever seen. He is not energetic like his usual persona, slowly dragging himself across the room. He goes to one of the cabinets and gets out some coffee. Distracted from Cassius appearing out of nowhere, I have little time to react to the rest of the 'investigation' team entering the room as well.

"...You got to be kidding me," I sigh. Seems like some of these kids travel in swarms, while I just try to stay alone. Now I just want my bed and Monokuma not interrupting my sleep with giving me Kazuhiko's body back. That would literally make me actually want to kill myself for real without any sort of video or acute trauma reaction.

"..." Cassius, before finishing his coffee, leaves, probably being overwhelmed by the amount of people here. The overall feeling right now is way too tense for anyone to be comfortable. Absolutely zero percent chance of actually enjoying this environment if you do not have masochistic personality.

"Why was Cassius here?" I ask underneath my breath.

"T-there's a lot going on," Naoko notes. Her eyes are immediately focused on the kitchen knife. Now that I think about it, Naoko did have to witness Akita possibly trying to kill herself with one of these. There is a small chance that this is the same one too. Looking over to where the knives are kept, I examine the kitchen more closely. Possibly because I notice that it is a lot cleaner than before, yet it would never pass any test for safety.

The most unusual thing about the kitchen is that there is a small bathroom inside. I do not know any kitchen outside of restaurants that have something like this, and this clearly is not a restaurant. And, of course, there is a cellar which caused everybody to get drunk. There are a lot of shelves in this room that are filled to the brim with all sort of things. One of them has cleaning products, including shovels for some reason, and three of them have food with long shelf lives. There is also a fridge that somehow gets power, probably from the same source of the computers and lights. Only if I could hack into that. There is also one exactly like that next to it. For some reason, the mastermind does not want us starving to death.

Then there is the main counter that has various cupboards placed over it. Of course, there are things like knives on top of it. There is also a sink that does not have a working water system. Possibly it is for show, but this Hell might have been originally used for some other purpose. Or maybe the mastermind is purposefully keeping the water away from us. Considering the mastermind just tried to make me commit suicide, I think the answer is clear.

"W-what is Ayano doing here?" Kyoto asks. His eyes are also where Naoko's are, but for a completely different reason.

"The video that is part of the motive is the suicide video," I inform them. "It is what they used against the Future Foundation in the fourth Killing Game-"

"Fourth?" they, except for Takayuki and Takara for obvious reasons and Shinichi for some reason, question me all at once. Shinichi starts to back away, only to realize that there is a wall right behind him.

"...T-that makes a lot of sense," Naoko comments. "So the Committee hides everything."

"Still, how did the mastermind get that video? The Committee should have hidden it with tight security," Kyoto questions. "...Has the mastermind have ties to the Committee?" Takayuki then interrupts him by shoving a piece of paper he got from somewhere in his jacket using his the stumps of his hands. "W-what?"

"Is that the paper that you showed to Akita?" I ask him. His face is clearly asking me how I knew that. "Remember, I was there. I used to hang out in the garden all the time."

"...Wait..." Takayuki is clearly thinking something but unable to say anything. Quickly, he mouths something to Takara, who does the same thing to Shinichi. Shinichi himself still is not looking that well.

"A-Ayano, where were you during the meeting?" Shinichi questions me.

"What meeting?" We may have not had a lot of meetings in this place, yet it is good to make sure. I am pretty sure that if Kazuhiko checked he would realize that Akita was not the mastermind and still be alive... "Wait, after this question, may I ask something else?"

"S-sure. The meeting where we discussed the future first motive. You left," he answers. Oh yeah, that makes sense. There was a pretty high percentage that was the truth. Then again, the truth is dead, just like chaos. Somehow this mastermind is making everything orderly, the exact opposite of Junko Enoshima. This is not Junko's game.

"...I don't remember..." Even I can tell this is a bad lie, yet I do not trust any of these people except for Kyoto. There is a chance that one of these people is the mastermind.

"Ayano, please tell us," Kyoto says. "I mean, I know that I'm not that good at anything, but even I can tell that you're lying."

"..."

"P-please," Naoko adds-on. She has puppy eyes that remind me of a certain animated cat. Even I cannot defeat those eyes, with having a zero percent chance of winning. Something tells me that Takayuki is strangely rubbing off on her in some way.

"Fine, I was trying to find the mastermind around the school. I clearly did not succeed."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense," Kyoto comments.

"Now, since I have told the truth, can I ask you, people, something?" After my request, Takayuki shakes his head. Shinichi and Kyoto have no reaction. Takara gives me a thumbs up and Naoko smiles. "Even if we somehow defeat this game, how do we get out of this forest?"

"...I knew it, everything is pointless in this game." Shinichi finally leaves the wall.

"Are you saying that all we can do is kill or die!?" Naoko is back to her old self, cowering in one of the corners of the kitchen.

"So the only way to win in this game is being the mastermind," Kyoto notes. Takara, however, angrily pulls out his notebook, that I guess he has with him now and begins to write something down on the paper. As he finishes, he shows all of us what he wrote down.

 _I know my way around the Suicide Forest._

"This is nothing to give up over. Don't be an idiot and fall into the mastermind's mind game," Takayuki scolds us.

 _The Committee once gave me a job to find possible treasure left in the Tragedy in the Suicide Forest. If I remember correctly, this seems like one of the places about a couple days distant from the entrance due to the alignment of the trees and other aspects of the area. I found it strange the first time that this was surprisingly not rocky for the Suicide Forest._

"Why did you not tell anyone this before?" I ask. Takara does put away his notebook but now he uses sign language to talk to Shinichi directly.

"I-I guess that it does paint a target on your back..."

"Wait, we should discuss something else," Takayuki says. "Ayano..." Once again, before he can finish his sentence, he begins to mouth. This is the second time so he must not be fluent in sign language or was told by Monokuma that counts as speaking and breaking his action.

"How exactly did you know about the suicide video? Why were you trying to kill yourself when I found you?" Shinichi is now way more direct and there is a fierce fire burning in his eyes.

You know, maybe we should hide the knives or something like that. So far we know of three people that have used the knives and all the uses were somehow connected to the act of violence, either to oneself or somebody else. Having these out increases the odds of somebody committing a murder or suicide by a lot.

"...I had a conversation with the mastermind. They were wearing a mask so I could not see their face..." There is no reason to resist, even if one of them is the mastermind. I do not really have the energy to. Still, I feel worthless that I can't figure out the identity of them. Guess that the only thing I am really good at is hacking.

"The mastermind!?" Naoko, Shinichi, and Kyoto basically shout.

"Thanks," Takayuki smirks. Something has entered his mind. If I was the mastermind, he would be my biggest fear, a hundred percent. Then again, Kazuhiko was a big threat to them too, and the mastermind used him like a doll to eliminate another threat. And, with the second motive, seems like the mastermind is planning something. Planning for none of us to survive. I do not want to solve this mystery, but I entrust all of my knowledge to Kyoto. Since I was entrusted with the truth, I shall give that burden to him.

"Now, if you do not mind, I desire to leave," I say. Before I can leave through the door, Kyoto grabs my hand. I feel like they are doing this a lot.

"Ayano...I know that I'm not the smartest person...but can you please join our group?"

"...No..." I do not want to see the reaction, so I easily break free from his grip and leave the room. Now to finally do what I wanted and just sleep in my bed without interruptions.

To my surprise, Cassius is not the only person in the cafeteria. He is with Hayato, Tsukiko, Namita, and Miyuki with the five of them discussing something. They are most likely talking about something important or they would be in bed.

"Hey, Ayano, want to hang out with us?" Namita tries to wave me over, but I ignore her. Then, as if something is out to spite me, Hotaru comes into the cafeteria. She smirks as she runs over to me and, once again, takes off my hat.

"This is a lot finer quality than your beanie," she notes. It seems like Hotaru is seriously examining my hat. She then places the hat back on my head, probably because I am glaring at her. She then hops to the kitchen, probably wanting to get something from there. Though, following her, I notice that Kira and Akemi are now here with Mirabilis following shortly after them. They all past me, sitting on the table in the middle, the one different from the other group who is still having some kind of conversation in a somewhat hushed tone. If Cassius is not so tired, he would be shouting out everything.

Though, with me still trying to leave through the door, I notice that out of all of the investigation team, only Naoko and Takayuki leave the kitchen. They must have all split up to gather up more information with their brand new intel.

"Takayuki Anno, I shall purify you this time!" Mirabilis shouts. With that, everybody stops their conversations. Mostly because they are interested in seeing how this plot ends.

"Not this again..." Takayuki ignores her, continuing towards the door with Naoko. However, in a strange turn of events, Mirabilis jumps out of her seat and grabs onto Naoko. Mirabilis then disappears with Naoko through the doors. "...Oh my God." Sighing, he slaps his forehead with his stump of a hand and follows after them.

"Maybe now I can go to my room," I whisper to myself. Everybody was shocked at first but returned to their previous conversations. Most likely we are getting used to Mirabilis's actions.

"Nishiki-san, we need to talk." Suddenly, Miyuki is behind me. "I promise you after this I will help you to your room, but I believe that this is the best course of action. Do you perhaps have some free time?" Thinking about it, although I desire to sleep, something inside of me is demanding me to have at least one conversation with Miyuki. Having her around to has the added benefit of having the possibility of not being interrupted by any of the other students, and there is a very low chance that Miyuki will murder me. Even if she tried, I feel like it would be an intense battle and would make too much sound for an onna-bugeisha to feel comfortable with.

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Miyuki Kobyashi?**_

 _ **Yes/No**_

* * *

"...Sure..."

"Do you mind if I escort you to the library? That is the most calming place in this school for me. The next moment, we both left the cafeteria together. At least in this situation, I get out of the cafeteria.

* * *

On the entire trip there, Miyuki stays silent. She is in front, taking charge of the situation. The moment we enter the library I realize that it is a lot cleaner than when I saw it last.

"You need to shape up," she says, somehow with the same tone as always. Though Miyuki has the same fire in her eyes that Shinichi has.

"What do you mean?" I question her.

"It is clear to me through your actions that you have given up. So you need to shape up! From now on, this library will be our training grounds." I am too surprised to see Miyuki act like this, acting like a leader and being headstrong. From what I experienced from her so far, I never would have guessed that she would be like this. "The best way to train your mind is to train your body. If you so desire it, I shall mentor you in the ways of being an onna-bugeisha. Learn the true meaning of sacrifice!"

"Sacrifice?"

"You shall learn the true meaning of sword, naginata, and martial arts. Of course, most onna-bugeisha use the naginata, yet I chose to follow the footsteps of my family and use the sword." Miyuki looks toward her sword but does not draw it.

"Your family?" Since I do not know my 'real' family and consider my family of the former members of Ultimate Despair my true one, it is interesting learning about other's views. Kazuhiko hated his family, so I have a lot of information about hatred.

"The Kobyashis. My family is dedicated to the art of self-defense," Miyuki explains. There is a tinge of sadness in her voice. "...Nishiki-san, do you have anything to tell me about your family? I do not mean to pry but I am simply curious about the Nishiki clan."

"Nothing really, my family specializes in a lot of various talents," I respond. It is a half-truth, which can be slightly better or worse than a lie.

"Alright, now for the training!" Miyuki pronounces. My muscles whine. Only if I knew that we would be training, I would have said no. All I desire right now is peace, quiet, and a pillow.

"Can we just talk instead-"

"It is time to shake up. If you are tired, you should have gone to bed sooner." Now I am just curious about how Miyuki gets all of her energy while speaking in monotone and keeping her face the same, neutral expression. "For the first day of training, you will need to do ten sit-ups."

"Ten?...Okay..." I half expected to be tasked with something ridiculous, yet I do not mind this. Kazuhiko and I used to exercise a lot back during our days in the Committee, yet I would always outlast him.

"To be successful, you must slowly climb up the steps and not push yourself too hard. Now show me what you are made of, Nishiki-san." Since the floor is cleaner, I go down on it easily and begin my easy exercise. "Exercising your mind can make you do anything, but we onna-bugeisha honor our code. We must make sure that we never use our strength for anything that is self-serving. For example, Nishiki-san, most of the work done in the library was done by me so my classmates can finally enjoy the simple joy of the library."

"Cool," I say as I finish the sit-ups. "Did you work on the upper floor?"

"I would yet I have no way of reaching there," Miyuki answers. That does make sense since she is so short and most likely not going to grow again.

"...Wait, have you checked the computers? They might still have the first motives inside them!" How have we not thought of this before? Sure, there is a chance that Monokuma has already removed them, and might have even told us, we never checked the computers for any of the discs.

"It would make the most sense for me to handle this." Miyuki walks up to one of the computers and checked the computer for anything relating to the discs. To the surprise of no one, they are now gone.

"Well, it was worth checking," I note. Now, with the training over, maybe I can finally find my way into my room. At that moment though, I hear Miyuki cough. She begins to cough a lot. "Are you okay?"

"Yes..." Miyuki coughs again. "The dust must have entered my lungs. May I excuse myself?" Miyuki walks out of the library, still coughing a lot. There is something going on there, and I have only seen Miyuki cough in places with a lot of dust. She may be allergic or getting some sort of illness. Considering the state of this place, all of her work and lack of sleep, any of us getting ill makes a lot of sense.

With no reason to stay here, I leave the library, still having the desire for the sweet embrace of sleep.

* * *

Just in front of my doors, I realize that Minato is just coming out of their door. Then I try to open up my door, only to realize that it is locked. If the people moving...the body out of my room accidentally or purposefully locked my door, or even Monokuma, I am going to slam my head into the wall.

"You gotta be kidding me."

"Hey, Ayano. Want to hang out with me?" Minato innocently asks...while they walk the opposite way. To keep them from getting lost once again, although they are the Ultimate Traveler, I grab onto the chain around their neck.

"Why do you ask?"

"Because I was thinking of helping my friends out and checking out the perimeter. I wanna see if there's anything surrounding the five-mile radius."

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Minato Ueda?**_

 _ **Yes/No**_

* * *

"...Well, I didn't want to get lost and be punished by Monokuma again," Minato adds-on. I am curious how Minato has come up with this idea. Even though I do like them, I will not exactly call them smart.

"Um, how did you think of this, Minato?"

"I remember something when I just got sober from the drunk thing that happened. Akita told me something," Minato informs me. "She said to check the barrier."

"Akita?" I question. For some reason, something about this feels wrong. Especially if it was just after the drunk incident since I was the first person Akita talked to. And that was way after Minato calmed down, although they were too lost of participate in the meeting Akita did.

"Yeah...but we should go to the barrier." Once again, Minato accidentally starts going the wrong way, and I have to correct them.

* * *

We reach the patio and I can tell that Minato is longingly looking at where Akita was murdered. Minato's innocence and naivete is probably the only reason why they are not angry at me because my boyfriend murdered their friend.

Nearby, I see two graves. Using the materials they had, the students made markers. They are crosses and have Akita's and Kazuhiko's full name craved into them. They even have some of the same flowers sprinkled on top of them.

Though, even with both of us becoming slower and staring at the crosses, we continue into the forest.

* * *

In the forest, and walking for a couple minutes, with me keeping my hand on their chain, Minato turns their head to face me.

"Do you have anything you wanna talk about, Ayano?"

"...Um, perhaps you can tell me about your family...or something?" This might not be the best first question to ask, but it is better than the pure silence of the forest that only gets interrupted by the crushing of leaves under our feet.

"Oh, they're lovely! I love my father, my mother, my older sister, and younger brother! I love everybody!" they proclaim. "...I miss them. I wonder how they're doing."

"Do you have any stories or anything?" Considering that we are going to walking together for five miles, it is best if there is something to talk about. I know my family is worried about me, but it has been that way for a long time now. The Committee now just wants their experiment back.

"Let's see...oh, on my seventh birthday my parents trusted me on my first errand!...Though I ended up in Tokyo. Tokyo is so cool!" Minato says. "And, ever since that day, I've got the bad habit of getting lost and traveling everywhere in Japan."

"That's interesting..."

"That's how I meet Akita. I accidentally found myself in matters connected to the Committee and she came to my rescue! She's so cool!" Even though my first thought is to correct them, I decide not to. One day Minato will accept Akita's death.

"Cool..."

"And she would always protect me and be there for me. If anyone tried to hurt me, she would hurt them. I didn't like that but she said that was what meant to be done..." Minato then drops onto his knees on the forest floor and begins to cry. I do not know what to do. "...Akita...why?"

"Minato...she's dead..."

"B-but...why did she appear in my video!? I don't hate her!" they cry out. The weight of their words hit me. Why would Akita be in their video? "W-why did I have to lie to her about it!?"

"Minato..." Now I comfort Minato by hugging them. Then they begin to cry into my shoulder but I do not care. Just being like this, I begin to cry with Minato as well. "...I want to know why Kazuhiko died too! Why!? It's not fair!"

"...Akita...I loved Akita...no, love Akita!" At that moment, we hear leaves crunch from behind us. I quickly jump up, but Minato stays where they are at.

"...I-I did not know..." Shinichi and Takara come out from behind one of the many trees around us. "But I guess we are both checking on the same thing." Now things are just awkward. I cannot imagine how I would feel if I walked into that randomly in the middle of the forest. Minato does not look horrified even though they just confessed their love to Akita. They most likely trust that none of the three of us will tell anyone.

"Hello, Shinichi and Takara!" Minato gets up and whips the tears from their eyes. "How nice to see you here."

"Um, since both of us are checking the perimeter, do you want to go together, Ayano?" Shinichi asks.

"Is it okay with you Minato?"

"Yes!" Minato answers with a smile. I cannot tell whether or not it is fake. But, you know, since our heart to heart, I know that I know Minato better than I did before.

"Okay, but don't ask me to join your little group," I tell Shinichi.

"If you so desire it," he responds, though he does not sound convinced. Takara nods his head, staying behind Shinichi.

* * *

For some time, we were all silent due to the awkward feeling between the four of us. Once again, though, Minato, being the most outgoing out of all of us starts the conversation.

"Do you want to talk about anything?" I am still holding onto Minato chain. Minato every so often goes the other way, and I have to turn them back on track. I feel so bad doing this. It feels like I am walking a dog, not talking with a human being. Damn you mastermind for doing all of this.

"Nothing," Shinichi responds. Takara uses sign language to give Shinichi a message. "Takara wants to know if any of us like...soap operas? Am I translating that wrong?...Soap operas?" Although TV is a lot less diverse than it used to, there is still a couple kind of shows that have stayed. Unfortunately, one of them is the soap opera.

"...They're...okay..." Minato responds. Shinichi and I stay quiet. Takara might understand what other people are saying by reading their lips.

"Why?" I ask though Takara does not respond, probably reading the air of the situation.

"Nevermind, let's change the subject! How are your family situations?" Minato asks. Most likely because that is what I asked them which had way different results. Takara does say something with his fingers, though Shinichi does not translate.

"...I'm sorry, I'm leaving." Shinichi tries to go the other way, but he is interrupted with Monokuma coming up from behind him. "Monokuma!"

"Exactly who you wanted to see, right? I'm that irresistible! Enough for some bear-on-human romance, but not even I want that despair!" Monokuma begins to laugh. It takes all my energy to not punch him. Somehow I have gotten out of my suicidal mindset by the mastermind trying to force me to do so, but I still know Kazuhiko would be mad at me if he was still alive.

"Why are you here?" I question him.

"Sorry, my precious, bastard students, but you can't go this way!" Monokuma informs us. Before any of us can respond, we all fall down, suddenly feeling sleepy. I see some kind of mysterious gas surround us, overpowering every single one of us easily.

* * *

When I wake up, I realize that I am in my own bed...at least I think that this is my own bed. I might have just been knocked out, but I am still sleepy and in my bed. Seconds later I easily fall asleep, too tired to do anything else.

* * *

 **Monokuma Theatre!**

You know, I am so bored. Bored of being bored. That's all, folks. Wait, are you disappointed this is ending so soon? Disappointed in how boring it is? Well, embrace that despair and be consumed by it! The despair of being bored of being bored by despair. What despair...I'm so bored. Maybe I should've really had another mascot do this with me. The only thing that can relieve this boredom is picking on my sister, Monomi!

* * *

"Kiddos, it is now nighttime. That's all. I'm bored." Being awakened up by the announcement, I slowly open my eyes. I immediately check the corner and see that there are no new dead bodies to greet me. Afterward, I take a sigh of relief and slowly gets out of bed. Because there is still nothing to clean myself with, I just go outside where I go check on the room I was sleeping in. Looks like Monokuma was nice enough for once to actually place me in my very own room.

"Hey, Monokuma, I got something to ask you!" Namita shouts out. She is with Tsukiko since they always seem to hang out with one another. Their shared leadership roles might have made it easier for them to make friends with each other than most people in this situation.

"You girls call for me? Once again, bear-on-human romance is not allowed in this place." Monokuma is in front of them and does not notice me. They are in front of the door to the patio while I am near the end of the hallway, near the storage closet as well.

"Ayano, what are you doing here?" Shinichi comes out of the storage closet and whispers. He is purposefully making as little sound as possible.

"What are you doing in there?" I ask him, purposefully keeping my voice down as well. There must be a reason why he is being quiet since Shinichi does not seem to be the type of person to do things without reason.

"I can discuss that anywhere but here. Do you want to spend some time with me?"

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Shinichi Fujimoto?**_

 _ **Yes/No**_

* * *

"Yes, but do not try to convince me to try to join your group," I answer him.

"Alright, we need to go now." Shinichi runs to the doors of the garden and I follow him. Monokuma is luckily still distracted by Tsukiko and Namita, talking about whatever.

* * *

Once we were safe from Monokuma, we stay silent until we reach the library. And automatically I notice that there is now a ladder, one that is not in good condition, however, that leads to the upper floor.

"Did you do that?"

"No, we just found it there. Somebody else must have done it," Shinichi answers. He then walks over to the ladder and begins to climb it and I follow suit.

* * *

Now in the upper library, I see there are a bunch of books littering the floor, all being open and flipped to random pages.

"Ayano, we found that this room does not have any video cameras," Shinichi informs me. "Also, this is the only room on the second floor that is properly supported."

"Why did you even start investigating this room? It could be a trap created by Monokuma," I say. Something about this does not feel right, yet Shinichi has a good head on his shoulders.

"That is why we cooperated with Tsukiko and Namita to distract Monokuma. Now, for what I really wanted to come here for..." Shinichi takes one of the books from the ground and shows me the cover of it. It is a book that I wrote about hacking. It might surprise some that I have written a book, but Kotori told me that it was a good idea. Back then, I was completely under her thumb.

"What is it?"

"Um...can you teach me how to hack? I mean, you asked Hayato to teach you other languages, but I want to learn how to hack!" I am taken back from Shinichi's honest commitment.

"Sure...But, before that, maybe we should talk...It would be easier for me to teach you if I knew more about you."

"Really? Okay?" Shinichi responds. I try to think up something to start with since my family one has shown less than superb results. "Well...how is your family like? Y-you know since you asked earlier."

"Complicated," I directly answer.

"H-ha...mine too." He takes a seat on the ground after moving some of the books away, and I follow after him. It is strangely calming being in this room with Shinichi, even though this is where I heard the body announcement of Akita. An event that quickly leads to debatably one of the worse moments of my life. "Um, there is something else I have to tell you relating to the hacking thing."

"What?"

"I'm horrible at math! Do I need that skill that become a hacker?"

"...Yes..."

"U-um, I do not mean to be rude, but can you help me with that too?" Shinichi is blushing and cannot look me in the eye. "Sorry, that I cannot do anything but translating right."

"So I am going to become your tutor. I guess I can ditch Hayato's lessons for yours. Might be good learning about other factors of being a salesperson." Shinichi lets out a nervous chuckle.

"We should go soon. Tsukiko and Namita cannot distract him for long. H-how about we do this every nighttime?" Shinichi asks and I say yes. He smiles slightly as he descends down the ladder. However, I stay in the upper library. If this library has my book, then there must be other materials related to the Committee. I know for a fact that the Committee only made it available for those involved in the Committee in one way or another.

I see one book that is opened up to a page of pictures of students. I quickly recognize it as a yearbook. Picking it up, shutting it, and reading the title, I realize it is the yearbook for the last year of the first Hope's Peak, released shortly before the chaos of Junko's games.

"Hajime Hinata..." Quickly, I search for my father using his original name. I turn to the reserve court part of the yearbook, something the Committee was smart enough to leave out in their second school. And, not shocking me in the least, Hajime Hinata is nowhere to be seen, completely erased out of history. They only cared for Izuru Kamukura, not the boy beforehand. They are lucky my father, although still being Izuru, decided to live like Hajime and live on Chiaki Nanami's final wish. Technically, my father was the mastermind of one of these dreadful games, but I still love him.

"Now let's see what else is here."

* * *

 **Here's another chapter. I sorta got really inspired and spent my free day writing all of this down. No regrets. Stayed up to 3:00 AM and going to regret it tomorrow but YOLO (who even uses YOLO nowadays?)**

 **...And, yeah, I was supposed to update Despair in Our Stars...oops. When have I ever stuck on a schedule on this story? Exactly. XD I'll try next time...because I'm currently writing that chapter, don't worry. We're still in sssppppaaaacccceeeeee.**

 **Reviews~**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Akita is somehow more emotionally stable than Ayano. Monokuma is covering all of his tracks this time and the only way to truly end this Killing Game is killing the mastermind.**

 **0B13-The mastermind is like, Ayano, stop free timing and start murdering. Chop chop. I will say nothing. ;) Thanks. ^.^**

 **AnonChan1-I'm good, you? Ayano is like I want my bed. I'm just imagining him hitting on Ayano...not even Satoshi is dumb enough to do that. Kyoto is flustered around girls. I've already gone Higurashi on your asses. Shinichi quickly becomes more popular because of character development. *screams with you***

 **Harukawa Ayame-It is. :) Let's just see what chaos transpires during this class trial. People are gonna hate me even more. Every protagonist will die because of kitchen knives. We got a whole forest to explore...oh wait. Thanks. You too. :D**

 **Guest-DESPAIR!**

 **TheRoseShadow21-The suicide video in the suicide forest. Mastermind has a sense of humor at least. Thanks. :)**

 **YellowtheWriter-No, there is a no return policy for Despair'R'Us...for the despair! Mirabilis, wrong person. Satoshi is the best bisexual masochist. The floor and doors are the mastermind! They're working together! Even suicidal Ayano is like that pool is too disgusting for me...let's be symbolic and use the same exact weapon as Akita! Mirabilis being cinnamon roll and abducting Naoko. Thanks. :)**


	20. Chapter 2-3

**Chapter 2-3: Ayano Nishiki Project**

* * *

Knowing that my father's original personality was not here, I search for Izuru, expecting to not find anything. Izuru Kamukura, the secret of Hope's Peak Academy's creation. Just like somebody like me is just one of the many, horrible secrets of the Committee.

Though, because of this, I check the class that my father was forced to play this very game with. I flip the pages, careful not to disturb any of them. They are all here except for the imposter, who was going under the name Ryota at the time. Ryota used to live with my family on the islands, yet he died from health complications shortly after I was born. I never really got the chance to know the Ultimate Animator. Would have been useful too since his video did almost force me to commit suicide less than twenty-four hours ago.

I then check on the class before them, the one from the second game that had Junko Enoshima in their ranks. Seeing her picture here, I can easily tell that this is her twin sister, Mukuro Ikusaba, the Ultimate Solider, who is not pictured here of course, in disguise. Junko must have been busy that day or pose as Ryoko. She is smiling and holding up a peace sign. A peace sign surrounded by the very class that she will force to kill each other. To say it was ironic was an understatement.

Not exactly interested in looking at Mukuro anymore, I close the book. The past is difficult...but then I get an idea. I flip to the end of the book, and, surprisingly, we are not the last class listed. Examining the book more, I see that there is a clear mark between the first and second schools. We are only the second to last, with there seemingly being a fourth class. Their names, as listed in the book, are apparently Etsuko Abe, Yuuki Akimoto, Jun Fumimoto, Ryoichi Homura, Osamu Imai, Sachiko Isobe, Saitou Katatake, Mizore Kurushima, Emilynn McKay, Ichiko Miyashita, Kitsu Natsuki, Himura Sachihiro, Natsuki Sumeragi, Ayamu Tachibana, Asuka Takano, and Mei Yamazaki.

Their talents are not listed here, as this book only covers the names. All I have for the talents are memories from the past...Though, out of everybody listed, two names stand out to me: Yuuki Akimoto and Mei Yamazaki. Sure, I have heard of some of them before, like...Kazuhiko...did an interview with Etsuko in the past, who really should have been the head of research. Emilynn McKay is from the infamous McKay family, a group of brave people that decided to go against the Committee and paid the consequences. Some of the others have stories, but I feel like this is not the place to tell them.

Now I return to our page and examine the contents. The first thing I notice is that there is something very, very off about it.

"What the fuck!"

First off, there is nothing relating to Akita Yamazaki, Chiyo Jinya, or Sae Emiya. I always found it weird that there was one more girl than usual, but I just assumed that the Committee just did not care anymore since there are also two jewelers. The second thing though is that there are six other students that are part of the roster that is not in this game, at least to my knowledge. Their names are listed as Misao Arikida, Bjørn Beck, Ambrož Čermák, Yen Thai, Charles Watson, and Manami Yamada.

I take a deep breath and try to pose myself. Although there is a chance that this is real, with this game becoming even more complicated than before, there is a chance that the mastermind just planted this here to mess with us. Though I am highly doubtful of that. Even if this mastermind is an asshole that I want to rip to shreds with my own hands and slowly see the life fade painfully out of their eyes, they seem strangely honest.

Wanting to learn more about this new development, I search all over the library floor until I see another book that stands out called The Talent Guide. Flipping through the pages, I notice that this is exactly what I thought it was: a collection of all the talents from Hope's Peak ever. There is another clear marker and I flip to it. I search up the new names and find out their talents. Misao Arikida: Ultimate Soap Opera Star, Bjørn Beck: Ultimate Surgeon, Ambrož Čermák: Ultimate Pilot, Yen Thai: Ultimate Interior Designer, Charles Watson: Ultimate Butler, and Manami Yamada: Ultimate Fashion Designer. None of their talents stand out or reveal anything about them.

I go back to the yearbook and search through the students of the other two classes that were before us in Hope's Peak. Though, I stumble upon the most interesting thing, that Chiyo Jinya, not Akita Yamazaki or Sae Emiya, is listed under the first class. And I just had to go back and check her talent in the other book which confirms that she is, in fact, the Ultimate Mediator. Now I am even more confused than I was before...only if Kazuhiko were here, he would have figured out way more than mine. He was especially good picking up information from sources like these considering his talent...why...

Becoming tired of all the searching and emotional turmoil, I finally decide to return to my room. It would be bad news for me if Monokuma caught me learning all of this valuable information. He would target me unfairly just like he did with Kazuhiko for learning his identity...

* * *

Waking up once again, this time from the morning announcement that I paid no real attention to, I think about who I should question and who I can trust with this new information. Anyone of us might be the mastermind, a traitor, somebody who just cannot keep secrets, etc.

Maybe I should have searched up the talents of the fourth class while I was in the library, but I can perhaps do that again tonight. My brain is already hurting with all of this new information. Maybe because I just really do not want to think about the events that transpired during the first trial.

There is nobody I can trust quite yet, but I can try asking Hayato about whoever this Yuuki Akimoto person is. I can guess that if he is somewhere, it is most likely the cafeteria. Only if I did not have this annoying action and could look at the map.

My feet drag across the ground because, truly, I usually sleep in until noon. That changed when the Killing Game occurred obviously. Hackers usually do most of their work at night when there are fewer people watching, so there was no need to wake up early except for meetings. I wonder if Kazuhiko and I actually went to that meeting...no, do not think about that again.

Cheeking around again to see whether or not Monokuma gave me any new surprises, I exit my room. The hallway is empty except for all the greenery now making this abandoned building its home. I notice that the storage closet is slightly open, but I see no reason why to check it. There is a high chance that it is nothing and I should not waste my time on something so meaningless.

Peeking through the door of the cafeteria, I see that not a lot of kids have gathered yet. The only people there are Miyuki, Mitsuru, Kyoto, and Takara. Miyuki and Mitsuru are sitting by themselves, while Kyoto is talking to Takara, who is only nodding his head. There is no Hayato to be seen.

"Hey, kid, what are you doing?" Jumping at the sudden appearance of Yasu, I close the door...accidentally slamming it.

"Nothing." I quickly get on my straight face and monotone voice.

"Um...sure?" Yasu has Mochi in their arms. Mochi seems to be chewing on some kind of green stuff that Yasu must have found somewhere because, well, we are surrounded by it. Somehow the rabbit has remained clean, but I guess he can just lick himself. There was a zero percent chance of me being jealous of a rabbit's ability to clean before this strange series of events...how the lack of showers quickly changes your views.

"Do you know where Hayato is?" I ask them.

"Yeah, actually. He's with Cassius in the garden, sitting on one of the tables out there," Yasu answers. As I walk away after saying goodbye, I notice that Yasu enters the cafeteria.

* * *

Reaching the gardens, I see that Cassius and Hayato are sitting together just like Yasu said. They both have coffee, which leads me to believe that somebody finally learned how to make some without a machine. I know nothing about coffee though other than I like having it every so often as it helps increase the time I work on my hacking projects.

I notice another sight as well: Mirabilis and Naoko hanging out together. I actually see that Naoko is smiling and laughing. She has not done that a lot and Mirabilis has been one of the people that have helped the situation not seem as dire as it actually is.

"Hello, Hayato and Cassius-"

"Please address me as Lord Cassius Ambrose Irvine Jacobson The Third, girl," Cassius corrects me. I check to see what Hayato's reaction to this behavior is, and, to the surprise of no one, he does not seem interested.

"Miss Nishiki, may I ask why you have come to talk with us?" Hayato questions me. "I do not mean to pry, yet...before now, you have only approached me to have some translator notes. You usually kept to yourself or people already inside your circle."

"...Um, I have a question for you, Hayato..." I am still getting used to all this conversation. It was a lot easier talking to people like Miyuki, Minato, and Shinichi, but now there are two extroverts here. There is a large chance of failure. I would usually just resort to saying things in one word...that is not going to fly in this conversation. Kazuhiko was usually the one who handled stuff like this. "...Can I sit with you?"

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with both Hayato Akimoto and Cassius Jacobson?**_

 _ **Yes/No**_

* * *

"Just as long as you do not insult the noble name of Jacobson, you are fine to be here," Cassius responds. He seems to have all his energy back. There is a fifty-fifty chance of this being something that is not favorable.

"You can take my seat if you desire, Miss Nishiki," Hayato says. He gets out of his chair and motions me towards it. I walk toward the chair, sitting down in it. "I am about to leave as well to help with Tsukiko and Namita, so I will not be staying for long."

"Hayato, do you know somebody named Yuuki Akimoto?"

"Hm, are you asking because we have the same last name? I do not recall being related to somebody named Yuuki," he answers me. Hayato looks at me directly in my eyes and never wavers. There is a zero percent chance that he is lying.

"I would not know a commoner like that, but I have heard that name somewhere before," Cassius informs me. "Sadly, I do not remember, for I only remember the most interesting of commoners, like my dear friend Hayato." The way Cassius speaks has always been weird to me...I presume that is just how stuck up British noble people sound like. I wonder how he got the talent of a jeweler, something that requires a lot of hard work.

"Why are you asking?" Hayato questions with a soft voice. "You do not have to answer, for I am just curious."

"Oh...um...Kazuhiko did an interview once...and I just wondered if you were related," I lie. Cassius and Hayato both stare at me but stop after a couple of seconds. I cannot believe I just used my dead boyfriend as some kind of pathetic excuse.

"Now, may you excuse me, for I must pardon myself. Farewell." Hayato leaves the garden when I finally realize I am alone with Cassius for the first time. Now there is a thousand percent chance I am going to fail this. I look over to Mirabilis and Naoko, looking for some kind of sanctuary, but I realize that they must have left sometime before.

"Um...Lord Cassius...how's your...family?" I did not know what Hell I would unleash.

"Ayano Nishiki, you have earned the right for me to call you by your first name is casual chatter! My family, the Jacobsons, are the most famous jewelers in all of England!" Cassius stands on his chair and puts one of his feet on the table. "The art of creating the finest forms of jewelry has been passed down the Jacobson family for generations!" He is about to tear off his shirt just to realize that he only has one of them. So he does something smart and not destroy the only shirt he has. You know, maybe I should have checked the talents of the two jewelers when I had that book. There were a lot of other things I could have done with that book. Only if Kazuhiko were here, and I actually had a true will to live, I would investigate more...

Wait, I just investigated on my own. Improvement? I think Kazuhiko would be proud of me. There is a hundred percent chance of that. Then he would yell at me for being so stupid.

"Ayano Nishiki, you seem lost in thought! So I will entice you with even more stories!" Wait, Cassius was telling me stories? He must really like hearing himself talk. "Every child of the Jacobson line gets taught the art of jewelry! From the moment I could walk, I was taught anything and everything about jewels and jewelry! Before I can even remember! The Jacobson family is truly great!"

"W-" What have I gotten myself into? I am forgetting most of my sorrows, but I rather go through another Committee meaning than this.

"I made my first jewelry set at the bright age of ten! The youngest in my family name! I was a child prodigy, like that other girl. I can make any kind of jewelry with any kind of jewel! And certainly better than that thief! But enough about _her_ , more about me!" Cassius begins to flex his muscles, which are strangely quite fine for a noble like him.

"Do you have any friends...besides Hayato?" I ask him, surprised I am able to get a single word, let alone a sentence, out of this conversation. How does Hayato do this every day? There is a higher percentage of finding out if I spend more time with him.

"Oh, you are curious about my personal life. Ayano Nishiki, how delightful! I have the most wonderful butler, one fitting for the mansion of the Jacobson's! He goes by the name Charles Watson." I can feel my jaw drop. Cassius notices, and, once again, looks at me funny. "What is the matter?"

"Is he, by any chance, the Ultimate Butler?"

"I may view him as such, but I do not remember him being scouted by Hope's Peak Academy. It would have been delightful if I could have somebody like him do all my chores. For I mostly spend all my time on jewelry...except in this place, where that foul beast took away my beautiful talent!" He presses his hand against his head.

"B-"

"Only if Hope's Peak invited my precious Charles Watson except for the wretched thief!" Cassius slowly gets down but then he pretends to fall like a pretty princess. He just does it slowly...in the most unrealistic way I have ever seen.

But, with the information, I only get more confused. Everything about this just does not make sense. All this information is making my head go crazy! Maybe this is why Kazuhiko decided to murder Akita, the burden of all of this resting on his shoulders. The burden of knowing a lot of stuff the others do not and not knowing what to do. But Kazuhiko should have trusted me? Right? Why didn't he tell me about everything? I know he likes...liked doing everything by himself, yet this is a whole new level. Why? Why? _Why?_

"Ayano?" Cassius asks. He seems worried, reaching his hand toward me after getting up. Though I ignore him and run out of the gardens, leaving him all by himself.

* * *

I run all the way to my room, not paying attention to anything else on the way. Then I realize that it is locked. My hands try to pry the door open to no use. All the stress is getting the better of me and I continue doing the same thing, expecting different results. Just the result that it would open, letting me into a room where I am all by myself.

"You aren't allowed to act that way!" The next thing I know is Mitsuru's fist slowly approaching my face, eventually hitting it. It is so hard that I fall on my feet. "Listen up, you piece of shit, I'm not gonna stand for your bullshit. A certain somebody had the balls to tell me you tried to fucking kill yourself! I'm not going to allow that. You hear me!?" Mitsuru punches me again. This time, however, I was sort of ready but only mostly dodged it. She still gazed my cheek, which still hurt.

"..."

"That's it! Time for some training!"

"But I already train with Miyuki..." Both of us are silent for a while.

"Well, shit, then we could...just come with me!" Mitsuru grabs my hand, forcefully pulling me to whatever place she wants. I guess I have no choice but to hang out with her.

* * *

 ** _Do you want to free time with Mitsuru Banda?_**

 ** _No/Hell no_**

 ** _Too bad, you gotta do it anyway. Because them votes, son._**

* * *

I realize that Mitsuru has dragged me back to the gardens. Cassius is gone, so he must have left. Well, no shit. I now know why Akita cursed so much, Mitsuru has that effect on people. Except for Miyuki. So she, if I had to guess with my limited information, has a ninety percent rate of turning you into a true sailor. Maybe that is why she wears that kind of school uniform. Why did Akita have a massive crush on this girl?

"So, take a seat." We are nearby the bushes. Both of us sit down on the grass, facing together. "Now let's teach you how to meditate." If I had anything in my mouth, it would escape at that very moment. "What?! Did you expect me to kick your ass some more, bitch?!"

"Yes." I thought there was a hundred percent chance of you doing that, but this Killing Game shows I am not the best at predicting the future. Maybe since I am only a hacker. A hacker that no longer has her other self.

"Listen up here, Ayano, I may act all mean and tough, but that's because it comes with my job! There's nothing banning me from meditation!" Mitsuru crosses her arms after pouting. "I value loyalty over all else in my gang, the Black Guard, which Akita Yamazaki clearly showed! Now I shall teach you how to become truly loyal to yourself through the act of meditation!"

"Okay..." I am not enjoying this day one bit. Mitsuru crosses her legs so I follow after her.

"The subject of today's lesson is mindfulness meditation. And don't think just because you're a beginner I'll go easy on you! The way to get the best out of people is to sometimes beat the shit out of them! Now we'll do that inside your mind! Everybody in the Black Guard must learn how to meditate, but Akita seemed to forget to do that in this place...Whatever, that's in the past, now I'll explain!"

"...Okay..." Kazuhiko, if you are somehow still out there, please get me out of here.

"Mindfulness meditation has the singular intention of not getting involved in your thoughts! And so many people fuck that up! That's about it!" Mitsuru, after a couple of seconds, looks calm. I have never seen her look this way before.

Then again, I have no idea what to do. Not getting involved in my thoughts? There is a zero...you know what, I have been saying that too much. It is impossible. That is easier and wastes less time.

"You're thinking, Ayano Nishiki! It's time for you to work at something! Have only one singular thought! It is not that hard! I can do it, and I run a fucking gang for a living! We're both kinda criminals that only get by because the Committee gives a shit about our talents. So stop thinking!" Automatically, Mitsuru is able to go back to her state. How can she pass through alternative states of consciousness so easily?

Instead of doing my classwork, I study the locket around Mitsuru's neck. I remember being curious about it before, like Shinichi and Takara's. I would joke about them being the locket squad, but that is not really in my character. Still, something about it intrigues me, brings my eye to it every time I see Mitsuru or the two boys for that matter. Good to see my curiosity is back...it really should have taken longer.

"Attention, students, please all come to the cafeteria immediately~" Monokuma's voice surprises the both of us, as Mitsuru seems disappointed that she keeps getting interrupted. This is the only time I am glad to hear that sadistic bear.

"Let's go," I say. I rush out of there, but Mitsuru quickly catches up to me. Mitsuru is definitely somebody I would not want to be caught in a fight with.

* * *

"What's going on here?" Hotaru questions Monokuma. She is sitting on top of one of the tables, balancing on the edge. Out of all the students in our school, only six excluding us are here. Miyuki, Kyoto, and Takara are here from before because clearly, Mitsuru is with me now. The newcomers, besides us, are Hotaru, Yasu, and Cassius.

"That's a secret. Wait until all of your other classmates are here," Monokuma answers. Hotaru pouts her face as she daggles her feet over the edge, defeated.

"It is not nice to keep somebody of noble blood like me waiting." Cassius is impatient. He taps his foot on the ground like a spoiled child that thinks the entire world revolves around him.

"I'm here! Ready to purify you, Monokuma!" Mirabilis exclaims as she kicks the doors of the cafeteria with Naoko in her arms.

"...C-can you please let me go now?" Naoko asks. Mirabilis does as her captive pleads and gently places her on the floor. Naoko quickly goes to the other side of the room. Poor girl has a high percent of attracting the weird ones.

"Why are the two foreign students the weirdest?" Monokuma whispers to himself...or at least tries to but does not realize that everybody can hear him. "I should've learned from Sonia, but, no, there just had to be two of them this time." Everybody just ignores what Monokuma says. Everything that does not relate to the act of murder or the feeling of despair is just random gibberish.

The next batch of people to walk through the doors is the group that consists of Tsukiko, Namita, and Hayato. They are relatively quiet, not wanting to burst into the room like Mirabilis...and poor Naoko.

"This room is strangely quiet," Tsukiko comments.

"It's because of that bear," Mirabilis responds. "I've failed all of you in my main mission of being a magical girl and not protecting any of you from that demonic bear!"

Then everybody else comes in one after the other. The only people that were not by themselves were Kira and Akemi. With all of them gathered here, the only person left is Satoshi, who is still out of commission.

"Everybody's here. Out with it!" Mitsuru commands. She places one of her feet on the chairs along with staring at Monokuma in the eyes. He does not falter.

"Not everybody." Monokuma begins to laugh. Everybody, sick of this teddy bear already, leaves the cafeteria. "Alright, guys, I'll be here if you need me. Don't mind me. Puhuhuhu."

* * *

Everybody, after the anticlimax of Monokuma's summon, go their own separate ways. I am still unable to go to my room so I do the next best thing. The storage closet. Mostly because it is a good place to hide from Mitsuru, who is probably looking for me.

With Cassius and Mitsuru out of the way, I can finally focus on what really matters, the information I gained from the library. The books should still be there, and, if Monokuma did something to them, I am going to get myself willingly executed by stomping him in the face. Kazuhiko would not be happy with me if that happens. I feel like I have said that a lot too. Does everybody have a bad habit of repeating ourselves?

It is quiet in the closet which makes it peaceful even. I would have never guessed I would say that about a random storage closet. Away from everyone, and in my own little place (mostly because I can barely fit in here), I feel like I could be myself. I could not help myself from crying. It is embarrassing to admit that as an adult, but this is far from a normal situation.

"Ayano?" In the midst of my tears, I see that the door to the storage closet actually is open. Naoko is on the other side, and, once again, I have somebody staring at me in worry.

"Naoko?"

"C-could I hide in here with you?" Naoko asks. I hear there are footsteps coming from down the hallway. "M-Mitsuru is scary."

"Mitsuru...?!" I quickly make space for Naoko and fit her inside while closing the door. Naoko, once again, attracting all the wrong people to her. It must have something to do with being the Ultimate Child Prodigy. What, I do not know, but, then again, Naoko has that moe appeal as well, as Kazuhiko would have put it.

It is rather cramped in this storage closet with the two of us in here, especially because I am the one taking all the space. Everything is dark, and I highly doubt any of us can see anything. There is only a small bit of light coming out of the cracks of the door, none of them big enough to peek inside to see that we are in here.

"I guess you are stuck with me for now. Do you want to talk or something?"

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Naoko Kawabata?**_

 _ **Yes/No**_

* * *

"D-don't we to keep quiet? But, y-yeah, sure." We spent some time in silence, as we waited for Mitsuru to pass. I would like to give Naoko a gift, but I do not have any on me.

"H-hm, what do you want to talk about, Ayano?"

"Um, how's your family like?" Maybe I should have learned earlier that this is not the best first question to ask anymore. Even if I could not see her, I could feel the atmosphere change.

"C-can we change the subject?" Naoko, although her voice is less shaky than the start of the game, sounds unnerved by the question. I could hear her move around a lot, possibly unable to get comfortable. Then I remember the still clear marks on her legs that are most likely caused by cigarettes.

The Kawabata family is somewhat known inside the Committee since her father, Daichi Kawabata I believe, is one of the main doctors. They live on one of the higher floors of the Committee preferring a bigger apartment. Thinking about the apartments, it always rubbed me the wrong way that Kotori purposefully picked her on the bottom floor even though she could be at the very top. Kotori was planning something, but, hey, like Kazuhiko, she's too dead to do anything.

"...What about...um?" Honestly, thinking about something to start a conversation with is hard. Especially if that person is as shy as Naoko. "Hobbies?"

"Reading stuff," she answers. "T-that's about it." Both of us realize this is going nowhere real fast, but we have no idea on what to do. The next couple of seconds is silence. "M-my memory is the only thing I'm proud of, hehe..."

"What brought this on?" I ask her, confused.

"Because...my useless talent is the only thing I can do..." Naoko runs out of the storage closet after that, leaving me alone. Even though we did not talk about much, I feel like we got a little closer. Maybe I can finally break down Naoko's walls. Back in my youthful days, when I was more confident and carefree, I was good at that. Hell, that's how I got Kazuhiko in the first place. And then that bitch Kotori had to mess it all up...

Wherever Kazuhiko is, whether or not there is an afterlife or not, I sure as Hell wish it is not with that bitch. That would be torture I would not even wish Akemi.

Okay, now I need to think about what I learned about in the library. Only if there was somebody here that could keep my thoughts on track...Then, as if to spite me, another thing takes away my attention. I see there is gas seeping through the door cracks that is a shade of murky grey.

"Wwwhhhh..." Before I could say anything, the gas knocked me out.

* * *

Waking up once again, I see that I am in a room that resembles a small hospital room. Except for the fact that all nineteen of my surviving classmates, plus Monokuma, are all squeezed inside. And then I realize I could not move...and that all of us were laid down on the floor next to each other.

"Now, sorry students, I had to do it! I had to place you altogether without killing most of you! Because I want you bastard students to do that yourselves, do not be a bunch of lazy asses and spend all of your days reading badly written fanfiction!" Monokuma begins to laugh, making me want to roll my eyes. "But, surprise, surprise, I've got an additional motive for you guys... _water_."

* * *

 **Dun dun dun. More motives. Motives everywhere. Yep, that's right, this chapter's official motive is water.**

 **Kinda short but more stuff happens later and this is a perfect cliffhanger. ^.^ Enjoy the despair.**

 **Now for the reviews~**

 **Harukawa Ayame-I'm imagining the FoD cast in space with the V3 (because Kaito being my baby boy and having the time of his life) and DiOS cast too. Naoko is the most scared she has ever been, surrounded by men. Tenko will save you! Everybody is getting a death flag. Well, blood is thicker than water...stop me. Oh, you need to have more Minato free time events to learn about that. Actually, the FTEs mildly affect the story, as they only change the story a little and were a bitch to write all the possibilities for. Thanks. Here are some more updates for that delicious cookie. Because I gave all of mine to Commander before this. XD**

 **The hazel-eyed bookworm-Thanks. ^.^ Gonna review soon, just posting this chapter at 1:00 in the morning. Cause I'm smart...and don't have school on Fridays. Yyyyeeeaaaahhhhh.**

 **0B13-We need to give our boy Kyoto some more love. Kyoto, love, love! Because clearly love cannot end happily in DR ever. Ever.**

 **AnonChan1-Ayano needs Etsuko stat. Etsuko, you're in the wrong story! NO! Kindra is Kindra. Gonna be here for 600,000+ words, gonna have to have a lot of mysteries. Well, I just got over an illness since there's a bad cold going around my college so...I don't want to imagine experiencing that in this situation. Oh Hell no. Free time events. ;) Minato needs love...because theirs is dead. Same here, Anon, same here. Except for acting, acting's cool. I'm actually starring in a short film so that's gonna be fun. :)**

 **TheRoseShadow21-YOLO about using YOLO! I'm not saying anything. It is all based on them votes. Clearly, they're using their womanly charm. Thanks so much.**

 **YellowtheWriter (or should I say YOLOtheWriter...I'll never stop)-Stay with me, we both make horrible jokes. Thanks so much. Miyuki is awesome. Don't doom Takayuki! NO! I'll never stop. Death flags for everyone! Clearly, the true OT3 is the doors, floors, and walls. Thanks. SssspppppaaaaccccEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEe.**


	21. Chapter 2-4

**Chapter 2-4: Picture Perfect Patheticness**

* * *

"The right, water! The Water Perk! If you don't get away with murder, you can pick one of your fellow students to get running water!"

It takes awhile to register what Monokuma is saying. Is this the first motive for somebody who does not succeed? A motive to actually not get away with murder? But, even if somebody is given this gift, would that make them a target? Can they just share it with everybody and give us all access?

"There a couple of rules for this motive. It must be before the video is played, and the person who is gifted the perk cannot share the water with anyone."

That throws away that thought. This perk is certainly interesting...but there is a time limit as well. I highly doubt the next person that gets shown the suicide video will be as lucky as me.

Monokuma then tries to snap his fingers, only to realize that he has paws. So he resorts to the simple act of clapping. The next thing I know is that I fall into the realm of unconsciousness.

* * *

I am back in my bed again. This is good since I really did not want to sleep outside of any of the rooms. With two motives, it is more dangerous to do anything in this school.

Before I could go back to sleep, the nightmare announcement plays. Monokuma does not normal shtick. So, now maybe I can finally go to sleep. Then I hear somebody knocking on my door. I drag myself to the door and open it to see that both Miyuki and Shinichi are there.

"Um, we both have to do something. Bye!" Shinichi shouts. They both bow down before rushing into the cafeteria together. That is weird, mostly because I do not see Miyuki and Shinichi together that often. We do have training scheduled around this time though, so it makes sense.

"That's something..." I comment, possibly rolling my eyes subconsciously. Even with all that has happened, some of the people here are still able to act like their old selves. I am about to close my door until I see Tsukiko run towards me. She then grabs my hand, and, just because I did not prepare myself beforehand, she is able to drag me. People in this school have a bad habit of doing stuff like this.

"I'm deeply sorry, Ayano, but there are some things we need to discuss!" Tsukiko apologizes as we run through the hallways. "Do you mind if we spend some free time together?"

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Tsukiko Oda?**_

 _ **Yes/No**_

* * *

"...Sure...?" Even if it is not the smartest to be alone with somebody in this situation, during nighttime no less, Tsukiko has an air of sanctuary around her. Something about her makes me feel safe.

I realize that the both of us are now in the library, which is almost clean. Some of the students must have been working on cleaning, which makes me feel bad for spending all of my time basically talking with everybody else.

"Oh, do you need a seat?" Tsukiko takes two chairs from the computers and places them near one of the bookcases. We both sit down, but Tsukiko does not seem interested in the books surrounding her.

"Um, do you like reading?" I ask her.

"No, not really. I prefer things that have their roots in music," she answers. It does make sense because she is a band manager. "Do you want a business card?" Tsukiko takes out one of the cards from her pocket, giving it to me. I stare at it until I put it in one of my pockets on my shorts. "Sorry, that's just an old tic of mine."

"Oh...that's okay." There is an awkward silence between the two of us, mostly caused by the events that transpired during the first trial. Tsukiko did accidentally cause Monokuma to get what he wanted and quickly execute Kazuhiko. But, you know what, I have learned from my experiences. It was not Tsukiko's fault, she was only trying to find out the truth by accidentally causing its death.

"I am truly sorry for what I have done to you, yet it was the only way." Tsukiko crosses her legs. "This is a pretty shit situation. But we must focus on not giving into the bear's demands! Screw that perk!"

"...I know that..."

"Oh, you did, this is awkward then. I guess we're both in a new situation since I never had to apologize for something like this before." Then suddenly, out of nowhere, Tsukiko pulls me closer and begins to hug me. "You know you can be honest with me."

"What?"

"You're holding yourself back, aren't you? I can tell. Trust me, my band tries to hide this kind of shit all the time," she tells me. "Especially Jun, he would always get emotional if he was separated from his wife and daughter although he would always try to hide it. Every time."

"..." I know nothing about her band since, to be honest, I do not really pay attention to current music. First Light is one of the only grunge bands left though, so maybe that means they are so good that the Committee could not deny them.

"Hey, I was not close to him or anything, but I still knew Kazuhiko was a good person..." The silence returns. "...The only way I was able to recognize him is because of his 'fashion sense', first name, and love of journalism...Why does he have a different last name? What happened to Yanagi?" Hearing Tsukiko say that makes me push away from her. Of course, she would wonder about something like that, she must have known Kazuhiko when he had his first last name!

"Why didn't you ask Kazuhiko?"

"I did, but he ignored me," she responds. That makes sense because Kazuhiko did love keeping his secrets. He did hide the secret of his article about Akita from me, I could only imagine what he would do to somebody he only knew briefly from middle school.

"...Kotori Hiraoka..."

"What does that mean?" Tsukiko is not angry but is speaking with authority. "Whose Kotori Hiraoka?"

"..." I run out of there, leaving Tsukiko all by herself. Once again, not the smartest move, but it is better than staying there. I just want to go back to my room, or even the storage closet.

* * *

Now back in the main hallway, and away from Tsukiko, I see that my door is open. Time to go to bed. Once again, I will wish that a dead body will not appear again. I see that there is a lot of activity in the cafeteria, but I ignore it. Sometimes you just want to go to sleep after having a long day.

* * *

 **Monokuma Theatre!**

How can you get mind fucked when you have no mind? Be a robot! Welcome to the world of being a robot, of being me, Monokuma! I have no brain! I love having no brain! Brains only exist to be fucked with by stupid hope and wonderful despair!

If you cease to exist, you cease to either hope or despair! You'll be nothing but then you can't watch movies. Watching movies clearly is the meaning of life! What else can 42 be? Books, radio shows, TV? Nope! Movies! Movies are true despairs, everything is hope or boring, dull neutrality. Who is stupid enough to give into the true mindfuck of neutrality?

This is rated NC-17 for a reason. Because we keep saying fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck! Fucky-fucky fuck! That's now my new favorite word, asshole! Puhuhuhu. Because that word is 69.

* * *

...I question how Monokuma Theatre exists in our heads. Perhaps Monokuma has implanted some kind of chip that allows us to view...whatever Monokuma Theatre is.

"Hello, students, it's morning. You know that already. How many times must I do this boring announcement? Can one of you just kill somebody already?" Monokuma asks. He seems to be getting impatient.

I do what I assume most of us now do when we wake up, go to the cafeteria. We all just want a normal life, but I know that I cannot achieve that anymore. Kazuhiko is not here anymore...

There is now a lot of activity in the cafeteria. I quietly open the door and see that some of the students are setting up something. Out of everybody that I could see, there is Namita, Shinichi, Miyuki, Takayuki, and Naoko. I see, surprisingly, Kira and Cassius are going into the kitchen together, carrying something covered by a sheet.

"Come!" Mirabilis comes out of nowhere, snatching me up...and I am getting used to this. This is what this school is doing to me. "We must spend some time together!"

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Rosalina...um, Mirabilis...Folium?**_

 _ **Yes?/No...Please, God, no.**_

* * *

"...Okay?" It is like something is possessing me to make stupid decisions. Mirabilis tries to carry me in her arms but realizes that I am way too heavy for her. So she just drags me to the gardens.

"Alright, now I'm gonna teach you the basics of being a magical girl, just like I did with Naoko!" Mirabilis exclaims. She is extremely proud, placing her hands on her hips and holding her chin in the air.

"..." I rather talk about Kotori with Tsukiko again.

"The first step is to accept yourself!" Mirabilis explains. "Nobody but me has passed this step." She automatically loses her composure, looking sad. "But I won't stop! I'll make somebody accept theirself!"

"..." I try to get out of there, but I see that Mirabilis is taking out her wand, causing me to stop. Something inside me tells me you do not want to get hit by that thing. Mostly because it looks heavy. "Um...maybe we can talk about something. Maybe I'll be inspired if you tell me something about yourself?"

"Heathen, are you trying to get me to expose my secrets?! Next thing you know, you'll be calling me a florist and Rosalina!" She has her wand fully out, and I decide that maybe it is best to change the subject.

"Um...um...how did you become a magical girl? How did you accept yourself?"

"I've always been a magical girl!" she shouts. This conversation is going nowhere. "But, if you want to learn the basics, I can only tell you a little! Otherwise, you'll sell me out to that monster Takayuki!" Mirabilis finally places her wand back. I take a deep breath, grateful that I will not be getting a concussion today.

"Okay..."

"But, in exchange for learning some of my secrets as a magical girl, you've to tell me something about yourself to!" she says. It reminds me of what Akita tried to do in this very garden in our small time together after the drunk incident. Akita did like the gardens, so it is sad to think about her murder started here, with Naoko nearby. Naoko must feel a little guilty for not staying any longer...

"I love anime! Anime is what inspires me! I learned Japanese to understand anime that I could only find in that language! For understanding, anime is the second step in becoming a magical girl! Understanding and enjoying classics from the likes of Sailor Moon to the cult classics like Revoluntary Girl Utena!" Her eyes begin to sparkle as she started to pose. It is the legendary Sailor Moon one, with her legs spread and her fingers forming a peace sign around her eyes...or something like that. I honestly have no idea how to describe it.

"Alright..." She must have forgotten about me telling her anything in the midst of her fangirling. There is no way I am going to remind her.

"And..." Mirabilis takes something else out from her pockets...how many things can she fit in there? It is impossible...who am I kidding? I am trying to make sense of somebody who claims to be a magical girl in a Killing Game! This is doomed to fail. Zero percent of success, resistance is futile. "I got some anime with me! The first couple of episodes of my favorite show, Cardcaptor Sakura! I can translate the Japanese perfectly for you!"

The both of us go to the library together. We sit down on some of the seats and Mirabilis places the CD in the computer. Watching the first thirteen episodes is a surprisingly calm way to spend some of our time together...except for all the times Mirabilis fangirled and went on rants about the old production company that apparently butchered the first English dub.

* * *

I return to my room, which is still unlocked, while Mirabilis joined up with the others in the cafeteria. Now I know they are planning something. They have been there all day while I watched anime. Thinking about it, I still feel horrible that everybody else is doing all this work.

"It's nighttime and whatnot. Have fun or whatever. I'm so bbbbboooorrreeeeddddd." Considering that all his students are still not murdering, Monokuma and the person controlling him must not be having a good time. Just thinking about the mastermind not having the despair they crave all so much makes me smile. That's what you get, you son of a bitch. Maybe making the motive all about time limits that are really far away and failure was not the smartest thing to do.

But it still is lonely being all by myself in the night. Perhaps because I was so tired before I did not realize it, but the night is so lonely by yourself, not being in the warmth of somebody else. It is lonely and cold. Yet I think it is cold since it is slowly getting colder outside. Thank goodness I bought my jacket since Kazuhiko would tell anybody that I am horrible with the cold. Of course, most of my legs are cold now still. I really should have worn some leggings or pants that covered all my legs, yet I did not know this was going to happen.

Before I could go to sleep, I hear that somebody is knocking on my door once again. I try to ignore the person, but they insist. I storm all the way to the door to the person that does not know manners.

"H-hello, Ayano," Kyoto says as I open the door. I take a deep breath to stop myself from yelling at him. Perhaps I am more moody than usual because I am so tired.

"Hi," I respond.

"C-can you come to the c-cafeteria?" Kyoto is red as usual. It is no secret to me that Kyoto has a crush on me since he develops one on almost every girl he meets. It is kinda awkward to think about it now considering my boyfriend is dead though. Kyoto has something that he calls the curse. That is how we meet when I kicked his ass during a hacking competition since he accidentally saw through my facade. He did not know at first, but, when we hung out a little afterward, I told him the truth.

"Sure thing." Maybe now I can finally figure out something about what some of the others were planning behind my back. Then we go there together, walking a fair distance apart.

Kyoto and I both arrive at the cafeteria, which is completely dark. Nothing can be seen. Then, seconds later, after Kyoto closes the door behind him, the light flip on.

"Surprise!" everybody else, besides Satoshi for being in a coma, shouts out. My face does not change at all. They have cleaned up the cafeteria until there are only plants in small, hard to reach areas. Besides that, there is a cake in the middle of one of the tables. "Happy birthday, Ayano Nishiki!"

"It's not my birthday." Knowing that they have failed, everybody else begins to frown, only for their expressions to change at the last moment.

"Happy...being alive day, Ayano!" they all corrected themselves. I wonder why in the world they thought it was my birthday, for it is not for awhile, but I decide to play along with them for now. I have learned the hard way that you do not mess around with this group of kids. They are all capable of murder after all. If we weren't already used to the dark atmosphere like if we did not already live in these dark times, we would be a lot more like the participants of the other Killing Games.

"...Yippee..." I try to force a smile but give up. It is actually nice to see some of the others actually enjoying themselves for once.

For most of the party, I stay in the corner, eating some cake. There are definitely groups forming between the remaining nineteen of us. The investigation team is also in corners, trying to avoid everybody and be by themselves. Miyuki and Akemi are keeping to themselves, although they are not trying to hide and talking to people who approach them. They all probably only came here to be nice, not because they wanted to. Minato is with Yasu, Tsukiko, and Mitsuru, obsessing over Mochi. Mochi seems to be flaunting his white fluff as if sensing the amount of attention he is getting. That rabbit is getting spoiled even in this environment. Everybody else is partying and having the time of their lives except for two...

"I'm getting tired of you acting all high and mighty!" Kira yells at Cassius. I am unfortunate enough to be right next to them during their billionth fight. "Can't you see that I'm the victim here!? You're just assuming I'm the thief! How can I be sure you're not lying?"

"I am part of the Jacobson family, the most famous line of jewelers from England! Before the Tragedy happened, we would always make the crowns for royalty!"

"That's before the Tragedy! This is now!" Kira shouts and tries to look Cassius directly in the eyes, only to realize that she is too short. "I was personally picked by the headmaster of the academy, Ayano Kirigiri. She's my personal client for my parent's shop!" Even though part of me just wanted to stop this out of learning more about Kira's relation to the headmaster, I almost really want this to end, so I step in.

"Can't you both be the Ultimate Jeweler?" I ask.

"No, you do not understand, girl, for there can only be one of each talent," Cassius replies. He stops calling me from my first name, so I guess Cassius is mad at me.

"Okay...perhaps that's the case...but do you two have to fight about it? How about you share the title? I actually...actually there's a book that lists everybody's name and is stated that both of you had the same talent!" Kira raises her eyebrow. A little bit of sweat falls off my forehead because of the little white lie.

"But then I'm the better jeweler!" Kira and Cassius are some of the most stubborn people I have ever meet. And I work in the Committee, which should really be renamed the Stubborn People Committee.

"Alright...there should be something that the two of you can talk about..." I think for a moment. "Um...family?"

"Family..." Kira stares longingly into the distance.

"Okay, time to butt in! Time for more people to enjoy themselves!" Namita exclaims, butting into the conversation as well. It does not surprise me that the event planner was a big part of creating this...party? I would have never guessed having this kind of party in the Killing Game after the first murder.

"Getting out," I state. Although I do stay close by, I retreat into the dark recesses of my corner.

"What?" Kira questions, clearly confused by the events transpiring around her.

"Alright, you're stuck with me! I'm gonna make the two of you stop fighting!" Namita then takes by Kira and Cassius by their ears and drag them kicking and screaming to the kitchen.

"A-Ayano, save me!" Shinichi pleads. I am shocked to see him running towards with me, with Hotaru chasing after him. She is smirking while Shinichi is too scared to even notice that Hotaru is probably just playing with him. Probably.

"Hey, come back here!"

"Run," I tell Shinichi. I nod at him, and he just stares at me. He gulps as he continues to run, going into the kitchen after the three who just did. When Hotaru reached me, I carefully place my foot underneath her, causing her to trip.

"Oh, Ayano, you're no fun." I glare at Hotaru, trying to get under her skin, but she does not seem to be affected by it. Hotaru just laughs it off before jumping onto the table once again. "Hey, Ayano, if you don't hang out with me, I might go after Shinichi again."

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Hotaru Amemori?**_

 ** _Why?/Please stop_**

* * *

"Fine. Why are you chasing Shinichi anyway?" I question her.

"He's fun to tease. Shinichi overreacts to everything and it is so much fun! C'mon, I'm not that bad." She motions me to sit on the table, so I do so. Everybody is a lot looser now, with Takara trying to help Takayuki, who is trying to eat cake with the absence of hands.

"Why do you like messing around anyway?" After I ask her, Hotaru sighs and pouts.

"I don't know. It's fun." She is strangely one of the most honest souls in this student body. Hotaru does whatever she wants, which is exactly what others do not care about. "I get on everybody's nerves because nobody wants the truth."

"That's true..." Hotaru jumps down to be on the same level as me. She is still sitting weirdly, being on her tip-toes, but Hotaru is staring directly into my eyes.

"Do you know the reason behind anything you do?" It is a simple enough question, but, for some reason, I cannot answer it. Sometimes the most simple questions are the ones with the most complex ones. Like...What's the meaning of life? Why does everybody you love die? Why does life hate you so much? What happens to people after they die. I've got a lot of unanswered questions.

"Not really..."

"Mine's to have fun! Life cannot be good until you find your own happiness! I don't give a shit about what the others think!" Now looking more closely into Hotaru's eyes, they remind me of mine. "To be honest, I wasted my childhood serving at my family's restaurant." Then I realize, they are bloodshot. Mine because of only having about two hours of sleep at best, hers possibly for others reasons. Mostly having to do with the cellar.

"What?"

"Now for another question, Ayano? Do you remember how you got your talent?" Now paying more attention, Hotaru smells like alcohol. It is overwhelmed by the rest of us smelling like literal shit, but it is still there.

"How? Umm..." I do not trust Hotaru enough for that story. Kotori decided she needed a hacker, so make one she did. Kotori, if there is a Hell, she for sure is burning down there. "Somebody...gave me classes..."

"That's not a good lie. You're really bad at lying, Ayano. Mine was found by luck! Luck! My friends, Nanami and Yoshio, bet on me getting a bullseye and so I did! And then I started to apply and win in tournaments everywhere! One of them even had your friend Kyoto and, of course, I beat his ass." Hotaru begins to laugh and is very clearly drunk. At least this time she is not tricking everybody else into becoming so...or I hope so.

"...Well, that's cool, I guess..."

"No, it's not cool! I'm a _fucking_ dart thrower! Who wants to throw darts as a living?! I can't do anything else!" Hotaru screams. She then storms off, crying all the while. Hotaru is an interesting person, especially when drunk, yet I feel like there is something more going on here.

"..." Looking around, I see most people are engaged in conversation with somebody else. There is only one person like myself and now Hotaru, and that is Kyoto. I want to escape this joint so badly, so I walk over to where he is, the other side of the room.

"Oh, h-hello, Ayano." Kyoto, upon seeing me, begins to blush, probably since I am close to him. He has a singular piece of cake, and Kyoto places it on the nearest table.

"Hey, Kyoto, do you want to blow this joint?" I ask him. He nods his head.

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Kyoto Kamui?**_

 _ **Yes/No**_

* * *

"Let's get out of here," I say. He follows me as we both open the door quietly yet quickly. Kyoto and I look to see whether or not anybody is seeing the both of us, and the coast is clear. Everybody is too focused on themselves to see the both of us make our escape.

"F-finally," Kyoto pants as we close the door. "O-out of there."

"Where should we go?" I stand tall while Kyoto is still recovering from the whole ideal. He is slightly overweight too, but I do notice that he has lost some weight from being in here.

"W-wherever you want..."

"The gardens," I smile. We both walk our way there, taking in the quiet scenery of the late night of the school. It is slightly eerily but also peaceful and beautiful. It is a rare, weird mix of emotions.

When we reach the gardens, I automatically lay down on the grass, allowing for the true beauty to envelop me. If Kazuhiko was alive, he would enjoy that party way more than I did, and that would be enough for me to stay. He would love laying down on the grass and not allow Monokuma's motives getting better of him. Even though he was the first to fall for one of them. Kyoto lays next to me.

"T-the stars are beautiful," Kyoto notes. I agree with him. Even though most are covered with trees, but the small patches are the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

"Truly..." For a long time, we just stay silent, relaxing underneath the stars. It is a nice change of pace. "You know, Cassius and Hayato found a way to make coffee."

"Really!" I move my head to see that Kyoto is smiling. He really, really likes his coffee. "Now to finally be useful!...Although when it counts, I only get in second. I'm the second in everything."

"Don't say that, Kyoto...You know, after this, let's have another competition! Time to make you a better hacker! For now, I'm Kazuhiko Hiraoka!" Taking out some of my hair, I make a pretend mustache. Dear God, I'm screaming inside. This is not like me, maybe the others are starting to rub off on me.

"I am going now." Kyoto gets up and excuses himself. I lay there for a little bit longer until I realize something. Kyoto's birthday was the first day of school. He just turned sixteen and nobody realized it. His sweet sixteen present was being thrown into a Killing Game.

"Kyoto!" I run out of there, almost tripping over myself.

* * *

Knowing that most people will there, my first stop is the cafeteria. Kyoto is unlikely to there, but maybe somebody knows where he went. I feel like at least one person telling him the simple phrase happy birthday will make him happier.

I notice that he is not there, yet something else grabs my attention. Kira and Cassius talking...and not fighting. What is this madness? Is Namita truly a better mediator than Akita? Okay, everybody is a better mediator than Akita. I am shocked that any of us bought into that lie, but something about it made it seem so believable in the moment.

"Oh, you got the Hope Diamond in your mansion! That's so cool!" Kira's eyes begin to sparkle.

"You're the one who is the personal jeweler to many people on the top of the Committee, so I guess we have the same footing, commoner." Are my eyes deceiving me? Is Cassius actually modest? Are these two actually having a conversation out of respect? Though Cassius still calls her commoner, it is leagues beyond thief.

"How in the world?"

"You know, everybody can get along when they realize they've things in common," Namita says. Although that is not always true, I can see where Namita is coming from.

"Do you know where Kyoto is?" I ask her.

"No, why?"

"I need to go. Bye." I get out of there, and Namita makes no attempt to stop me. She must understand that I am doing things that are more important than the party she probably threw for me. I will have to thank her later.

* * *

I am back in the hallway where I realize that Takara is there too. He is about to enter his room, but, before he can, I touch the shoulder, getting his attention.

"Do you know where Kyoto is?" Before I can stop myself, I realize I am verbally asking a question to a deaf person. Takara just stares at me, confused. He then takes out his notepad and gives me it. In the smallest handwriting I can muster, I write my previous question. He answers me by writing down Kyoto returned to his room.

"Back to his room?" The words fall naturally out of my mouth as I write them down on the piece of paper.

 _He is probably asleep. Maybe you can wait until tomorrow._

Sighing, I take Takara's advice. "Do you want to spend some time together instead?" I have figured out in the course of this conversation that I have a bad habit I did not previously know of.

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Takara Miyagi?**_

 ** _Yes/No_**

* * *

Takara smiles as he nods his head. _Could we perhaps go to the library? I like it there._

As his request, we make our way to the library. I still feel oddly safe even with both of the motives in play and being out alone with one person during the night. If I end up dead one day, I would not be shocked. The last person Monokuma called the protagonist did not end up in that great of a situation. She is six feet under.

We actually go up to the upper library, which I notice has been cleaned up. Sometime later I have to find the books with all of the new information I have gained. Both of us sit on the floor, cross-legged, with the notebook between us.

 _Do you want to learn sign language?_

I nod my head and Takara smiles. Takara then takes four of his fingers. With this four fingers, he lays them gently on his palm. His thumb rests on top of his index finger. His other hand writes down the letter 'a' on the piece of paper. I follow after him which he follows up with a thumbs up.

The next letter is y, followed by another a. It does not take me long to realize that we are spelling out my name. When that is done, I motion Takara to give me his writing utensil and begin writing something. A question that got inspired by Hotaru out of all people.

"How did you find out about your talent?" It is simple but not that hard. Most of these will involve straight answers, even if some of them won't be pretty. Kazuhiko would want me to know my classmates better, after all, and that is why I am spending all this time with them. I think I have beaten the record in all of these games of who spends the most free time with other classmates and not sleeping or solving mysteries. Then I give him the writing utensil back.

 _Oh, one day I took my dad's metal detector and found a plastic box. And then I kept finding things, making to realize I have a real talent._

It is truly a simple story. In a situation like this, having simplicity is something to be cherished. I could feel myself smiling. Takara tries to laugh, but no sound comes out. He then returns to a neutral expression.

 _We should leave soon. It is really late. Time to go to sleep._

Takara takes his notebook before trying to leave. I grab onto his shoulder, causing him to look back at me. With my hand, I place up one of my fingers. Takara gives me back his notebook.

"Why did you ask about soap operas before?"

 _Oh, my friend Misao is an actress for one. Hey...if you do not mind, can we hang out tomorrow too? We should try to explore the forest again._

I nod my head. Takara leaves, leaving me all alone in the upper room once again. Automatically afterward, I begin to search through all the books. It takes me quite awhile, yet I do find the yearbook and talent book right next to each other. I take both of them from the library and take them with me to my room. It is good to have these two books nearby me since I truly do not trust anybody else with them yet.

* * *

Now, back in my room, I place the two books onto the floor near my bed. I would try to fit them on my bed, yet I can barely fit on here myself. Sometimes being tall is not the best thing to be.

It takes me some time to finally close my eyes. I actually practice what Mitsuru tried to teach me. It is strangely relaxing. My constant thoughts about Kazuhiko stopped right before bed, which is both a good and bad thing. Should I be sadder...?

* * *

 **Monokuma Theatre!**

Let's give it everything we got! It's punishment time~

 **Legacy Over**

 **Ayano has been found guilty**

 **TIME FOR PUNISHMENT**

I feel a something clamp around my head, and my first instinct is to try to break it off. Though, before I could, I feel my body getting pulled by a fierce weigh somewhere. The clamp feels heavy around my neck. I can barely breathe this damn thing on.

The next thing I know, however, I am in a strange setting. I see various icons for computer apps around me. Turning my head makes me realize that I am inside the computer. A Monokuma is at the other side of the screen, looking bored. Then a big mouse begins to chase me. There is nowhere to run, so I look around, frantic. The top of the computer, it seems, has a hatch. And the apps are on one side of the screen in some sort of ladder except for one, the trash bin.

 **Computer Virus**

 **Ultimate Hacker Ayano Nishiki's Execution: EXECUTED**

Rushing, I climb on the first app, and then on the other. I climb faster than I ever did before. The arrow is right behind me, clicking all the previous apps away and putting them in the garbage bin. Now on the last one, I hold onto the hatch, trying to get it open. Then the arrow deletes the block that was supporting me. Now I hang onto the hatch, swaying my body back and forth in a last-ditch effort to get it open.

The arrow is right behind me, and, realizing that this is Monokuma's trap, I decided to let go. Anything is better than getting captured by that arrow. This is the death that Monokuma does not want me to have. I am not allowing him the last laugh considering his actions toward Kazuhiko. But, before I could go spat on the ground, the arrow catches me by my hood.

Now the arrow is slowly dragging me over to the garbage bin, I begin to struggle to no use. Nothing would let the arrow let go. I begin to cry and scream like a little child. It is no use. The arrow still drops me into the garbage bin. Realizing that I am still alive, I see that the garbage bin transports me to a room of white. All the apps from before surrounding me.

At the moment I stand up, however, since I had fallen down apparently, I see something come out of the ground. Seconds later I am impaled with spears from all over the room.

 ** _Ayano Nishiki, the Ultimate Hacker, has been executed. May the world rejoice!_**

* * *

"Morning. Yeah, bye...this is unbearable...please kill each other today..." I did not pay attention to the relatively short announcement, as I am suddenly overcome with nausea. I run all the way to the bathroom where I throw up.

"What was that?" I stare at myself in the mirror for awhile. Everything looks like shit. Though I guess that is how things are. Nobody, even Cassius, cares anymore, so I do the one thing I can. Go to the cafeteria. Somebody still needs to say happy birthday to Kyoto.

* * *

 **Fast update is fast. Yes, I just uploaded yesterday, but most of this chapter was already done and I am just so excited for the rest of this daily life since the free times are finally over. So. Many. Events. I spoil you all. (I also think now I mean every two chapter of FoD before DiOS)**

 **Yeah, I'm also gonna be busy real soon after this since I'm working on a film, y'all. I'm an actress finally getting a job. And college. I am also applying for part-time jobs, so, when I get one, this will update much less often. Because I need money because college makes me broke.**

 **Time for some reviews~**

 **TheRoseShadow21-That is me in a nutshell. Sometimes it takes me a couple of months, sometimes only a day. The wonders of Requiem. You guys have such a bad opinion on Monokuma. He may treat the kids badly but they already have a shit water supply. Thanks so much.**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Emilynn being interesting before introduction. That's how you know she's the Ultimate Lucky Student. The mystery thickens (right, Rose). Watson...that last name totally doesn't mean anything. Now a part of me wishes for the flood motive. Imagine the chaos. Hey, you kids at finally clean, but now everything is flooded and dead. Yea.**

 **Harukawa Ayame-AngiexMirabilis...stop me. Yes, please, feed me, Ayame. Yep, in the original script, there was actually a motive to have some of them randomly disappear to Requiem knows where. Mitsuru acted differently with Akita since Akita was a part of her gang, nobody else is. Locket squad unites! Naoko: The Ultimate Runner. Akita, we found the Ultimate Runner. You're partially right. MYSTERIES FOR YOU! Thanks. Now sssppppaaaacccceeeeeee (this is the new meme and I love it)**

 **0B13-KyotoxNaoko: UselessShipping. I'll never stop. XD I actually lowkey ship it too. Especially because height differences! I love me some height differences (wow, I wonder why Kazuhiko and Ayano had one). Here's another post! We got nightmare executions!**

 **YOLOtheWriter-Thanks so much. ^.^ That's so sweet. CassiusxMirabilis: ChaosShipping or ForeignShipping. Monokuma is like he can't say or write these names, no Killing Game for you. Run, Naoko, from the Well Intention Extremist Mitsuru! But Monokuma has multiple bodies still. Thanks. Don't trust me with Emilynn or any character for the matter. SSSSPPPPPPPPPAAAAAACCCCCCCCEEEEEEEEEE!**

 **AnonChan1-The plot thhiiiccckkkeennnnsssss. Ayano needs some hugs. Tsukiko hugs. I used to wake up early but then puberty happened. Goodbye sleeping schedule. Yasu will become important later, trust me. Naoko is fourteen. XD (Ayano Kirigiri, fourteen is not a child, stop viewing that as such) Ayano gets one of my cookies for trying. It is the best moment in the entire series. *makes fire comment, gets a water motive* Whoever is on Naoko's motive video deserves that fate. I do. :) Thanks.**

 **SanityRequiem-Oh, hi me.**

 **QueenofChocolateWinx-Just wait. *evilly laughs* Kira and Cassius are now BFFs. Namita is actually the secret Ultimate Mediator. (hey, look, remnants of the past where Akita was actually just a nice girl with an edge and actually the Ultimate Mediator where she did the same exact thing)**


	22. Chapter 2-5

**Chapter 2-5: What a Wonderful World**

* * *

Quickly, I sprint into the cafeteria. Having this much energy surprises me, especially because it is so early in the morning and having a nightmare about my apparent execution. Perhaps this is what having a goal feels like. Perhaps this why Kazuhiko finally became optimistic in this bleak world we live in. Of course, that optimism ended up being his downfall, or maybe his willingness to believe in others finally, or stubbornness in his own ideals, but the point still stands. How I ever ended up with an idiot like him is still beyond my understanding.

"Oh, Nishiki-san, why are you running?" Miyuki inquires as she opens up the doors to the cafeteria.

"I need to tell Namita something," I answer. Namita, although she was wrong about my birthday, is good at making events. These are nowhere near the level of the ones back at home due to the lack of resources, but I am shocked that we are able to do something as simple as throwing a birthday party at all. I remember that my family tried to throw a party in their Killing Game, that ended up with somebody being murdered.

"Huh, you call?" Popping her head over Miyuki's, Namita looks at me from the other side of the door.

"Is Kyoto or anyone else in there?"

"Only Cassius and Kira," Namita answers. "You singled out Kyoto? Something happening with him?" Namita is somebody who is decent at logic, so it is no surprise that she noticed Kyoto's name. However, it is a strange group of people gathered in there. Tsukiko is usually with Namita, so I wonder what is the reason for Tsukiko being absent. And it really seems that Cassius and Kira are truly getting along now. What did Namita do? Stick them in a boiling hot room all night to prove who is the better jeweler?

"I will tell you more once we are inside," I whisper. I see that some of the other students' doors are opening, which means we do not have that much time left. Kyoto does like getting up early after all...with the help of caffeine.

"Okay." Miyuki and Namita move out of the way while I head inside.

"Can we go somewhere more private...like the kitchen?" I question. The two girls face each other and then nod. They follow me to the kitchen as I hear the footsteps of the early birds enter the cafeteria. When we enter the kitchen, I see that Cassius has followed us and left Kira behind.

"Cassius...sure, you can come. Just make sure you do not do anything stupid," I sigh. Thinking about it, I really have changed since I first got here. Then I only talked in one word phrases or in violent outbursts. Who knew, sometimes having your life torn apart and fucking logic can make you a better person. Well...Kazuhiko did...

"...A-Ayano...Peasant! How many times must I tell you that I come from a family of respect? If you make a noble promise, then he will keep his word!"

"Um, I think you should just ignore him," Namita sighs. At that moment, I hear somebody, most likely Tsukiko, call out for Namita. "Sorry Ayano, but I've to go. Duty calls!" And then I am left with people that I guess can be described as polar opposites of each other. I guess Miyuki will probably relay this information onto Namita afterwards. She seems to be a lot like me, drifting from group to group, but she definitely spends the most time with the two leaders.

"I shall not be ignored, Namita!"

"Lord Cassius, I regret to inform you that Namita can no longer hear you. Perhaps you should go outside to file your complaint with her?" Following Miyuki's advice, Cassius storms out into the cafeteria. "We should also go somewhere more quiet. The kitchen usually has a lot of people go inside and out."

"..." I think out my options. Although Miyuki is one of the most trustworthy people here, she still is extremely powerful and could be putting on a front. She is also one of the only people that I can see to fall for the motive, as she seems to be a person too selfless for their own good. I know that this is stupid, and there is a chance of me being killed, but somehow I feel safe with Miyuki. "How about the library? We have not done my training either."

"You make a good point. Alright, we shall discuss it there." Using the back entrance through the cellar and to the pool, we make our way to the library with no interruptions. Nobody really goes to this part of school this early in the morning, for most only go to the cafeteria or gardens. Most likely because those are the places that are the most clean...and that we are getting used to this place. The Committee has already made all of us used to Hell.

* * *

The first thing I see in this section of the school is that there is a ladder right next to the staircase. It must be for something, so, like always, I will have to question somebody later about that. Miyuki purposefully goes out of her way to avoid going under it, so maybe, as an urban legend herself, she believes in things like that giving you back luck.

When we reach the library door, Miyuki opens it. A surprising scene plays out in front of us. Kyoto is reading some books on the library and stationed in front of one of the computers. I notice that my hacking book is in his hands along with a cup of coffee.

"Close the door, Miyuki!" I try to whisper, but it only sounds like I am a smoker attempting to shout. Miyuki, however, still closes the door. Kyoto is too focused on his job to notice us.

"Hm, what is happening between you and Kyoto?" she questions me.

"Listen, I remembered that he just turned sixteen on the first day of school. I want to surprise him with a party...you know, why did you think it was my birthday?"

"Look at this." Miyuki motions to me to come closer as she pulls out her handbook. "From our deductions, it is most likely the end of August right now, possibly the beginning of September." She pulls up the student tag and then my name.

 **Name: Ayano Nishiki**

 **Talent: Ultimate Hacker**

 **Height: 6 feet, 2 inches**

 **Weight: 180 pounds**

 **Birthdate: August 20th**

 **Chest Size: 90 cm**

 **BMI: 18**

 **Blood Type: AB**

 **Likes: Kazuhiko Hiraoka**

 **Dislikes: Kazuhiko Yanagi**

"What!? T-that's not my birthday..."

"We crosschecked with most of the other students and the information seems to be correct, at least for birthdays...of the ones that are listed. Some of us are still growing, and most are losing weight due to stress."

"..."

"There are weird things though. For example, Akita's does not mention her talent," Miyuki explains. "Some of the information, such as blood type is wrong, while some of it is outright missing like I stated earlier. This mastermind seems to be a lot more careless than the ones before him."

"But...why is Kazuhiko stated as both my dislike and like?" I ask. Miyuki is silent for a second, probably thinking of the best thing to say.

"People change I guess...um, Tsukiko told me about Kazuhiko. About his last name changing? Perhaps it is not liking the past," Miyuki answers as she sighs. "I shall excuse myself. Make sure Kyoto does not go into the cafeteria while I talk to the others." She then leaves. Shortly after she begins to walk away, she coughs.

"...Okay..." Even though I am worried about Miyuki, I know she can take care of herself. I open up the door to see that Kyoto is still doing his work. So I walk up to him slowly, until I am close to breathing down his neck. "Um, Kyoto?"

"A-Ayano!" Kyoto jumps out of his chair, blushing. He somehow still keeps the coffee inside his cup as he almost falls to the floor, correcting himself in the last possible minute.

"Kyoto, this is some complex code," I comment. Not only is it the usual binary, a bunch of boring 0s and 1s, there seems to be some kind of code or secret message to it. Only if I knew more about making code other than taking it down. Kyoto tries to get up, but jumps again when I get closer to him to more closely examine the code. He accidentally presses some keys on the keyboard. Instead of ruining all of his hard work, it leads us to a different screen, one for a password. "Did we just accidentally find some sort of zero day exploit? Wow."

"I was looking for some kind of vulnerability or back door all night...I really am useless..."

"Not the time. We need the password. Only if I could hack it more for it," I say. "Say, do you even know where this leads to?"

"No..." Kyoto still has a ways to go with his hacking skills. Still it is impressive that he has improved since the first time I meet him, where it only took me a couple of seconds to defeat him. He still needs to learn how to find back doors faster and exploit them for all their worth. Gosh, now I am really actually sounding like a white hat hacker.

"Hmmm...I'm pretty sure I know what the password is." I type in the word despair. It does not work. "Never mind." Afterwards, an 'I' icon appears underneath the box to enter the word. Kyoto and I stare each other in the eyes and nod our heads in unison. Then he clicks the button.

"It's a hint of some kind," he tells me. "Welcome Ayano Nishiki, the password is the name of the mastermind."

"What?" Taking a closer look at it, the message does, in fact, address me directly. The mastermind must have known I would have figured out a way to hack the system even with my action.

"Hmmm..." Kyoto begins by entering Akita's name. It does not work. Then the names of the people connected to her only to get similar results. "Looks like Akita really was innocent." He takes a sip out of his cup of coffee.

* * *

For the next thirty minutes or so, we typed in names of people that we knew of. First the students in the Killing Game, including ourselves, then people connected to the mCommittee. Kotori's name even drew a blank. This is not like most password systems, for it seems like you have a countless amount of guesses towards the password.

"...Maybe we should do it for the other classes," I comment. "Wait here..." Although it would be helpful to have the yearbook, I debate on whether or not I should trust Kyoto with the information. I take a deep breath and decide that this is too big of a shot to throw just because of my paranoia.

* * *

On the way to my room, I notice that Tsukiko and Hayato are in the halls, talking to each other. I guess Tsukiko is really becoming friends with all the most capable people in our class.

"...I will remain neutral in this Killing Game. Sorry, Oda-san, but I must refuse your offer." Hayato then opens up his door and goes into his room. Tsukiko is clearly planning something, but I have no idea what. Hopefully it does not involve the act of murder. Sure, there is a chance, but I should really stop thinking in percentages and live in the moment. It would be what Kazuhiko told me to do. Live...and find whoever Kindra is.

"Oh, Ayano, hello," Tsukiko says. "I am sorry for not telling you about what the handbook said, but I guess we should have really checked somehow first. Most of the birthdays are missing, however, like Kyoto's."

"Good to know...excuse me, I must do something." I wave to Tsukiko before entering my own door. Quickly, I hide the book that lists all the talents underneath my jacket and run back towards the library.

* * *

Next thing I know, however, is that there is now a new interesting group of people in the gardens. All of them are giving all of their attention to Mochi. Yasu, of course, is there to make sure nobody accidentally or purposefully hurts the rabbit. That rabbit is literally some of my classmate's hope. Even with all of this, I prefer nothingness. Nobody will hate you if you do not pick a side or do anything.

Yasu is with Mirabilis, Mitsuru, Hotaru, Minato...and Satoshi. Minato is the only person that is petting Mochi, while the others just watch. They are soft with the rabbit, petting his fur in the way he most likes it. Or that is what I presume because the rabbits looks pretty happy.

"Whoa! What's he doing!?" Minato stops as Mochi starts to jump around. He kicks his feet is the air and goes everywhere.

"Should I purify Minato for causing this?" Mirabilis questions as she pulls out her wand of terror. Everybody around her, including Mitsuru, start to slowly inch away. Well, except for Hotaru, whose eyes sparkle at the sight as she closely examines it.

"Please don't..." Minato disappears from sight. Most likely getting lost in the forest again. It is a miracle that nobody has died in there or has committed suicide...well, Akita did stab herself over twenty times and I got brainwashed by that video...whatever! Kazuhiko would not want me to die! My true emotions can be expressed once I leave this dump of a place!

"I just got out of a coma! Spare me!" Satoshi shouts. He is covered by bandages, but everything else seems to be okay now with Satoshi. Only thing we need to do now is bring Miyuki here so he can attempt to flirt with her.

"Kids, calm down, Mochi is only doing binkies. He likes ya..." Yasu starts to laugh before they suddenly fall down.

"Yasu, are you okay!?" Mitsuru quickly checks Yasu's pulse, forgetting about their fainting spells. Everybody starts to freak out and run in circles. It is like Yasu was the only person keeping them all sane. Meanwhile Mochi continues doing his...binkies thing? I honestly know nothing about rabbits. The chaos, though, allows me the chance to escape without being spotted.

* * *

Finally I make it to the library. I open up the door to realize that the rest of the investigation team is now with Kyoto. Of course, I try to leave the room, but Takayuki notices me. He stares with his bright blue, yet very bloodshot, eyes.

"Um, Ayano, who is Kotori Hiraoka?" Naoko asks me. Kyoto must have told them about that name, as I asked him to write it down due to the very obvious thing on my arm.

"..." Takara tries to get out his notebook, but he realizes that it is gone. Would not surprise me if one of the other classmates stole it again. Most likely Namita.

"She does not have to tell us," Shinichi says. Shinichi has officially become my second favorite member of this team of idiots, only after Kyoto. Though Kyoto has a pretty good lead still. "If she does, then we should return with information of equal value. That is the only way that is fair."

"We have more important things to discuss. Here." Before Takayuki or Naoko could open up their mouths again, I slam the talent book down on the table. They all look at it. I open up the book and start from the last class.

"...Mei Yamazaki..." Takayuki questions. "So she really got a talent!" He begins to laugh, which reminds everyone that he really does know a lot about Akita. A lot of information that might kill him.

* * *

After entering all the names from the fourth and second classes with no results, we begin with the dreaded first class. A class filled to the brim with students. To be honest, none of us really wanted to enter fifty names that would probably end with no match, yet we decided to do it anyway.

"Shiro Amari...Ultimate Composer..." I swear to God, Shiro, if you are the mastermind, I am getting out of this forest to track your ass down. Well, we do live literally right next to each other, so that would not be the hard part. Even if you are in space, light years away from Earth, I would track your ass.

"No," Naoko says. Takayuki is literally almost asleep, but Kyoto sacrifices some of his coffee for him.

* * *

We continue down the long, long list of names until we hit something.

"Kaneshiro Kazuma...Ultimate Brainwasher...why does the Committee have somebody like this?" I ask. Even though I was practically falling asleep beforehand, like Takayuki who is actually now asleep, something about this name seems odd to me. And talent. Naoko and Shinichi, who were out for a little bit, return with various supplies in their hands. Just simple things like coffee, blankets, etc because we are probably staying here for awhile. Even perhaps after Kyoto's party has ended.

Poor Takara just wanted his notebook back. He signs something to Shinichi, which is probably asking for that, yet Shinichi shakes his head. Takara goes into one of the corners of the room to mope like a little kid denied some candy.

Naoko places a blanket on Takayuki before returning to Kyoto and I, followed by Shinichi. Kyoto begins to type in the name, and none of us are really paying attention anymore. Now this is more like checking off whoever cannot be the mastermind. The bad thing is, however, that there is still the classes from the first school after this. Then there is a loud noise from outside.

"I should check, the rest of you just got here," I volunteer. Before anybody could object, I rush to the door to see what lays on the other side. I open it to see the group with Yasu earlier, minus Satoshi, working on something. Minato found their way back to the group once again. Then I realize that Yasu is on the top of the ladder with a hammer in their hands. All of them are probably fixing the floorboards!

"Oh, Ayano, how's it going?" Minato is effortlessly holding up about seven boards of uneven boards obviously cut from the trees outside.

"Good, I guess? What are you doing?"

"Just fixing the floorboards," they smile. "Hotaru is surprisingly good at cutting down trees." Then there is another sound, which I notice is not from Yasu. Is that seriously the sound of Hotaru becoming the true Ultimate Lumberjack?

"A-Ayano!" Naoko shouts. Hearing her voice being that loud is surprising to me. Naoko is usually quiet, and, to be honest, really hard to hear. She has the bad habit of mumbling.

"Coming! Bye, Minato!" Running, I make my way back into the library.

* * *

...What in the world?

"There you are, Ayano, you take too long," complains a girl inside the computer. It is Izumi. I remember her from my dreams, but that is about it. Something from my memory is missing, I'm sure of it. There are two questions though. What is missing? And who took it, the Committee, the True Despairs, or a third, unknown neutral party? And, if we keep that line of questioning, which one does the mastermind belong to?

"U-um, do you know what's happening?" Naoko asks. I see that Takayuki is awake now as well. It would be pretty hard to go asleep with all the noise, though he has kept his blanket on.

"Yeah, w-what's going on here?" Shinichi adds-on. He is dangerously close to the computer, examining every inch of the screen. Kyoto is content with his coffee, yet even he seems to be dumbfounded.

"The mastermind is some random prick who goes by the name Kaneshiro Kazuma," Izumi informs us. "He also has to be somewhere inside the school. Keep your eyes open. No matter what. Only Ayano is to be trusted, okay? The rest of you can easily be him!" Seconds later, she disappears, only leaving a video behind.

"...Kaneshiro Kazuma...?"

"I heard that name before," Mitsuru explains as she enters the room with Hotaru, carrying various types of wood, behind her. We all jump, knowing that we were figured out. "Akita mentioned him sometimes. Said he was a friend of that Hideyoshi son of a bitch."

"Hideyoshi? The Ultimate Clown?" I try to piece it all together. How do all of these puzzle pieces fit? We even got the name of the mastermind, yet Izumi made it clear that the mastermind is here with us. One of the students. What is going on here? Why is Izumi even inside the computer? I thought only people like me were able to see her...what am I thinking? I don't remember Izumi from before yet I do. Is this yet another messed up memory? Only if Kazuhiko was still here...wait, is this what Kazuhiko found out!?

"Puhuhu, I'm here, bastardly students!" Monokuma pops out from underneath the floorboards. We all stare at him. "One, two, three~"

"Wh-"

"No talking during the ride," Monokuma states. "Now this is something new of mine, so please enjoy." He pulls out something that looks like a flashlight and shines it into our eyes.

* * *

...I wake up in my room. It surprises me that I stayed asleep, even after that nightmare. If I had not told Miyuki about Kyoto's birthday the night before, things might have been different. Then I would have to actually get out of my room and talk to people.

"...Maybe I should stay inside until their done..." Looking out of the corner of my eye, I notice that the talent book is missing but not the yearbook. I begin to freak out, but then calm myself down. Monokuma probably came inside my room again and took it.

So I decide to go asleep again since there really is not anything else to do except for work or looking through the yearbook. I think I already spent more than enough of my free time talking about random things with my classmates. Hopefully I will not be executed again.

* * *

 **Monokuma Theatre!**

 _Love, what's it good for? Reproducing and shoving babies out of your vajaja...wait, that's not how it's said. It's vagina. Nah...the world's too populated. Having more than one human is way too much. Why can't humans just love themselves and not others? Because everybody hates themself in one way or another. Since all humans are truly pieces of shit. Bear shit. Bears, especially the robotic, loveable kind, created humans in the image of our dear messiah Junko Enoshima! Monokuma is love, Monokuma is life. Most importantly, Monokuma is outdated memes, the best of memes. HOPE BAGELS!_

 _Meanwhile humans are like lame knock knock jokes. Seriously. Get better jokes, people, or I'm leaving. And you don't want me to leave, rrriiiggghhhhttt? That means you would get out of here alive! Who would want that?_

* * *

"A-Ayano!" Naoko shouts. "Can you go inside the library please!? Distract K-Kyoto ppllleeeaaassseee." At that moment, I realize that I accidentally left my door open, yet Naoko is still outside my room, begging. She even bows.

"Sure, Naoko," I answer.

"T-thank you! I'll pay you back one day!" Naoko begins to smile as she rushes in the direction to the cafeteria. I sigh and make my way to the library. Something inside me is telling me to go that way. Goddammit, I really am becoming Kazuhiko.

* * *

It is an uneventful walk. I realize that everything is still the same, with the floorboards being still gone and the second floor uncrossable. The library door still in rotting wood, and I have to place my jacket sleeve over my hand to be comfortable enough to touch it.

"Kyoto?" I look around the library to see that nobody is there. So the next thing to do is the upstairs one. Making my way up there, I see that Kyoto is in fact there with the talent book.

"A-Ayano!" Kyoto jumps when he notices me. He is at the last page of the book, where the fourth class's names are written down. Kyoto also has a coffee mug in his hands that is only half full.

"How did you get that book?" I sit down right next to him, making him blush.

"O-o-oh...oh yeah, it was just in the middle of the room," he answers. "I-I thought it was weird, s-so it checked it out." His finger is directly on Emilynn's name. "T-this girl is somehow a lucky student...and, not to mention, a McKay."

"Why do I get the feeling the Committee just wanted to examine luck like the Sterling Committee...oh my lord..." I do not know how I did not realize it, but American Restoration Committee is a lot like the Sterling Committee. The only thing is that, however, one popped up in Japan due to the need for research while the other started in the United States of America to create a government that would unify the entire world no matter the costs.

"Sterling Committee?"

"Yeah, the people that created the Izuru Kamukura Project..." Kyoto stares at me while I stare at him back. I just now realize I spilled the beans of what happened to my father to someone who has no idea what I am talking about.

"Izuru Kamukura? Wasn't he a Remnant of Despair?" he questions me. I stay silent, unmoving, praying for something to stop this conversation. Sweat falls down my forehead.

"Heya, you two lovebirds, everybody's waiting in the cafeteria~" Hotaru screams both of us. I have no idea how she made it up here without any sound, especially with heels. Perhaps that is related to dart throwing?...Ayano, how's having nimble feet in anyway related to _dart throwing_?

"Yes, let's go," I respond. I grab onto Kyoto's hand and make my way to the cafeteria as quickly as possible. Even if I do not like Hotaru, I owe her one for saving my butt.

* * *

We both arrive at the doors of the cafeteria. Kyoto is as confused as ever, yet is not questioning anything. Perhaps because his crush is happening to hold his hand. Poor Kyoto, he does not realize I'll never move on from Kazuhiko.

Going inside the room, I see that it is pitch black. I perhap myself and let go of Kyoto's hand. The lights suddenly turn on with all of our classmates, including Hotaru who entered the door at the last possible second, surrounding us. Even Satoshi is back up, but is still pretty banged up. Kyoto, scared out of his mind, tries to jump into my arms, yet I move out of the way, causing him to fall onto the ground.

"Happy birthday!" they all shout out at once. Kyoto is completely still.

"W-w-what...?" He stays still for awhile longer. All of the other students start to look at each other. Kyoto then starts to tear up. "...T-thank you..." Then everybody makes their way towards him for a eighteen-person group hug.

"You don't need to thank anyone, Kyoto," Tsukiko smiles. "All you need to do now is enjoy yourself."

Even with all the death that is happen, with the horrible world we all live in, and all the lives lost to despair, we all find it in ourselves to laugh. Laugh because we knew that this happiness was not going to last long.

* * *

Once again, I watch the party at a distance. Monokuma has not appeared since he announced that really weird motive, so most people are happy right now...

Why would somebody purposefully die just to give somebody else water? Sure, it sucks having to live without being able to bathe, yet the worse we have got so far is the mid-way to Survivor bad. Survivor, it was an old TV show from before the Tragedy, and Kazuhiko showed me a couple seasons. We have more than them, yet the contestants there were not in a Killing Game. They chose to be there, and there was a large money award for winning. And fame, whether it be good or bad...

...Why am I thinking about an old TV show at a time like this? Most of it I have been spending watching over Kyoto. He is certainly happier spending time with the friends he has made in a place like this. He is fooling around like some kind of kid with Takara, Shinichi, Naoko, and Takayuki. Mirabilis is still trying to purify Takayuki...and failing.

Mitsuru is with Yasu and Minato, still petting and freaking out about Mochi, who loves all the attention he is getting. Tsukiko, Miyuki, Namita, and Hayato are all talking while sitting at one of the tables and drinking something out of their cups. If it is alcohol, we are so screwed. Especially because Tsukiko cannot take her liquor.

Kira and Cassius are with Akemi and Satoshi. The four of them went into the kitchen and have stayed there. I hear lots of chatting from inside...and laughing, so they much also be having fun. Of course, that only leaves one person to be unaccounted for...

"Heya, Ayano, what's hanging?" Hotaru asks.

"Hotaru...thanks for the save earlier."

"Don't mention it. Us women have to work together," she laughs. "You know, Aya-"

"Please don't use that name." Seriously, you just used my real name _seconds_ before this.

"Ayano, I'm sorry about before. You know how people get when they get drunk?...Yeah, I do...it's not the nicest thing. Just learn how to deal with it." And, just as fast as she came, Hotaru disappears into the kitchen. Hopefully they will not let her near the cellar, yet Satoshi is the Ultimate Bartender.

"Um, A-Ayano, would you like to be with us?" Because I was so focused on Hotaru, I did not notice that Kyoto walked up to me. He is blushing like usual.

"..." Every second I think about it, the more red Kyoto's face becomes. "...Sure."

"R-really? I didn't expect that..." That moment the lights suddenly turned off...the lights turned off...is there an air conditioner or irons nearby to cause a power surge? No...what's going on here? There's gonna be a murder, there's gonna be a murder, one of my other friends will die. Die, die, die, die, die, die-

"Does anybody know where the light switch is?" Tsukiko is trying to keep herself together, yet it is clear that she is panicking. Even if nobody else here knows about the Jabberwock Killing Game, they still are smart enough to realize how dangerous this is.

"Oda-san, it does not work!" Miyuki informs. I hear the door from the kitchen open and everybody from inside enter the cafeteria.

"Why did the lights turn off? Did one of you idiots cause this?" Akemi questions. Just be the next to die, Akemi, for nobody likes you. Least of all me.

"Guys, calm down!" Namita orders. And, just before chaos erupts, the lights flicker back on. One of the tables in the cafeteria now has nineteen cups. Ten on one side, nine on the other. The middle has a note. Takara takes the note and hands it over to Tsukiko.

"Thank you," Tsukiko begins to read the note. "Attention, students, let's play a game. Each student takes one cup and drinks what is inside...That's all that it says..."

Just like that, the atmosphere dies. Happiness is now replaced with the very essence of despair.

* * *

 **Nobody's dead. :D You guys have to wait, but, you know, there's another Guess the Victim poll up. That says something.**

 **Now I'm just gonna see your reactions. Because, yes, Akita did mention Kaneshiro. Dun dun dun.**

 **Now for reviews~**

 **Harukawa Ayame-*eats the cookie* Think about it. Tsukiko, stop giving us more mysteries and acting more like a protagonist than the actual protagonist. We shall create all the crack ships. I'm creating ShuichixTsukiko with nobody able to stop my madness. *evilly laughs* Namita, don't steal Chiyo's talent, she's too dead to protect it. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Totally not one of the reasons why I did that...well, I think most people here have I learned I love creating confusing dream sequences. Thanks. ^.^ Ssssppppaaaccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!**

 **Scissor-Snipper-You noticed. :) Let's see, there were TWELEVE. I kinda went overboard. Because I love dream symbolism. I've a grandmother who is a dream expert...I was doomed. DOOMED I TELL YOU!**

 **AnonChan1-Ayano has no luck, especially when it comes to showers and love. Monokuma is always a weirdo. RosalinaxNaoko is now a ship and I'm calling it MagicalGirlShipping without anybody stopping me. I watched it in my childhood. ^.^ Kyoto needs all the eighteen person hugs. I'm not telling anything. Kyoto, do your work. Naoko actually told Akita that she's fourteen in her freetime event. Poor Naoko, that's the worse free time event.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Monokuma decided to screw with Ayano. Think about the motive. Think real hard about all the different possibilities. Thanks. ^.^**

 **QueenofChocolateWinx-Yes, yes they did. JEWELSHIPPING BEGIN!**

 **ShadedLyht-Welcome back to this hellish rollercoaster of emotions we play. Thanks. :D Ayano leveled up thanks to all of you.**


	23. Chapter 2-6

**Chapter 2-6: Memento Mori**

* * *

The next thing I know all of us have taken our spot, ready to face whatever cruel joke Monokuma is playing right now. Kyoto cannot let go of my arm...maybe that is why I feel more relaxed than before. At least somebody is here with me. If Kyoto kills somebody too, though, I am officially quiting life.

All of us are like little soliders sitting down for the last meal before an important battle. On my side, the order is Takayuki, Satoshi, Akemi, Kira, Cassius, Kyoto, myself, Mirabilis and Yasu. Then there is Hotaru, Tsukiko, Namita, Miyuki, Shinichi, Naoko, Hayato, Mitsuru, Takara, and Minato. The atmosphere is enough for even the most lively of characters to be taken down. Except for a special one...who I am going to get to later. Because through character development I am becoming more of a tease.

The cups themselves look like standard ones often used at parties. There is only one big different though, they are bigger. Drinking this all in one go would be hard, but, since we all have not drank anything in a long time, except for the group that did during the party, it will be easier than usual. If I have to guess, it is about tweleve ounches.

"Bottoms up!" Hotaru shouts out. She quickly downs the entire red, beer cup without any worries. We all stare at her. On one hand, she seems okay, but, on the other, it's Hotaru. There is a chance that Hotaru is just being Hotaru.

"Be more careful," Tsukiko scolds her like a mother. She tries to take the drink out of the girl's hand, but Hotaru jumps out of her seat. Hotaru puffs out her checks as she crosses her arms.

"Hey, we should just get this over with. The faster we do it, the quicker we know what Monokuma wants." Namita then takes Hotaru's lead, quickly followed by Miyuki. Tsukiko then tries to stop her friends, only to fail once again. Hotaru returns to her seat, crossing her legs in victory.

"This tastes...neutrally awful..." Miyuki, what is that even supposed to mean? I stare down the contents of my own cup, which is a sick color of reddish brown. It kinda looks like diarrhea while on your period. Countless hours of research have been conducted to get this result...not just having diarrhea on your period once because Kazuhiko thought it was a good idea to order food from that shady place down the street that mysteriously closed down right afterward.

"Fine." It is better late than never. I drink it as fast as I could with no stops. Once I finish, I try my hardest not to gag. It really does taste like that mysterious goop from that restruant. There is a zero percent chance of me ever drinking this again.

"A-Ayano!"

"Just...do...it..." It takes all of my effort just to speak without puking out everything inside of me. My mouth feels like it is on fire! Kyoto, after a moment of hesititation, follows suit, only to regret all of his life decisions afterward.

"...I never thought...it could be j-just bad..."

"Oh, it tastes perfectly fine to me. Hm, it seems to Balkan 176 with brown food coloring. If Monokuma really wanted us to suffer, he would have used Everclear or Absinthe," Satoshi informs us. "I guess some of you just really don't like strong alcohol. What a shame! We could have had a lot of fun like last time! I don't remember actually drinking anything back then-"

"...SSSSSSSAAAAATTTTTTTTTOOOOOOOOOSSSSSHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIII!" Takayuki, already red from consuming his fill, jumps onto Satoshi. Satoshi quickly falls to the floor. "I love you~"

"Sorry, Yuki-chan, but I only go after the ladies." At that moment, I am surprised that Miyuki is not laughing her butt off. She really is trained to be an onna-bugeisha. Even though she is probably shorted than Naoko and Shinichi...and all the other short people.

"I feel sorry for his soul," Akemi comments after finishing. He is shivering while glaring at where Takayuki is supposed to be in absolute disgust. Kira is after him with Cassius finishing at the same time as her. Tsukiko, seeing them, sighs and gives in to our demands.

"..." Mirabilis, Naoko, Yasu, Takara and Hayato complete theirs in short session of each other. None of them have much reactions. Mochi, though, tried to get to Yasu's drink, but they made sure the bunny did not get any of it.

"Why the Hell should any of us listen to what Monokuma has to say? Fuck that guy!" Mitsuru does not touch her drink. Most of us stare her down, but she does not flinch whatsoever.

"...I actually agree with Mitsuru. It is not in our best favor to be reckless. For all we know, this is somebody pretending to be Monokuma," Shinichi says. He also follows Mitsuru's sign of rebellion.

"Hmmm..." Minato, thinking about what Mitsuru and Shinichi proposed for a second, drinks their own fill. They immediately grab onto their mouth, yet there is no other sign of pain.

"I assure you using the only talent I have other than picking up chicks!" Satoshi tries to wink to somebody, who I presume is Miyuki, from the ground on the other side of the talent, only to get no results. "This is safe. Most likely Monokuma wanted to trick all of us to see our despair." It is strange seeing Satoshi be this helpful. Especially because he just woke up from a coma. It is out of character for him, but this is the only field he has great talent in it seems. I can pick up chicks better than him...and I do not even like them.

"...Fine!" Shinichi, giving into all the peer pressure, takes a sip of his drink, only to spit it out afterward. "...Do I really have to drink this all...It tastes like shit!"

"Techinally, alcohol is poison," Satoshi tells him.

"..." Shinichi then finished it all. Mitsuru is the only person left, and most of us do not want to go against her.

"Well, all of you guys are dead-"

"Life is just a fleeting moment anyway-"

"Yeah, yeah, Shinichi, enough with your emo poetry shit, I'm outta here." Mitsuru storms out of the room. Only one person goes after her, Miyuki. Miyuki is probably the only student strong enough to not get killed by Mitsuru here other than possibly myself and Akita when she was still alive.

"What do we do now?" Tsukiko questions the remaining students. "Should we continue until Monokuma comes here? Or at least Miyuk and/or Mitsuru." We all nod ours heads, since there is truly nothing else to do other than sleep or read books in the library. Socializing seems to be the best way to spend our free time in a place like this.

There is complete silence for a couple minutes...or more, for I could not really tell. Time just flows by. We all heard the sounds of each other breathing in and out. Some are slow, some are fast. The only thing we know now is that we wish for the forest to make some sort of noise.

"Ding dong...it's nightime. All the same kind of shit. You're all big kids, my bastardly students, so you can figure it out yourselves. Bai bai." It is surprising that it is already nightime, since the day just seems to be starting. Might be because I slept through most of it.

"Fine, I'm coming. Gimme that drink!" Mitsuru stomps her way back to her old seat. She then completes the little game with Monokuma we are having. She surely does not look happy about it, yet she does it anyway. Miyuki is stoic as always when she returns to her seat next to Namita and Shinichi.

"Now we wait..." Miyuki's word is all we have until there is yet another bout of silence. Most of the students, especially Hotaru, are far beyond bored at this point.

"Since it's clear Monokuma is gonna take his sweet ass time to show up, why don't we do a game like...hmmm...Truth or Dare in the meantime!" Hotaru exclaims. We all groan at the suggestion. Hotaru is still Hotaru though, and will not let something like a majority vote get in her way.

"Hmmm...Kyoto, truth or dare!" Hotaru points her finger at him. Kyoto jumps onto me again, blushing red.

"Why me? I-I'm usually second-"

"Sucker up, pretty boy!" she smirks. "If you're not gonna go, I'm gonna dare little Aya to drink some Everclear~" Just hearing her say that word sends a shiver down my spine. There is a high chance of not getting out of here alive if I even go near the cellar ever again.

"Please do not let me become next," Shinichi says. He is rubbing the back of his neck. There is anger in his voice though that stands out, but Shinichi did have his bouts of teenage angst.

"U-um truth-"

"Hotaru, stop it, he is clearly uncomfortable." Miyuki walks over to Hotaru with her red eyes glowing with anger. It is the first time I really have seen Miyuki emote something other than concern. Her sword is completely out, being directly pointed at Hotaru's neck.

"Okay, okay, w-we're all freaking out here. A-all we need to do is calm down," Namita says. Her voice cracks, however, make her usually confident and cheerful words more despair-inducing than before. I see that most of my classmates are talking to themselves, whispering little words into each other's ears.

"Monokuma, if you don't come here this instant, I swear-"

"Oh, Mitsu-cho, you called. Here's your local Monokuma here to deliever the news. The news that one of your beloved classmates has just poisoned one of you. Have fun. Puhuhuhu." Monokuma, though, stays. Mitsuru tries to beat him up again. I quickly rush to her as Mirabilis and Tsukiko are the only two handling her.

"Poison! What are you saying, you bastard? I'm gonna rip the stuffing right outta of you!" Mitsuru shouts. Miyuki, now back to her calm self, joins in with Hotaru. Hotaru is surprisingly relaxed for somebody that just had a sword to her throat.

"Ahhh!" Naoko shrieks. I, knowing that everybody else can handle it, turn my head to the other side of the room. All I see is everybody else in pure terror. Even the more composed students, like Tsukiko and Hayato, are freaking out. Whatever is grabbing their attention is laying on the other side of the table.

"I-Is he dead!? Oh my God, he just moved!" Kira, grabbing onto both Akemi and Cassius, screams. Cassius is the most scared as he screams like a little girl.

"...! This...goddammit!" Takayuki, still a little red but still sober enough, tries to say something using sign language towards Takara, who has somehow gotten his notebook back. Guess he would learn sign language fast since he is smarter than most people, with being the Ultimate Private Investigator and all.

"Oh my God! Oh my God!" Namita has completely lost it. She is hiding in the corner, sulking.

"What the Hell is going on over there!?" Mitsuru then breaks free from all of the girls holding her down to explore. She completely ignores Monokuma.

"I can assure you that this isn't an affect of alcohol," Satoshi comments. He is now free from Takayuki, but is not enjoying the smell of the air that much.

"I wonder how this will go down. Hm, the Committee destroyed all the records of this certain little poison. Puhuhuhu. Even while you dreaded humans still used it, though, experiments were considered unethical or some shit like that. Screw ethics!" Monokuma is enjoying himself too much. He reminds me of Kotori Hiraoka, examining torture closely to see what would happen. And see she did. Although it was always psychological experiments, not poison.

"U-um, guys, can you listen?" Naoko is bought up to the notebook as the new reader. However, nobody is listening.

"It's my duty as a magical girl to help him!" Mirabilis comes running down with her wand in hand. Miyuki is soon behind her with her sword. Hotaru, surprising me, pulls out some sort of needle from her pocket when trailing both of them. I soon realize that I am the only person that remains on this side as everybody left me. Monokuma stares me down. He is telling me just by the pure evil look in his eyes to go over there as his so-called protagonist.

When I finally go over there, I see that Shinichi is having a serious seizure. His body calms down for a second, and that is when Miyuki tries to induce vomiting. Takayuki pushes her away from him. The only reason I could see that as working is because she allowed him.

Shinichi's body is contorted in an awful way. The only parts of his body that lay on the floor are the head and legs, as his entire back is suspended in the air. His dilated eyes follow me.

The other students are in complete shock. It is complete, utter chaos as I cannot figure out what everybody is doing for the life in me. Nobody knows how to deal with a poisoning. In this chaos, there is a lot of screaming, which I can guess is only making Shinichi's situation even worse. All I care about it Kyoto however. He is standing in the middle of it all, tears in his eyes, completely still and dumbfounded.

Takayuki mouths something to Naoko with her paying extra attention to him. Takara tries to make people stop, yet he can only do so much without a voice. Naoko then returns to me. Before Naoko can say anything, Takayuki walks by the nearest wall and punches it, tears also in his eyes. He covers them with his sleeve poorly.

"Useless! Useless! Useless!" Takayuki repeats. Naoko is torn, but, after a couple of seconds, returns her attention to me. Takara returns to be with the two of us.

"O-okay...we need to...go to the Hospital. We need a charcoal slurry, a b-benzodiazepine, w-with diazepam being the most likely to work, o-oxygen and phenobarbital to help the symptoms." We all nod our heads as we rush to the Hospital. Although there are many sounds coming from the cafeteria, the most omnious is Monokuma's laughter. Predictable as always.

* * *

Now by the door to the Hospital, Takara stops, while Naoko and I hurry right in. Takara, sighing, goes in right after us and is not executed for breaking any rules.

"So does that mean all of us are sick in some way?" I ask. Naoko and Takara ignore my question as they scan through all of the cabinets. There is no time to fully examine the room. In a blind, frenzied haze, I look through various amounts of medical supplies. Naoko has already one oxygen mask in which she stole from one of the beds.

Minutes gone by, and there is nothing to be found. Nothing, nothing, and...tampons. Since I am sure Shinichi is a boy, I do not think he will be needing those anytime soon. Eventually, I just repeat one of them in my head, charcoal slurry. I have already forgotten the names of the other two...this is no time to think, only act! That's what Kazuhiko would do! Act!...In a form of committing murder, but still act!

"Yes!" I exclaim as I find a little bottle with the words charcoal slurry written sloopily on it. Monokuma has clearly designed all of these himself. No time to think about that now, we have a goal to accomplish! We must save Shinichi!

"I got the benzodiazepine and Takara the phenobarbital! C-come on, let's go!" Naoko nearly trips but corrects herself. The three of us rush back to the cafeteria, not knowing how much time we have left or how much has gone by.

* * *

In the cafeteria, the group has composed themselves a little. It is still mostly chaos, but Tsukiko, Hayato, and Miyuki are now helping out. Tsukiko is waiting by Shinichi's way to do something or the other. Hayato is using his talent to calm down some of the others. Miyuki is keeping watch over Shinichi. Monokuma is still smiling however.

"W-we got the medicine!" Naoko shouts. She is shaking from all the stress we are under. We place them on the table, with Takayuki opening the bottles...

"...!"

"T-they're empty!?" Naoko faints nearby where Yasu is. Yasu, predictably, has fainted in the chaos as well. Minato holds onto Mochi, making sure the rabbit or neither of their friends get crushed. Takayuki mouths to Naoko again. "T-Tsukiko, whenever Shinichi stops having a seizure, make sure to take off his clothes! W-we need to make sure he doesn't overheat!" Tsukiko blushes but still nods her head.

"What about the oxygen mask?" Miyuki asks. We all examine the oxygen mask to see that it is missing something important. Since we were rushing, none of us noticed. The tube to supply the oxygen.

"I-I'll go get it!" I can bearly stand on my own two feet due to the mass amounts of stress, but I muster up the will to correct our collective mistake. Takara stays behind to help the group.

Just as I am making my way out of the door, I notice that the lights go off once again. I am luckily just nearby, yet I hear screaming and yelling coming from every direction. There is even less time than before, so I have to move fast.

* * *

Running out to the hallway, I trip on my own feet. I get up seconds afterward. Jesus, I cannot believe I am this much of a mess...This is no time to be thinking about other things! Not even Kazuhiko!

"Where do you think you're going?" somebody asks me. I recognize that voice as the mastermind. Trying to get away, I cannot avoid the mastermind slamming my face into the floor. "You're not gonna mess this up. I'm tired of you always getting in the way!"

"S-speak for yourself...isn't the mastermind...not supposed to help out in murders?" I ask. Though, the only response is the mastermind forcing me to come up again. The resulting wiplash makes me dizzy.

"This isn't Junko Enoshima's Killing Game. This is Kaneshiro Kazuma's!" the person yells. I turn around to finally get a good look of them, but, before I can, a bright light shines in my face.

* * *

I...wake up? Yeah, wake up. Perhaps I fainted at the worse time possible...Well, I wake up in the Hospital. I automatically make my way to one of the beds to complete to oxygen mask. It is just a mask without oxygen after all. My hands are shaking, and, for some reason, my head really hurts. Like it was slammed into the floor or something like that.

"...What?" I realize that everything related to the beds is gone except for one singular bed. One that does not have what we need. "Come on! You got to be kidding me!" Then static fills my ears as the speakers prepare themselves for an annoucement.

 _A body has been discovered. After a brief period of investigation, there will be a Class Trial. So get your butt over here Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan!_

I stand is silence. Pure regret washing over me. No, it cannot be possible...the mastermind has played tricks before!...This must be how Minato felt after Akita's death...Whatever, I need to investigate the cafeteria!

* * *

Now outside the cafeteria door, a flood of emotions wash over me. I do not want to open that door. Still, after taking a deep breath, I finally open up the gates of Hell and understand the true meaning of the latin phrase memento mori. Remember that you have to die. I am alive, so I must die.

All my classmates are huddled together while taking in the true horror of what laid before them. Shinichi is still in that god awful position. Back completely in the air while his head and feet are the only things that touch the ground. Vomit drips down his mouth, collecting in its own pool underneath him. Sweat is everywhere on his body in high concerations. The color of his skin is turning slowly to a sickly blue color. His eyes are completely wide and dilated. He is clutching on tightly to the locket around his neck, as that is probably the last kind of movement he could make. Most of all, however, is that he is no longer breathing.

Shinichi Fujimoto, the Ultimate Translator, has been brutally killed in one of the worse way possible by one of us.

* * *

 **Poor, poor Shinichi doesn't deserve any of this. And this is where my Agatha Christie inspiration shines through the most.**

 **Thank you, the hazel-eyed bookworm for sending in Shinichi. He was a true wonder to work with. Too bad he's dead though. Do not be mistaken, however, for Shinichi is still important to the plot. Just you wait and see...or read. Because Agatha Christie inspiration.**

 **In the poll, one person guessed Shinichi. That's better than last chapter when nobody guessed Akita.**

 **Yes, this and the last chapter were orignally supposed to be one chapter, but it was way too long. That's why this one is shorter than most.**

 **...I did way too much research on poisons. Now everybody will think I'm a serial killer. I swear it's for a story! XD**

 **Now for reviews~**

 **0B13-Wait, you guys are actually trying to save somebody's whose painfully dying. NOPE. There's more but I ain't telling. Well, the next day, here it is!**

 **mayurie-Well, I'm here to crush all your hopes and dreams. Glad to hear! :D Kotori is Kotori. Nobody has successfully predicted this plot twist yet. Think about why they could do that. And think about Kaneshiro. Gosh, that bunny really knows how to beat up Ayano. Well, you can go to FoD offical TvTropes page to post all your theories...and make edits to me since it is so outdated. BAGELS. Oh, alcohol and poison. Nothing big. It's Shinichi~**

 **QueenofChocolateWinx-D:**

 **AnonChan1-The party turned out worse for Shinichi. She real tall (because I love height difference couples). Kazuhiko needs all the love in Heaven. Tsukiko's plan isn't gonna be revealed for a long time. There's already hints to the mastermind (well, they're really subtle and probably get fridge when repeat reading). Does Nagito need that eighteen-person hug too?**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Oh my lord, we're making that a meme. It's McCommittee now guys, with a side of Brainwashing Nuggets and Dictorship Hamburger. Ccrrraawwllliiinnnnggg in my SKIN! These wounds they'll never HEAL!**

 **tobi-is-a-reviewer-too-Boom Requiem with no review!...Wait. Shiro is like why am I sneezing so much when there's almost no dust on this airship JUN (ha ha, making Jun jokes before he's introduced). Here's some more Naoko! Well, the next time it happened, Shinichi died so...Thanks! Time for despair!**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Well, now here's a worse way. Ayano is like someday I will be there for the annoucement! Tsukiko is paving the road for plot to happen. The way to plot is craved by good intentions. Thanks. ^.^**

 **CommanderofInsanity-Welcome back! :D Already talked to you so...yeah, you're screwed.**

 **(the moment when you realize the author's notes are almost a third of the chapter or something)**


	24. Investigation 2-1

**Investigation 2-1: Lullabies for the Living, Screams for the Dead, Silence for the Restless**

* * *

"..."

"Now, kids, I know that Shinichi is...um...very, very dead right now. At least I despair so!" Monokuma begins to laugh at his own awful joke. Mitsuru shoots him a stare, which results in him sweating bullets. "...Here's the Monokuma File! Please don't hurt me! I don't want anybody else but the blackened to die this chapter!"

"Then would you tell us who it is? You didn't have any problem doing so the last case," Akemi says. The sweat on Monokuma's forehead is replaced with a glare.

"I'm just gonna ignore that. Just focus on the case, not me!" The bear returns to his default expression, twisted joy. Akemi attempts to say more, only to be stopped by Kira.

Every one of the other students have the file sent to their respected pads (of course, most of them are still looking in terror at the body), but Monokuma hands me a couple of pieces of paper. It also shows all of the needed information. After that, he tries to flip off Akemi, only to realize that he has no middle finger, and then leaves the cafeteria.

* * *

 **Monokuma File #2**

 **Victim-Shinichi Fujimoto, Ultimate Translator**

 **Height-4 feet, 9 inches**

 **Weight-Eighty-eight pounds**

 **Chest Size-This only matters for the girls. ;)**

 **Age-Fifteen**

 **Blood Type-O**

 **Birthday-Not in the system, seems to be hidden information**

* * *

 **Cause of Death**

 **The victim is Shinichi Fujimoto along with whatever poor soul killed his ass.**

 **The body was discovered in the cafeteria.**

 **The estimated time of death is 11:40 PM. The beginning of the death happened at 11:05, and it took Shinichi thirty-five minutes to die.**

 **Due to his small body and lack of weight, along with the chaos around him, the death happened quicker than most usual cases of this type of poison.**

 **Before death, Shinichi experienced muscle spasms, seizures, mydriasis, tachycardia, tachypnea, hypertension, cyanosis, leukocytosis, opisthotonus, and vomiting (oh look at all the scientific mumbo jumbo in here).**

 **The cause of death is respiratory failure by choking to death on his own vomit. Shinichi also suffered some brain damage before death, but only enough for mental retardation (screw political correctness, I'm Monokuma dammit).**

* * *

There is a lot more information than the one he gave us for Akita, and everything seems to be correct this time. Although I do not understand some of the words in the before death section. Perhaps I can have a little investigation on that?...

...Dammit, if Shinichi were still alive, I could just have him sign Takayuki and gain information that way. Oh well, Shinichi saved my ass, so I should return the favor by finding out his killer. Nothing could be harder than sending my own boyfriend to death, right?

Even though it is chaos around us, both Tsukiko and Hayato are on the case, with Namita finally coming back to her senses and joining them. I move towards the body. It is not rare for somebody like me to see their fair share of dead bodies, yet Shinichi is so brutalized I have to hold in my vomit. This is far worse than the period drink.

Naoko and Yasu are both still down for the count with Minato watching over them and the crime scene. Mitsuru also stays closeby with her arms crossed and body ready. The group that was helping out before, besides the one on chaos control, remain near Shinichi. They are Takayuki, Takara, and Miyuki. Miyuki must also be another person making sure nobody messes with the crime scene. Considering how the other students are reacting, it is not hard to see why there are so many.

"What's with his locket? I'm so curious!" Hotaru, being her usual self, cartwheels over to Shinichi's body. She tries to pry to locket from his hands, but they will not move. "Dammit!"

"Stop messing up the crime scene," Miyuki tells her. Hotaru sighs. She leaves the body alone.

"Awww, but that might have helped us with this case," Hotaru explains herself. "We already know that there's importance to Akita's gloves, so why not Shinichi's locket? All the victims so far have a personal item that can relate to a motive."

"...Hotaru, there has only been one case so far," Miyuki rebutts. "Though, enough with that, I happen to be curious what you and the others in the kitchen were doing before the blackout. Can you detail us your alibi?"

"So I was in the kitchen last since I was talking with Ayano before. The five of us were playing a game of cards we found in one of the corners of the gym...Don't ask me, Kira found it! Anyway, the card game should still be set up in the kitchen. None of us left during the game. Well, Kira and Akemi both went into the bathroom for like a minute each though I highly doubt that has anything to do with this. Check the others to back my alibi." Hotaru is being strangely cooperative. Her life is on the line though.

"Oh, we got to save Shinichi!" Naoko exclaims. Surprised to hear that voice, I see that Naoko is up again. She has not yet laid her eyes on the cruel display in front of her. The moment she does, she begins to scream. Takayuki strangely is the one to begin comforting her followed by Takara and...Kyoto. He is back, yet he still looks horrible.

"Do you perhaps want to see the bullets, Nishiki-san?" Miyuki asks me. I nod my head as I look over her shoulder.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #2-The Party**

 **Shinichi Fujimoto was killed during Kyoto Kamui's birthday party.**

 **Namita Nakahashi and Miyuki Kobyashi were the ones in charge of making the party. Miyuki Kobyashi was told by Ayano Nishiki that it was near Kyoto Kamui's birthday.**

 **There were five groups.**

 **Takara Miyagi, Shinichi Fujimoto, Kyoto Kamui, Takayuki Anno, Naoko Kawabata, and Rosalina Folium were in a group.**

 **Then Yasu Matsuhita, Minato Ueda, and Mitsuru Banda.**

 **The third consists of Hayato Akimoto, Tsukiko Oda, Miyuki Kobyashi, Namita Nakahashi.**

 **In the kitchen and not the cafeteria like all the other students, there was Kira Iwata, Cassius Jacobson, Akemi Nakatani, Satoshi Nakajima, and Hotaru Amemori.**

 **And then Ayano Nishiki was all by herself.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #3-The Blackout**

 **In the middle of the party, and right before Shinichi died, there were two blackouts.**

 **The first one was followed by the appearance of mysterious cups, one for each of the surviving students. The second was followed by Shinichi's corpse.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #4-Murder Setup**

 **After the first blackout, there were cups for all of the surviving students at the point.**

 **All of them contain the alcohol Balkan 176, some food coloring, and small amounts of poison, though this is unlethal. Worse case scenario is a couple ofcramps so don't complain. One of them had a lethal amount.**

 **The order of the students on the left side of the table is Takayuki Anno, Satoshi Nakajima, Akemi Nakatani, Kira Iwata, Cassius Jacobson, Kyoto Kamui, Ayano Nishiki, Rosalina Folium and Yasu Matsuhita. The right side is Hotaru Amemori, Tsukiko Oda, Namita Nakahashi, Miyuki Kobyashi, Shinichi Fujimoto, Naoko Kawabata, Hayato Akimoto, Mitsuru Banda, Takara Miyagi and Minato Ueda.**

 **Note: There was a note telling you to drink it. I did not write it, you idiots! Monokuma cannot directly help with a murder! Geez!**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #5-Hotaru's Alibi/Testimony**

 **Hotaru Amemori talked with Ayano Nishiki during the first part of the party. Before the first blackout, she decided to enter the kitchen.**

 **Hotaru Amemori played card games with the others in the kitchen until the first blackout. Before that, though, she explains that both Kira Iwata and Akemi Nakatani went to the bathroom.**

* * *

There is something odd with Hotaru's testimony. She was not with the others in the kitchen that long, about ten minutes the maximum. Of course, they must have started a new card game for Hotaru. Kira and Akemi most likely both needed to go to the bathroom. If there is any evidence in there, though, those two will have some explaining to do.

Though the strange thing is the note. It is not its own bullet, yet Monokuma states that he did not create it. Wouldn't it be a clue to the culprit of this case? Monokuma, although he lied about some of them, still had all the bullets for the first case, including the secret door. There is something more going on here.

"I am going to check the kitchen," I tell Miyuki. She nods her head while I make my way. It is good to make sure that everybody has a rock solid alibi. Mostly because this is partly the same group that Kazuhiko was in when he killed Akita. Maybe because of that I have an unwarranted suspicion of them. Though I really do not want any more half-truths in these bullets.

* * *

Just like Hotaru explained, there seems to be a card game in the middle of the floor. It looks like they were playing...Go Fish? There are five stacks of cards. Three of them are normal-sized. One is almost out of cards and the other is overflowing with them.

Though the cards themselves are not the most surprising thing in this room, yet the person inside, Satoshi. He does not seem to be cleaning up evidence. Satoshi is trying to hide in one of the corners. Most likely due to the horrible state of the cafeteria.

"Satoshi?"

"Ayano!" he shouts. Jumping up, he accidentally hits his head against mine. The pain lingers for a minute, causing both of us to grab onto our heads in agony.

"...Satoshi...?" I think up things to say. Perhaps I should press him more about the alcohol used for the possible prank gone wrong. "What can you tell me by the alcohol used in the murder setup?"

"Oh, Balkan 176? You should've just said so earlier Ayano."

"...I just got here-"

"Anyway, Balkan 176 is a type of vodka. I wonder why people didn't have a stronger reaction to it though...it is weird like something was canceling some of the more serious side effects. It is arguably the strongest vodka that we as humans have ever come across. Gosh, it is so dangerous that it has thirteen different warning labels! How could I allow Yuki to drink that!?" he explains. Although Satoshi is still Satoshi, he really does seem to know what he is talking about.

"Perhaps the poison-"

"Anyways, it is eighty-eight percent abv," Satoshi continues on, interrupting me again. "It is a type of vodka, so it is a distilled beverage mostly composed of water and ethanol. The fermented materials are usually cereal grains or potatoes, though nowadays people are wimps and replace it with fruit. Just drink wine if you want that! It is usually drunk neat without adding water or ice. Though it is a popular drink to make cocktails with, especially in Russia...Russia itself just really, really likes vodka. The cocktail drinks that are the most popular are White Russian, Moscow Mule, and Bloody Mary. You don't know how many idiots go to my bar, order those, get shitfaced, and then turn up dead the next day because they thought it was a good idea to do the stupidest thing. No, don't hug the mother bear near her cubs!...Oh wait, bears are extinct. Now I'm just wondering what really happened with that guy. I mean, I'm not the smartest guy on the planet...even I think drunk people are idiots..."

Satoshi continues on and on about vodka. I just continue on with my own investigation. The next place to check is the bathroom to see if Kira and Akemi could have done anything in here. It is a fairly standard bathroom except for the part that it is in the kitchen. Looking everywhere in there, I notice nothing out of the ordinary. The bathroom itself can use a good cleaning, yet how can we do that in this place? My nose is getting too used to different kinds of horrible smells. Including poop collecting itself in the toilet. This is why most people just go to the bathroom in the forest. None of the running water in this place is used for the toilets.

And then I make my way towards the cafeteria again. Satoshi is still going on and on about everything about vodka, not even Balkan 176 anymore. I take a deep breath, not really wanting to see Shinichi's body again. Though I investigated Akita's death, so I can do this! Akita's case though I had Kazuhiko with me...I can do this!

* * *

"There you are, Ayano," Tsukiko takes my hand the moment I step out of the kitchen. "May I inquire your alibi?" It seems like everybody is getting asked for their alibis so I should get used to this.

"My alibi? Sure. Before the blackout, I was mostly by myself. Hotaru did talk to me for a bit but went into the kitchen. Kyoto was in the middle of asking me to join up with him when the blackout occurred," I answer her. Tsukiko finally lets go of my hand.

"What did you, Naoko and Takara do when you went outside?" she asks me. It seems like this is not over yet. Though it does seem like I am the best person to ask since Takara cannot speak and Naoko is an emotional mess right now.

"We went to the Hospital. There we collected various health supplies. They were all messed with though," I reply. "Afterward, when the second blackout was still occurring, I went to the Hospital again. I don't remember how, yet I collapsed. Then I returned back to the cafeteria after Shinichi died."

"Yeah, I remember that part. See you, Ayano." Tsukiko waves to me and I wave back. The cafeteria is more organized now due to her, Hayato and Namita's efforts.

"A-Ayano!" Naoko then comes up to me. "I have some bullets for you. Do y-you want to see?" Nodding my head once again, Naoko begins to bring up the bullets. Her hand is a little shaky.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #6-Ayano's Testimony**

 **Before Hotaru Amemori went to the kitchen, she had a conversation with Ayano Nishiki. Ayano Nishiki herself was with Kyoto Kamui before the blackout.**

 **She, Naoko Kawabata, and Takara Miyagi were the first ones to go to the Hospital. Then Ayano Nishiki went to the Hospital by herself right before Shinichi died.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #7-Balkan 176**

 **The alcohol inside the drinks. It seems to be less powerful than it usually is.**

 **It is one of the most potent vodkas there are. Several flasks of it can be found in the cellar.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #8-The Cups**

 **The cups used to hold the alcohol are typical red party cups usually used for beer. These can also be found in the cellar.**

 **One of them stands out. It is on the left side of the table, four down. It has a marking on the rim.**

* * *

"What kind of marking?" I ask Naoko.

"I c-can show you." Going back to the original table, and trying our best to avoid Shinichi, Naoko directs me to the cup. It is on the opposite side of Shinichi, so I wonder what the marker was used for. Apparently, Monokuma finds it to be more important evidence than the letter. We should remember the letter still because nothing Monokuma does can be trusted in this game. The Monokuma in Junko Enoshima's game may have been murderous but he did not intentionally use false information until the fifth trial.

Examining the cup further, I see that the rim is slightly torn. It would not seem out of the ordinary outside this investigation, for rims can be torn rather easily. This is not a normal situation though. The Killing Game can make things as simple as a little tear be the most important clue to solving a murder case.

"Weird," I comment. Quickly going over all the other ones, none of them have nothing that can be seen as odd. Monokuma is being a lot more truthful than last time.

"There's s-somewhere I want to check," Naoko says. She comes closer to me. "The Hospital." That moment, a little sound came from all the handbooks. I had not heard it for the previous bullets, yet, since it is a lot quieter, it can now be heard over everybody's voices.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #9-Tampered Supplies**

 **Naoko Kawabata, Takara Miyagi, and Ayano Nishiki went to the Hospital before Shinichi's death. They tried to get the correct medical supplies to save him. Those supplies were a charcoal slurry, a benzodiazepine, an oxygen mask, and phenobarbital.**

 **The oxygen mask did not work due to being incomplete. All of the other supplies are in the Hospital in different containers. The pickup team bought fake containers that only said the name and had nothing inside. Before they were empty, they held the ADHD medicine Vynase.**

* * *

"Tampered!?" Naoko shouts. She is about to fall again, but I catch her. This time, though, Naoko is still conscious.

"We have been tricked." The culprit knew what kind of medicine was used to help with the poison! This was absolutely planned out before. Spur of the moment murders are rare in Killing Games, but they do happen. Everything about this case was planned out before though. Including possible people to frame possibly. I feel like getting to this killer is going to be a lot harder than Kazuhiko. Kazuhiko wanted to kill the mastermind, this murderer wanted to kill one of us.

"I-It is still good to check the Hospital. We m-might get more clues." That moment, Takayuki comes toward us. He still looks like crap. Naoko does her own nod, and he is now with the two of us.

"Ahem, not so fast!" Monokuma announces to our newly formed trio. "My dear Yuki-Yuki-Yuki-chan-chan-chan...that's a horrible nickname. How about just Asshole-Chan? Asshole-Chan is way too useful. I'm taking him. Now Cinnamon Roll needs to save her knight!" Before anybody can react, Monokuma takes Takayuki and disappears with him. There goes our trio.

"I don't remember Monokuma making this many nicknames," I murmur. Mostly because Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan isn't the best nickname in the world. Then only the two of us go on our way. A sudden touch of fear creeps into my system the moment I step into the hallway, yet it is gone seconds later. I have a feeling that something bad happened here.

* * *

Inside the Hospital, the two of us search where we did before. We move away from that section and try to find the real supplies. And possibly a reason why the oxygen masks were tampered with. Several beeps sound through the room, but we are too focused to notice any of them.

Both of us are silent until we hear something. It sounds like a door locking. Naoko and I rush towards the door, only to realize that we were too late. It had already been locked.

"For the love of...oh my God...what the fuck." Not having another way out, the both of us look to the hole in the wall. Only to realize that it has been covered up with something. I try to push whatever it is out of the way to no avail.

"Are w-we stuck here?" Naoko questions me.

"Maybe there's another way out." Then, for about ten minutes, Naoko and I search the room again to see if there is another way. Surprise, surprise, there is not. It is good knowing this information for the future though.

"I g-guess we are trapped here," Naoko sighs. The culprit must have heard our plans to go to the Hospital. With this in mind, the culprit probably knows a lot more about this place than most of us here. They must have known that the doors can be locked from the outside. And they must have had the key that would make it possible.

Naoko and I, already exhausted from the events of today, and it being almost midnight, sit down on the cold floor of the Hospital. She must be colder than me. All she has on underneath her dress is cycling shorts. Shorts are not exactly known to warm people up.

"O-oh, we should see what the others have found!" Naoko pulls out her handbook. It feels horrible not being able to help out my fellow classmates, but we are not in the kind of situation where that is possible.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #10-More About the Poison**

 **The poison itself is in its liquid form. It is poisonous to all living things if they digest, inhale or injected in a high enough dose. Shinichi Fujimoto digested the poison.**

 **Note that the poison is mostly used to kill other animals like rats (note that this poison has the same effects in all different kinds of animals). It used to be a common poison until the Committee outlawed its use. Even before, the poison was not used that much in murders. It was mostly used for beauty, healing (people were idiots) and steroids.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #11-Tsukiko's Testimony**

 **Before the blackout, Tsukiko Oda, Namita Nakahashi, Miyuki Kobyashi and Hayato Akimoto were having a conversation about possible ways to stop the Killing Game.**

 **The cups they used were different than the ones for the murder setup. There were gone but were found to be in the place where the cups used in the murder setup are usually placed.**

* * *

Now I am more confused. I get that the poison bullet is supposed to lead us to the type of poison the culprit used, yet it could have easily been included in another bullet. The culprit seems to be really fast as well...or possibly had other people help them. The setup is way too complex to have been done by one person in that short of time.

"Ayano, can I check something?"

"Sure..." Naoko takes my version of the Monokuma File and starts to do something with her handbook. Her eyes are zooming across the page. Her fingers are going faster than I can possibly dream of.

"Your version of the Monokuma File has a lot more information than ours," Naoko explains. I notice she has her version up. Everything is mostly the same until the cause of death section. It has everything but the before death part.

"So Monokuma cannot be trusted again!"

"Hmm...these are some nasty s-symptoms," Naoko notes. "They do add up to what is visible to us on the body. Especially the cyanosis. Only if w-we had access to more advanced technology to check for some of them."

"Wait, you actually know what these mean?"

"W-well, my mom was a doctor. And my s-sister is studying to be one," she replies. "I a-am the Ultimate Child Prodigy...my memory is the only thing I'm proud of. I-I did some papers on m-mental abuse...um, I don't want to be a know-it-all! But being a d-doctor is...um, nevermind."

"You're not a know-it-all." For a couple minutes, we sit in silence. Nobody has come to check up on us yet. There is literally nothing to do but sit around. "Hey, do you want to talk?"

"We're i-in the middle of an investigation!" Naoko begins to blush. We see how close we really are at that point, only a couple feet away from each other. Neither of us moves.

"We've already searched this entire place. Come on, Kazuhiko and I had a fight in the middle of an investigation, so we can have a heart-to-heart. As one girl to another." Plus, just talking will help the both of us calm down. I am decent in trials, though Naoko rocked the last one. She needs to learn how to let go of all of her stress to truly become somebody that can help us all. Since some of us are complete, utter idiots.

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Naoko Kawabata?**_

 _ **Yes/No...Seriously, Ayano, this isn't the time.**_

* * *

"...Fine. B-but when we can go back, l-let's go back..." Naoko puffs out her cheeks. Sometimes she does have a bad habit of acting way younger than she actually is. Maybe that is why they added the word child to her title.

"Um, so...how...did you get your title? What was that paper about?" Naoko remains silent. That is not the best question to ask. "Ummm...what's your favorite book? I actually wrote my own but it is only about hacking. I can't do anything like create a fantastical story."

"My favorite book is the Harry Potter series! D-don't tell anyone! I don't w-want the Committee to find out!" Naoko begins to hide her face. The Harry Potter series used to be a popular book series for younger teens, yet the Committee banned it for some reason. Strangely enough, the only thing that was not banned with Harry Potter was the sequel play, the Cursed Child. I will never understand these things. Kazuhiko used to love driving into the series itself, finding all of its hidden meanings and such not. Said it was his journalistic instinct...and that he was a Slytherin...whatever that means. He asked me to hack into the Committee's internet just to access a site called Pottermore or something just for that.

"Okay, Kazuhiko used to like that too..."

"Kazuhiko? If you don't m-mind me asking...I d-don't want to start conflict!...But how was he like?" Naoko questions me. "I-I only meet him. I-I don't know anything!"

"..."

"A-Ayano?"

"...Hm...how do I describe that idiot? Other than stupid and selfless..." I say. "Let's see, I don't want to just say, he was the love of my life, and he was an amazing person. Truth it, he wasn't. He was human just like the rest of us. And his flaw is what lead to his death...Kotori would chew him out. I wonder if there's an afterlife, and, even if there was, they would meet or something like that. Kazuhiko would probably..." I stop. There is a weird thought going through my mind.

"Um...A-Ayano, how do you know Kotori?" she asks. "I-I mean, you're talking about Kotori...Hiraoka, right?" Naoko stops for a second, overcome by revelation. "...Why do Kotori and Kazuhiko have the same last name? I-I don't need to pry!" Her search for knowledge and own lack of wanting conflict are now at odds with each other. "I-I don't want to hurt you!"

"H-hurt me!?" I shout. "Naoko, you're not hurting me."

"I-I don't know how to do t-this!" Naoko starts to freak out again. She tries to open up the door, only to realize that we are still locked in. There are beeps from the monopad but they go unnoticed by her.

"Naoko? Why do you always run away?" One part of me wants to ask her how she knows Kotori too, but that is not important right now.

"..." Now she is the one that is silent. She is clearly looking at herself for questions she never asked. I try to walk towards her, which only results in her trying to get away again. So I stop in my tracks. "...It's in my article."

"Article?" I ask. Surprisingly, Naoko is starting to remind me of how Kazuhiko used to be. Just less annoying. She is talking about articles and Harry Potter too. "...Let's change the subject. What's a Slytherin?"

"...Slytherin? That's a house in the Harry Potter series," she answers without her stutter.

"House?"

"Um...in the Harry Potter series, people are divided into four houses. Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. It is all based on your personality," Naoko explains. "I'm a...H-Hufflepuff."

"Oh, so it's like a personality test? But those are largely disproven-"

"They're picked by the Sorting Hat! The Sorting Hat is never wrong!" Even though Naoko interrupted me, I quickly see her blush. "O-oh no, I just interrupted you! Sorry, sorry!" She starts bowing down to me again.

"You don't have to be sorry."

"...But this really isn't t-the time to be talking about this. Tell me, Ayano, w-who did you think killed Shinichi?" She begins to cry. "...Believe it or not, I-I used to not like men."

"...What...?" I want to comfort her, yet, when I try to come closer, Naoko begins to back away again.

"I u-used to be scared of them, but then I remembered something recently during the Killing Game. Kaneshiro Kazuma, the Ultimate Brainwasher. S-sounds shady, right?" Naoko tells me. Something about Kaneshiro's name sounds familiar. "R-right before the Killing Game, h-he was really nice to me!"

"Kaneshiro...Kazuma?" Now my brain stops in its tracks once again. I am clearly supposed to remember something. Something is not right here. Who exactly is Kaneshiro Kazuma? And how does he relate to Naoko Kawabata?

"B-but Shinichi...was killed in such a brutal way!" she cries out. "W-why? I was not that close to Akita, but I was the last p-person she talked to before she was k-killed! And she was killed in a brutal way too! W-why does bad luck follow me!?"

"Bad luck doesn't follow you!" I puff out my cheeks. This is exactly how Kazuhiko used to be. Goddammit. "Don't say that. Each person here has their own struggles, and you have to remember that. If you're not the mastermind, it's not your fault. Just as long as you don't give into Monokuma's demands and continue the Killing Game!"

"You've really changed, Ayano...I-I guess I can too..."

"Alright, since we are here, and Kazuhiko is too dead to protest, I can have a little story time. Kazuhiko's relation to Kotori is-"

"Ahem, Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan, that's taboo information. Please focus on your friend's death! Seriously, you two have just been goofing off and not focusing on the real matter at hand! Please don't use investigation time to talk out your own problems! Shinichi has problems too because he's dead!" Monokuma exclaims over the speakers. Now why is that taboo information? Not only I am not allowed to discuss Kazuhiko's case more, I cannot tell others the information I do have. Isn't the mastermind supposed to be neutral in this Killing Game? I guess Akita, Hayato, and Miyuki stole all the neutrality and me the nothingness of my heart.

"How are we supposed to do that, jackass?"

"A-Ayano, that's a bad word!" Naoko shouts out. She really is a kid.

"Fine, let me do something," Monokuma sighs. The next moment there is a ticking sound. I quickly pull Naoko away as there is a small explosion. Both of us cover our face from some of the flying debris. When it comes down, the first thing the two of us do is walk out to the hallway. It is good to no longer be in the Hospital.

"Do you want to see the Truth Bullets?" I nod my head once again to Naoko's question. She takes out her handbook and we both begin to read the new ones together.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #12-Kyoto's Account**

 **Kyoto spent the first part of the party with Takara Miyagi, Shinichi Fujimoto, Takayuki Anno and Naoko Kawabata. Rosalina Folium was with them as well trying to purify Takayuki Anno and 'save' Naoko Kawabata. He began a conversation with Ayano Nishiki right before the blackout.**

 **The five...or maybe six if you count Rosalina Folium...were talking about random things. He does note that Shinichi Fujimoto was strangely on edge during the whole conversation. This might be why Shinichi Fujimoto at first refused to drink as well.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #13-Hospital Trap**

 **Ayano Nishiki and Naoko Kawabata were trapped inside the Hospital until Monokuma freed them. There was no evidence inside the Hospital itself as if it was all cleaned out right before.**

 **Note: The culprit was not the one who trapped them...and neither the mastermind!**

* * *

"...He was..." Naoko comments with a somber tone. "But S-Shinichi wasn't really the type of person to laugh that much. Now t-that I think of it, I don't really know that much about Shinichi. He n-never talked about himself."

"Really?" Thinking back to the time he asked me how to hack, he was private too. "...All I know is that he isn't good at math...wait, he also said his family was complicated. Alright, what else do you know about Shinichi?"

"U-um...he got really scary if you didn't u-use the right grammar! I-it was one mistake! I swear!"

"There you two are!" Tsukiko then comes running down the hallway. "Something has happened! I need you two to come with me now!" In her usual motherly way, Tsukiko directs us back to the cafeteria...

* * *

 **Here's a chapter! Have fun! Because I just finished with my college finals. Thank the lord!**

 **Reviews~**

 **mayurie-Shinichi did not die happy like Akita. Yeah, I want all the cookies after finals. All of them. Who knew, Takayuki is part koala. Hotaru, become the Komaeda/Oma of this game and make your classmates feel horrible! Monokuma is being surprisingly nice during this investigation. Except nice for Monokuma in this story is evil overlord in normal world talk. Don't worry, Naoko is on the scene! Nope, he is not letting go of that locket ever. Stop raising death flags for the characters. Please. Thanks. :D**

 **The hazel-eyed bookworm-Yes.**

 **Scissor-Snipper-The most lovely description in this story. Pretty sure we would have a dead rabbit. Then the victims would be Mochi and Shinichi. What a cruel world! Oh, it's never simple. *evilly laughing* Goodbye Shinichi, our pure boy that did nothing wrong.**

 **ShadedLyht-Yeah, how else are you not going to give into crippling depression? Oh wait, there's a lot of other ways...well, we got Namita here, the class was doomed from the start. It is super hard to figure out but even this mastermind slips up time to time. It is just really hard to notice the slip ups without knowing all the information.**

 **AnonChan1-Kyoto, don't betray us! Oh, we all need that image in our minds. Especially Kazuhiko...and Kyoto drops dead. Body discovery annoucement. Mochi, no, no dying today. Yasu needs to more page time for that. Yep, these kids need therapy...wait, the only therapist is Etsuko...you know, maybe they don't need therapy. Nagito needs all the love...I'm not only saying that just because he is my husbando.**

 **ObieSenpai-This case is gonna be a hard one because of all the red herrings, like Commander pointed out. Who says anyone is watching this Killing Game? Happy December too! No problem.**

 **YOLOtheWriter-Yeah! :D The case are a bunch of idiots. Even the smart ones are idiots. Shinichi just really likes the death flags. MonoShine is here for a reference! Now I really, really want to see art of Shinichi and Seiko together in Heaven being surrounded by puppies...and now I ship it.** **Clearly, Kazuhiko and Akita worked together to make this murder! They used their ghost powers to move the cups and murder Shinichi. They were getting bored just with the two of them so now Shinichi joins them.**

 **tobi-is-a-reviewer-too-Shinichi is not a very lucky boy. Thanks! Here it is.**

 **SanityRequiem-Oh, look, me again.**

 **mayurietwo-Yep, they're fucked. This trial isn't gonna be happy...like all the other trials in existence. Kaleigh out!...oh wait, I got Commander.**

 **CommanderofInsanity-*And Then There Were None ;)**


	25. Investigation 2-2

**Investigation 2-2: Trust Nobody**

* * *

Naoko and I make our way to the kitchen after Tsukiko. Everybody is more organized now, and I notice that some have even left the room, probably to investigate somewhere else or be away from the dead body. Both make sense.

...Though that is not the main topic of discussion right now. In the middle of the room, I see that Monokuma is waiting with Takayuki. Takayuki looks more pissed off than usual. It is strange that Monokuma is also here since he saved Naoko and me from the Hospital. Though this seems to confirm one thing, that this Monokuma certainly has spares. Going against him will still be suicide. Just where are all the spares? And where do the passageways Monokuma take lead to? Do they lead to whatever is inside that door? I only remember darkness, that TV, and who I believe is the mastermind. What else is in there?

"Monokuma says he wouldn't start talking until you arrived," Tsukiko comments. I take a breath of relief. Even though Monokuma is here, which means something bad is either happening or had happened, it is better than anybody else getting hurt or something happening with Shinichi's body.

"So what do you want Monokuma?" I ask him impolitely. Naoko is hiding behind me, too scared to face the demonic bear directly.

"Since you asked so politely, I guess I can tell you. You're the protagonist after all! Be involved with the plot more!" Monokuma exclaims. "I thought that this wasn't a fair trial. So I allowed Takayuki to give you bastardly idiots some evidence! Now, for the last time in his pathetic lifetime, Takayuki will speak about mysteries and not get his ass poisoned." Not a fair trial? Sure, the culprit has made themselves not known pretty well, and I have no idea who it is, but I would have never guessed Monokuma would be scared enough to actually give us information. He really wants the Killing Game to continue. What is his goal though? I cannot see anybody watching this and gaining anything from it. So what is that bear thinking?

"The poison comes from the plant Strychnos nux-vomica. It is usually found in Southeast Asia so I wonder why it is here..." Takayuki's mind wonders for about a second. "Besides that, I think you can figure this out, Naoko. You're smarter than you think. And, if I hear another pity party come out of your damn mouth, I'm gonna punch you. It pisses me off that I can't solve this damn murder because of this bear." Just like that, every pad in the room rings.

"Wait...is the poison used in the bracelets the same as the one used for the murder?" Naoko questions Monokuma. His only response is to laugh. He ignores her question purposefully and drags a now smiling Takayuki with him to the kitchen.

"The same one as the murder? Don't tell me you're implying what I think you're implying..." Looking out my own action, there is a sudden weight in my stomach. The weight of knowing something is wrong but nothing has changed.

"...C-could it be that the culprit got the poison from one of the bracelets?" Naoko's confidence is gone. There is something new in her eyes, suspicion. Everything begins to click together. The poison, me being alone, being trapped in the Hospital, everything...

Is the culprit setting me up?

People usually pick the answer that is easy for them. While I am friendly to everyone besides Akemi, I am still not a part of their close friend circles. All I really have is Kyoto right now. Kazuhiko is also the first culprit, and, as his girlfriend, people are going to naturally assume things about me. This trial will for sure tell me one thing. Who I can and cannot trust with my life.

And, if the culprit somehow found out that my father is the infamous Izuru Kamukura, that would turn everybody against me. It would be easier for all of them to believe that I am a monster than challenge their own beliefs. Kazuhiko was the only person who saw me and the old Ultimate Despairs for what we truly are, human. Considering his past though, everybody would be considered a human, even the mastermind and Kotori, compared to _them_. THEM. Those assholes who dare called themselves-

"I-I need to be alone! Sorry!" Naoko runs out of the room, breaking me out of my thoughts and robbing me of my new investigation partner. I sigh. Goddammit, if I knew this would have happened, I would have stayed in bed. Then my thoughts would have never wandered to _them_. Just don't think about it...the case is more important...but...

"...Maybe I should. I'm not that important..."

"Ayano," says Kyoto as he walks up to me. He is less visibly shaken by all the events that have transpired today, but he is still not to his old self yet. This was supposed to be a day to make him feel better after all that just ended up being a set up for another murder. "...Want to see?"

"See?...Oh, the bullets? Yeah," I respond. Then, thinking about the fact that most of my classmates are now gone, thoughts begin to swirl in my head. Only Kyoto, Tsukiko, Miyuki, Cassius, and Shinichi (for obvious reasons) remain. Shinichi still has that horrible look on his face, even with his eyes closed. "Where is everybody else?"

"O-oh! That would be important. Satoshi, Yasu, and Minato are in the kitchen. Hotaru, Mitsuru, Akemi, and Hayato are in charge of the pool area along with the secret passageway. Kira, Namita, Mirabilis and Takara are searching Shinichi's room and the surrounding hallway." Surprisingly, more noises coming from the handbook. Now Kyoto shows me the truth bullets.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #14-Takayuki's Poison Lesson**

 **The poison comes from the plant Strychnos nux-vomica which is not native to Japan. It can still be found in the gardens.**

 **Please note the murderer is not Takayuki Anno. If one of you says his name for a suspect, I'm gonna execute him. Because that would get on my nerves and I gave him a freebie! A FREEBIE! I never give out freebies!**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #15-Shinichi's Diary**

 **Nothing is known about the contents inside or why it is even here. It is all written in code in some sort of possibly dead language.**

 **It was thrown into the pool just before the party started by the culprit.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #16-Before the Party**

 **Ayano Nishiki was the one who proposed the idea to Miyuki Kobyashi, Namita Nakahashi, and Cassius blah blah blah.**

 **Kira Iwata was there in the cafeteria but decided to not listen in to the conversation.**

 **Ayano Nishiki and Kyoto Kamui were in the library. Hotaru Amemori came to get them from the library but was in the cafeteria beside for that. Everybody else stayed in the kitchen.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #17-Investigation Positions**

 **Ayano Nishiki and Naoko Kawabata were in charge of the Hospital.**

 **Satoshi Nakajima, Yasu Matsuhita, and Minato Ueda the kitchen.**

 **Hotaru Amemori, Mitsuru Banda, Akemi Nakatani and Hayato Akimoto the pool and secret passageway.**

 **Kira Iwata, Namita Nakahashi, Rosalina Folium and Takara Miyagi searched Shinichi's room.**

 **And, lastly, Kyoto Kamui, Tsukiko Oda, Miyuki Kobyashi and Cassius blah blah blah investigated the cafeteria.**

* * *

"Diary...?" More thoughts enter my head. Was this really a random crime? How could it be a crime with a random victim? Then again, how could it not be? There was no way that the culprit could have known which cup Shinichi would have taken...or is there? This is truly turning out to be the most interesting crime. Kazuhiko would have been more useful in this case, especially since I am sure he is not the culprit this time around.

"..." Kyoto is strangely silent but clearly deep in thought. He looks over to Shinichi with sad eyes. "I am going to check the kitchen again."

"Alright, I'll come with you," I say. Kyoto opens the door for me, which I thank him for and walk in. He quickly follows after me. I observe my surroundings to see that this is where the chaos has transferred to. Satoshi is still going on about Balkan 176, Yasu is on the ground still and Minato is nowhere to be seen. Who thought it was a good idea to make the three of them a team?

"Hmm..." Kyoto begins investigating everywhere right away. He searches all the possible places to hide something or that could house things that would be simply overlooked otherwise. I, on the other hand, make my way over to the cellar. Nobody is in there so it would be good to try to find some clues. Before I do, however, I decide to ask Kyoto something.

"Hey, Kyoto..."

"Yeah?"

"Who assigned the investigation positions?" I ask.

"Oh...that would be Tsukiko and Namita...like usual," he answers me right before heading back to work. I, knowing that there are no more new bullets, make my way to the cellar. Though it would be a good thing to keep in mind. Something as big as the letter was not added after all, and we learned the hard way Monokuma is not to be trusted in the first case. That was not a fair trial. Why is he pushing so hard for this one to be fair when the first one was rigged from the start? After this investigation, I am going to do some hardcore thinking about Kazuhiko's case...Why did he have to die? I guess Akita too. There is no rule that states that you cannot think about the case after all.

"Okay." I finish my trip to the cellar. Right now, I must think about Shinichi's case. Think, think, think. Why would the culprit kill? There is a time limit yet we are nowhere near the date, right? And there is that weird water motive. Why would the culprit kill somebody in that manner just to be caught and give one person water? If they did, for some dumb reason, it is clear to see whoever they give the perk to will have a massive target on their backs.

* * *

In the cellar, it takes me a couple of uneventful minutes to find where the Balkan 176 is stored. There are about ten flasks of it, which four are emptied. There are big flasks too. They are sized up to be a little smaller than the wine bottles hiding them. Why are wine bottles hiding them though? I pick one of the full flasks up and Satoshi is right about the warning label. It is written in various languages like English, Japanese, Russian, etc. You could tell that this is pretty dated since most of the land the Committee has 'saved' now speak only English. Once again, Shinichi would be helpful here.

"..." A realization comes over me. It is something I do not want to do. I take the smallest slip possible to test out how potent this really is. Seconds later, my mouth is burning and there is a new decoration in the room. The decoration is of broken glass with whiskey. "I'm never doing that again."

It is worse than that one time that Kazuhiko convinced me to try watching this TV show called Boku no Pico. I was never the same person again. Kazuhiko had way too much fun trolling me...I would kill to have those moments again...No, Ayano, that is what Monokuma wants you to think. It is no use getting out of here if Kazuhiko is not here. Just have to make sure everybody else is safe.

...If I return, the first thing I would have to do is talk to Shiro. He would want to know what is going on here...and how Kazuhiko died. Then I guess I could kill myself. Maybe I can finally resume my investigation into where Jabberwock Island is. Maybe seeing my father again would give me a new will to live.

"Ayano, I found something!" Kyoto shouts as he opens up the door. He also has a new coffee cup in his hands.

"What is it?" I question. I slowly step over to where I threw the flask in a pathetic attempt to cover it up.

"C-come with m-me!" Kyoto rushes out of the room and I follow closely behind. I truly have no idea how much time we have left, yet something inside me tells me that Monokuma is going to be unfair with the investigations too. Would not be surprised if he says who the killer is outright once again.

* * *

Right before Kyoto shows me what he had found, we hear something. Words that I did not want to hear. Everything seems to be so rushed...too perfect. Like the only reason why Monokuma gave us that hint was to fairly end the investigation early.

"Alrighty, my precious, bastard students, it is finally time for the second class trial! Come to the front of the staircase to the trial room this instant!"

"...He's making fools out of us," I sigh. Just like usual. Next thing you know there is going to be a rule that is against breathing air.

"Fools?" Satoshi asks. He is now carrying Yasu, and I just realized how strong Satoshi is. Did any of us know he was strong enough to carry a person, even if Yasu is small? Guess that is how he stayed alive for so long working in the underground. Because, to survive in this word, you either need to be smart or strong. Satoshi is the biggest idiot in my class so it really should not surprise me.

"Yeah."

"I'm already one," he laughs. Then he leaves the both of us in the room. Yasu still shows no signs of waking up. That is a shame, because, while they are not the best at solving mysteries, Yasu helps everybody keep it together. Along with Mochi. Mitsuru seems to have a soft side when it comes to animals.

"I w-will show you the bullets once we get there," Kyoto tells me. "What I found is d-do not have the time to see it in person again." I nod my head as I take a deep breath. The trial grounds is the last place I ever want to see again, but I have to embrace it. I may not care about my life that much...yet I am not going to have all of my classmates die because I believe in nothing! Kyoto is still here! He does not deserve to die!

* * *

When we reach there, some of our classmates were waiting, although we are not the last to arrive. Naoko, Satoshi, Yasu, Minato, Kira, Namita, Mirabilis, Takara, Tsukiko, Miyuki, and Cassius arrived before us. Now we are just waiting for the group in charge of the pool and Takayuki.

All of us return to the groups we are comfortable in, clearly suspicious of each other. There are a lot of darting eyes and whispering. I stay with Kyoto, along with noticing that Naoko and Takara are deciding to stick together. Namita and Miyuki are having a conversation together while Tsukiko keeps guard on the staircase. All of the rest are all in one large group. They are by far the loudest. Most of them are talking about the trial, about what certain pieces of evidence mean, yet I can tell that there is something not right about their theories.

"The pool team should be here any minute now. Can I see the bullets?" I whisper to Kyoto. After coming to a realization that the culprit might be framing me, I cannot unfeel the suspicious eyes of others. There are definitely people checking out my behavior and other possible signs of being guilty. This might not be the smallest move to make, as there are many people I have not talked to during the process of this whole investigation, but it is better than not knowing some of the facts before the trial. I do not want to make a fool out of myself. That would only make people think I did it more.

"Of course." Once again, he allows me to see his pad.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #18-Hidden Empty Bags**

 **In the kitchen, in one of the cupboards, there are two big pouches that are now empty and wet. One of them contained the poison, while the other contained red colored water.**

 **They were placed in the cupboard after Shinichi Fujimoto's death.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #19-Right Before**

 **In the small window of time, before the drinking started, Shinichi Fujimoto was visited by Kira Iwata, Cassius blah blah blah, Akemi Nakatani, Satoshi Nakajima, and Hotaru Amemori. All of them were in a group and had a small conversation that lasted for a couple seconds.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #20-Shinichi's Secret**

 **Shinichi Fujimoto is hiding a secret of some kind. That's it.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #21-The Letters**

 **Sometime before the party, Shinichi received a letter that told him to watch his back. It is not the same handwriting as the letter found before the murder.**

* * *

"...Watch out?" Why do the last of the bullets always have to be the one that causes the most confusion? First, it was the secret passageway, and now it is these letters. What does all of this mean?

"Hello~" Hotaru comes bursting through the door while doing a handstand. She is dripping from head to toe. To be honest, she looks the worse out of everybody here.

"Please just ignore her," Akemi comments. He is not wet like Hotaru. Hotaru did something to get herself wet, but it is not surprising since they were at the pool. Though the pool seems to be a horrible place to have a swim. Perhaps Hotaru was the one who found that piece of evidence?

"Let's just get this damn trial over with." Mitsuru, though, is also wet like Hotaru. All of her hair dye has been washed away, leaving only her natural black hair behind. She is followed by a clean Hayato.

"Stop cursing!" Mirabilis tries to get Mitsuru, but the gang leader dodges her easily. This does not stop Mirabilis, however, since she is still trying to purify Takayuki.

"Hayato, why are Mitsuru and Hotaru drenched?" Tsukiko questions them. She moves from her spot to make it possible to enter the passageway. Namita tries to open it, but she realizes that it is locked.

"Oda-san, Amemori-chan and Banda-san requested to investigate the pool area while Nakatani-san and I tried to open the secret passageway. I assume that they must have had the idea to go into the pool after we went our separate ways," Hayato answers. That makes sense. Though it seems that Hotaru somehow convinced Hayato to call her chan instead of san.

"...Oh, Mirabilis, who did you purify?" Satoshi suddenly asks out of the blue. That stops everybody in their tracks, even Mirabilis herself.

"If you desire it, then it's my duty as a magical girl to give you this information. I purified two people. One of them was Shinichi accidentally when I was chasing after that crook Yuki and the other was-"

"Not so fast!" Monokuma interrupts Mirabilis...who was surprisingly using very formal language compared to usual. Mirabilis and Mitsuru both clearly want to attack Monokuma but do not strike. "Now I'll take you to the trial grounds since none of you are smart enough to learn how to lock pick."

"Where's Takayuki?" Monokuma ignores Naoko's question as he opens up the passageway. We all travel our way down silently. It would be useless to ask Monokuma anything since he would just give us the information he wants us to hear.

* * *

The trial room is the same as last time. Large, high tech, but has an oppressive atmosphere. Akita is almost lucky to be the first one killed so she did not have to witness this kind of place.

Though the most surprising thing we see is a new feature...

Takayuki is tied up in chains, clearly unhappy in his current situation. He is connected to Monokuma's throne. The worse thing though is that he is dressed up in some strange looking costume clearly meant for a female. His hair is even decorated since it is so long. Thinking back on it, I remember seeing an outfit a lot like this one in a movie that Kazuhiko liked. It is called Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi I think...and it was the outfit that Princess Leia...Layla...Leela? I don't know. Anyway, it was the outfit that she wore while being held captive by that weird alien thingy.

"...Oh, my God, that's priceless!" Hotaru begins to laugh. All of us either stare or ignore her. I ignore her.

"Shut up or I will kill you," Takayuki threatens her. It does nothing, however, as she just continues to laugh.

"Everybody shut up or I'll kill all of you and turn you into butter!" Monokuma shouts. Hotaru shuts up, but she struggles to keep the smile off her face. "Attention, students, this trial will be much, much harder than the last. But remember that the culprit is one of you. Puhuhu." His red eye glows. The words that come out of his mouth is finally what allows Hotaru to calm down.

"..." Hayato raises his hand. Monokuma points his paw at him.

"Am I allowed to speak, Monokuma-sensei?"

"Yes, stick in the mud, you're allowed to speak," Monokuma replies. He blushes at Hayato's pick of flattery. I never really thought of Hayato as a stick in the mud, but Monokuma knows he can do whatever he wants. Even break the rules since no one appears to be watching.

"Are you certain that the culprit is one of us? How-"

"It is one of you! Who else would it be? I'll tell you something that's actually true for once. There are only twenty-one people in this forest. And three of them are dead, so now there are only eighteen of you bastards left. Can you tell me who is gonna be the sole survivor?" Monokuma begins laughing like a madman again.

"Sole survivor? What are you planning, Monokuma?" Tsukiko questions him.

"Figure out who the Blackened is and you'll get to know! Oh wait, you would have to do that for five more trials. Because it's always six trials folks." He is way too smug to be trusted. We can never let our guard down around this bear. And, even if we try to get the mastermind, we will just end up like Kazuhiko.

"How are you so certain, Monokuma? We could defeat you-"

"That's the funniest thought I ever heard. You know who also thought that, Kazuhiko. And so, so many others. But you're all just meaningless trash for my entertainment! So kill, kill, kill!"

"What if the Blackened wins? What would happen then? Would your plan fall apart?" Akemi questions him. We all stare at him. The rest of the class is not used to seeing _Akemi_ of all people stand up against Monokuma. Monokuma himself is caught off guard by Akemi.

"..." Monokuma is silent. I try to say something, but words play over the speaker.

"Go to your respected podiums and begin the trial to find the second Blackened. Monokuma will not answer any more of your questions. Disturbing him would cause you to be executed," an unfamiliar female voice informs us. Even though I am sure that I never heard it before, something about it strikes a chord in me.

"...What?" Satoshi is the most confused out of all of us. He places down Yasu on their podium. We all follow after him. I take a deep breath as I am forced to embrace the pressure of another trial like this. The podiums once again go up, although I notice that Monokuma's throne is staying down. It is finally time to find out who killed Shinichi Fujimoto, the Ultimate Translator! The embodiment of...what? I cannot think of an embodiment...

Akita and Kazuhiko were easy. Chaos and truth fit them so well. But Shinichi? Unlike those two, I realize I know nothing about Shinichi. I cannot do something that Kazuhiko always teased me about and pick a word that describes a person. Maybe this is not only a trial to find out who the Blackened is, but a trial to figure out how Shinichi truly was as a person. He is no longer alive to tell us after all.

Anyway, this is no time to think about such things! What I need to focus on is this trial of truth and lies!

* * *

 **It is almost Christmas which means it is almost time for the special thing of specialness. Yes, I've been busy. XD But, you know what, I'm too addicted to writing these stories help.**

 **This is another small chapter but that's because Monokuma decided to mess with them again and shorten the investigation time. Thanks Monokuma, we all love you so, very much. And Kaneshiro too. Kaneshiro is the best person in the entire world, behind Aki and Akiza.**

 **Well, it's time for them reviews. I'll post a poll for who you think the culprit is later~Review time!**

 **AnonChan1-Hiya. Shinichi is the shortest person here. Plot twist. It's not Miyuki. This is the time to torture Naoko chapter. Don't trust anybody. There's a reason why this is the forest of DESPAIR. Naoko suffering is our suffering. No problem. I hope you feel better. I know how it feels like to want to do unwanted things to your body. I wish you luck. :) *huggles***

 **mayurie-Shinichi is deader than dead. Naoko suffering! *throws cookies back since finals are death* Don't ever stop. I enjoy giving them nicknames for this exact purpose. More Naoko suffering. *evilly laughs* Who dares raises Naoko's death flags!?...Wait, me. No, Monokuma's just there. Being Monokuma. Being Monokuma is suffering. Thanks. :)**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Thanks, since this is the murder that took me the longest to finalize. So many different types of the poisoned cup until this. More Naoko suffering. Plot twist, Shinichi and Satoshi are the same person. Dun dun dun.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-It is still better than my reviews...which are nonexistent. I know, right? XD It is a good way to get extra reviews though. Naoko suffering. Tumblr is where all fans go to suffer. :P Shinichi is a smol bean. Thanks. :D**

 **QueenofChocolateWinx-No, it isn't. :P I hated being fifteen. Shinichi right now was teen years for me. XD XD XD...wait, I'm still kinda a teenager. NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**

 **CommanderofInsanity-HEYA. You're wrong about some things Ultimate Thief. ;)**


	26. Trial 2-1

**Trial 2-1: Numb**

* * *

 **Class Trial: All Rise!**

While Monokuma goes over the rules of the trials once again, just much angrier than usual (and, of course, Mirabilis still questions him on why they have to die), I decided to take a look at the Truth Bullets once again. My finger glides across the screen and presses on the correct tab. I take a deep breath...I really do not want another one of these, but sometimes you got to do what an evil teddy bear forces you to do in order to see yet another sunrise. Of course, we cannot see the sunrise.

Before I press onto the screen, I look over to my right. Inbetween Akemi and Cassius are where Shinichi used to stand, but now he is just replaced with a stand that has an x just like Akita's. Slightly over is...Kazuhiko...who has met the same fate. Only a picture to remember them by. Just imagining the possibility of somebody else joining them soon makes me...scared. Scared to progress through this and send another one of my classmates to their death. Briefly, I try to convince myself that Shinichi somehow committed suicide, but that does not make much sense. He is the only reason I am still alive. I was looking forward to teaching him about hacking...but that is a future that can never be.

Seeing Kazuhiko I think about how he is with me. I do not exactly believe in the afterlife, but, even with no way to bring somebody back from the dead, he lives on in all of our memories. Even though there is nothing after death, there is still us in the land of the living. Both of us live in nothingness after all.

A small smile creeps on my lips as the memory of Kazuhiko enters my mind. I need to live on for the truth. So I press the button...

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #1-Monokuma File #2**

 _ **Victim: Shinichi Fujimoto: Ultimate Translator...and the poor bastard who wasted a perfectly good murder on him**_

 _ **The victim is Shinichi Fujimoto. His body was found in the cafeteria. He died around 11:40 PM. Shinichi's cause of death is chocking on his own vomit.**_

 **Hidden Information (use this wisely, as one person per trial gets extra but only once) (this also cannot be used as its own Truth Bullet but as an add-on):** _ **Due to his small body and lack of weight, along with the chaos around him, the death happened quicker than most usual cases of this type of poison.**_

 _ **Before death, Shinichi experienced muscle spasms, seizures, mydriasis, tachycardia, tachypnea, hypertension, cyanosis, leukocytosis, opisthotonus, and vomiting.**_

 _ **The cause of death is respiratory failure by choking to death on his own vomit. Shinichi also suffered some brain damage before dying, but only enough for mental retardation.**_

 **Truth Bullet #2-** **The Party**

 _ **Shinichi Fujimoto was killed during Kyoto Kamui's birthday party.** **Namita Nakahashi and Miyuki Kobyashi were the ones in charge of making the party. Miyuki Kobyashi was told by Ayano Nishiki that it was near Kyoto Kamui's birthday.** **There were five groups.** **Takara Miyagi, Shinichi Fujimoto, Kyoto Kamui, Takayuki Anno, Naoko Kawabata, and Rosalina Folium were in a group.** **Then Yasu Matsuhita, Minato Ueda, and Mitsuru Banda.** **The third consists of Hayato Akimoto, Tsukiko Oda, Miyuki Kobyashi, Namita Nakahashi.** **In the kitchen and not the cafeteria like all the other students, there was Kira Iwata, Cassius Jacobson, Akemi Nakatani, Satoshi Nakajima, and Hotaru Amemori.** **And then Ayano Nishiki was all by herself.**_

 **Truth Bullet #3-The Blackout**

 _ **In the middle of the party, and right before Shinichi died, there were two blackouts.**_

 _ **The first one was followed by the appearance of mysterious cups, one for each of the surviving students. The second was followed by Shinichi's corpse.**_

 **Truth Bullet #4-Murder Setup**

 _ **After the first blackout, there were cups for all of the surviving students at the point.** **All of them contain the alcohol Balkan 176, some food coloring, and small amounts of poison, though this is unlethal. The worse case scenario is a couple of cramps so don't complain. One of them had a lethal amount.** **The order of the students on the left side of the table is Takayuki Anno, Satoshi Nakajima, Akemi Nakatani, Kira Iwata, Cassius Jacobson, Kyoto Kamui, Ayano Nishiki, Rosalina Folium and Yasu Matsuhita. The right side is Hotaru Amemori, Tsukiko Oda, Namita Nakahashi, Miyuki Kobyashi, Shinichi Fujimoto, Naoko Kawabata, Hayato Akimoto, Mitsuru Banda, Takara Miyagi and Minato Ueda.**_

 **Truth Bullet #5-Hotaru's Alibi/Testimony**

 _ **Hotaru Amemori talked with Ayano Nishiki during the first part of the party. Before the first blackout, she decided to enter the kitchen.** **Hotaru Amemori played card games with the others in the kitchen until the first blackout. Before that, though, she explains that both Kira Iwata and Akemi Nakatani went to the bathroom.**_

 **Truth Bullet #6-Ayano's Testimony**

 _ **Before Hotaru Amemori went to the kitchen, she had a conversation with Ayano Nishiki. Ayano Nishiki herself was with Kyoto Kamui before the blackout.** **She, Naoko Kawabata, and Takara Miyagi were the first ones to go to the Hospital. Then Ayano Nishiki went to the Hospital by herself right before Shinichi died.**_

 **Truth Bullet #7-Balkan 176**

 _ **The alcohol inside the drinks. It seems to be less powerful than it usually is.** **It is one of the most potent vodkas there are. Several flasks of it can be found in the cellar.**_

 **Truth Bullet #8-The Cups**

 _ **The cups used to hold the alcohol are typical red party cups usually used for beer. These can also be found in the cellar.** **One of them stands out. It is on the left side of the table, four down. It has a marking on the rim.**_

 **Truth Bullet #9-Tampered Supplies**

 _ **Naoko Kawabata, Takara Miyagi, and Ayano Nishiki went to the Hospital before Shinichi's death. They tried to get the correct medical supplies to save him. Those supplies were a charcoal slurry, a benzodiazepine, an oxygen mask, and phenobarbital.**_ _ **The oxygen mask did not work due to being incomplete. All of the other supplies are in the Hospital in different containers. The pickup team bought fake containers that only said the name and had nothing inside. Before they were empty, they held the ADHD medicine Vynase.**_

 **Truth Bullet #10-More About The Poison**

 _ **The poison itself is in its liquid form. It is poisonous to all living things if they digest, inhale or injected in a high enough dose. Shinichi Fujimoto digested the poison.** **Note that the poison is mostly used to kill other animals like rats (note that this poison has the same effects in all different kinds of animals). It used to be a common poison until the Committee outlawed its use. Even before, the poison was not used that much in murders. It was mostly used for beauty, healing, and steroids.**_

 **Truth Bullet #11-Tsukiko's Testimony**

 _ **Before the blackout, Tsukiko Oda, Namita Nakahashi, Miyuki Kobyashi and Hayato Akimoto were having a conversation about possible ways to stop the Killing Game.** **The cups they used were different than the ones for the murder setup. There were gone but were found to be in the place where the cups used in the murder setup are usually placed.**_

 **Truth Bullet #12-Kyoto's Account**

 _ **Kyoto spent the first part of the party with Takara Miyagi, Shinichi Fujimoto, Takayuki Anno and Naoko Kawabata. Rosalina Folium was with them as well trying to purify Takayuki Anno and 'save' Naoko Kawabata. He began a conversation with Ayano Nishiki right before the blackout.** **The five...or maybe six if you count Rosalina Folium...were talking about random things. He does note that Shinichi Fujimoto was strangely on edge during the whole conversation. This might be why Shinichi Fujimoto at first refused to drink as well.**_

 **Truth Bullet #13-Hospital Trap**

 _ **Ayano Nishiki and Naoko Kawabata were trapped inside the Hospital until Monokuma freed them. There was no evidence inside the Hospital itself as if it was all cleaned out right before.**_

 **Truth Bullet #14-Takayuki's Poison Lesson**

 _ **The poison comes from the plant Strychnos nux-vomica which is not native to Japan. It can still be found in the gardens.**_

 **Truth Bullet #15-Shinichi's Diary**

 _ **Nothing is known about the contents inside or why it is even here. It is all written in code in some sort of possibly dead language.** **It was thrown into the pool just before the party started by the culprit.**_

 **Truth Bullet #16-Before the Party**

 _ **Ayano Nishiki was the one who proposed the idea to Miyuki Kobyashi, Namita Nakahashi, and Cassius blah blah blah.** **Kira Iwata was there in the cafeteria but decided to not listen in to the conversation.** **Ayano Nishiki and Kyoto Kamui were in the library. Hotaru Amemori came to get them from the library but was in the cafeteria beside for that. Everybody else stayed in the kitchen.**_

 **Truth Bullet #17-Investigation Positions**

 _ **Ayano Nishiki and Naoko Kawabata were in charge of the Hospital.** **Satoshi Nakajima, Yasu Matsuhita, and Minato Ueda the kitchen.** **Hotaru Amemori, Mitsuru Banda, Akemi Nakatani and Hayato Akimoto the pool and secret passageway.** **Kira Iwata, Namita Nakahashi, Rosalina Folium and Takara Miyagi searched Shinichi's room.** **And, lastly, Kyoto Kamui, Tsukiko Oda, Miyuki Kobyashi and Cassius blah blah blah investigated the cafeteria.**_

 **Truth Bullet #18-Hidden Empty Bags**

 _ **In the kitchen, in one of the cupboards, there are two big pouches that are now empty and wet. One of them contained the poison, while the other contained red colored water.** **They were placed in the cupboard after Shinichi Fujimoto's death.**_

 **Truth Bullet #19-Right Before**

 _ **In the small window of time, before the drinking started, Shinichi Fujimoto was visited by Kira Iwata, Cassius blah blah blah, Akemi Nakatani, Satoshi Nakajima, and Hotaru Amemori. All of them were in a group and had a small conversation that lasted for a couple seconds.**_

 **Truth Bullet #20-Shinichi's Secret**

 _ **Shinichi Fujimoto is hiding a secret of some kind. That's it.**_

 **Truth Bullet #21-The Letters**

 _ **Sometime before the party, Shinichi received a letter that told him to watch his back. It is not the same handwriting as the letter found before the murder.**_

 **TO THE HOLDER OF SECRET INFORMATION : Do not tell anybody about this perk or you will get executed. Your death would be in vain. You can, however, tell people about the information inside, but only those you trust. Having this information will paint a target on your back. Be careful.**

 **Because you have been entrusted with this information, you have been given a job. Point out a student who you know for certain is not the culprit and pin the blame on them. Not doing this will also result in your death.**

* * *

...Secret information? I do not remember my father telling me anything about this. Perhaps something like this happened but he just did not know? No, that would be stupid. The mastermind here is probably the person who came up with this idea. The most likely reason why is to throw her off guard and not trust each other. Trust is what wins the Killing Game. If people just trusted each other, then nobody would have to die. Of course trust was hard in the old world and even harder in this new one.

Thinking about the people around me, I try to think about many things. Who is the killer? Who can I trust? How can I point to one of my classmates knowing that they are innocent? What does the evidence lead to?...And who was the person burdened with this information in the last trial? The people who-

"Oh, Ayano, you finally returned to the land of the plot!" Monokuma shouts out, still clearly pissed and keeping his eye on Akemi. "Now, since the audience will actually know what's going on, let's do this before I kill you all!"

"Before Monokuma can start his bullshit games, we should decide what to discuss first. We need to be more organized than we were in the disaster of the previous trial," Akemi says. He is also returning Monokuma's stare. "We've to make sure Monokuma doesn't mess with us again-"

"I give my word as a bear that this trial will be fair..." Monokuma then takes a zipper out of his mouth and zips it. Does that mean he will not say anything to sway the process of the trial this time? Although this is Monokuma and cannot be trusted by any means. Any means.

"The first thing we should discuss is the poison used to poison Shinichi," Tsukiko suggests.

"That may be important, and I may want to stay neutral, but I believe the murder weapon should be discussed later," Miyuki replies. She places her hand on her chin, clearly thinking about something. "Sorry for speaking out of line, Oda-san, yet I believe that there should be another topic. There is something else we have to discover before we can fully understand what the poison means."

"..." Monokuma tries to say something but fails. We all ignore him. Takayuki smirks.

"Maybe we should talk about who the evidence points to as being the culprit?" I ask.

"No, it's way too early for that! I want to know how the culprit did that prank. It would be impossible to do with just one person." Hotaru is doing her usual thing and hanging off the edge of her platform. Kira, Akemi, and Satoshi stare at her, clearly annoyed. Why these people? I truly do not know.

"H-Hotaru has a point-"

"How about the fact that somebody ruined my precious alcohol!? Think about the poor alcohol!" Satoshi cries out. Naoko shows her first emotion of annoyance throughout the time that I have known her, raising her eyebrow subtly. Takayuki sighs loudly, however.

"Alcohol!? That's bad! How about that poor plant forced to be the murder weapon? I'm sorry, strychnos nux-vomica, I failed you as a magical girl!" Mirabilis shouts. She actually begins to cry, which causes Takara to try to comfort her by writing out words using his own tablet. What surprises me the most is that Mirabilis is using quite big words. A word I did not know how to say is spoken by her with perfect clarity. Even now, Mirabilis cannot shake off her roots of being the Ultimate Florist.

"I'm still surrounded by idiots-"

"That's enough! You kids clearly can't handle yourselves again! Fine. I guess I've to actually do some work again," Monokuma interrupts Mitsuru. "Here I thought I could leave your kids alone since you were always bitching about my involvement. But you're not going anywhere! It bores me!" He snaps his paws. Somehow the sound echoes loudly. Most of my classmates are in pain, except for Takara, who looks at everybody in a confused manner.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence: Battle Arena Preparation**

"Non-Stop Debate?! Again!?" Satoshi questions, dumbfounded.

"Since you can't all agree on a topic, and I really don't want you all wasting your valuable points, I'll give you the first one. As your headmaster, I lead you all to a bright, despair-filled future!" Monokuma explains himself. "Then lead yourselves, my precious, bastard students...How did the killer get the poison?"

"The plant is strychnos nux-vomica, most commonly known as nightshade, produces a poison named strychnine from the seeds. Getting in contact with strychnine can lead to death," Mirabilis states. Amazed, I stare at her, not knowing whether or not my mouth is open. She was useless in the first Class Trial, but now she seems to be a possible key to solving the case. Nobody is refuting here, possibly because everybody knows that she is the true plant expert around here.

"Y-yeah and Shinichi's s-symptoms match up perfectly! Muscle spasms, seizures, mydriasis, tachycardia, tachypnea, hypertension, cyanosis, leukocytosis, opisthotonus, and vomiting are all symptoms of strychnos nux-vomica poisoning that he shows!" Naoko adds-on. She seems a lot more confident than before.

"They w-would also be able to get them unnoticed." Kyoto is becoming part of the conversation which makes me smile. "If s-someone caught them, they c-could easily come up with a l-lie."

"Kids, I think you just opened this case up real good." Yasu smiles as they let out their rabbit from their box. They hold him, careful to not let him anywhere near the edges of the platform.

"There's one problem though, my magic could not find any seeds on the plant. A villain must've taken them!...Though I checked before this case. My magical girl senses were telling me that the garden could be unfairly used for murder so I listed down everything that I could find! FYI, this happened before Akita died too. The seeds are somehow not growing back-"

"It m-must be it after all! The poison is one used for the Forbidden Actions!" Naoko can hardly contain herself. Adrenaline is coursing through her body. She is taking long, halted breaths.

"Then how did the killer get that poison?" I question her. I look at the bracelet on my own hand once again. Its small weight now feels a lot heavier than before.

"..." Everybody is silent while trying to think about a possible answer.

"Pleasant...I mean, M-Monokuma, can somebody extract poison from their own bracelet?" Cassius asks him, being strangely helpful. Though he may just be looking for a way to solve this case without thinking about it too much. Monokuma, however, does not respond. Cassius pouts.

"That is a good inquiry, Monokuma, and I highly suggest that you tell us the correct answer. You did say that you want this trial to be fair, right? Then you should give us the information we asked for." Hayato winks at Monokuma, immediately grabbing his attention. Though it is good to see that Hayato is using his talent.

"S-s-s-s-s-s-s-since you asked for it." Monokuma is blushing and sweating. He is grabbing his chest while panting loudly. Once again creating an ungodly echo, we all, except for Takara again, begin to be in pain. How does Monokuma do that? "No."

"...Good." Naoko then smiles at me. It is good that she does not suspect me anymore, but the culprit expected something else from this trial. The culprit did not suspect that Monokuma would give us this information. Whoever the culprit is, they must be freaking out to see that Monokuma destroyed a crucial part of their plan. Monokuma is being just as bad as he always is.

"Now, kids, this is supposed to be a _debate_ , not a session where you just talk! So debate! C'mon, this is boring!" Monokuma then begins to braid Takayuki's hair. Takayuki crosses his arms and legs. "This chapter has a couple thousand words left and there's nobody on the chopping block yet! Hop to it!"

"Hm, there's no evidence on how they got it then. Perhaps exploring other parts of the case will make this clear-"

"NAMITA, REMEMBER, YOU CAN'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT!" Everybody is just getting on Monokuma's nerves today. There is a high percentage that we are going to pay for this dearly.

"Wait, kids, I think I'm gonna try something," Yasu tells everybody. "Using my tools I can actually be helpful is this Class Trial. Monokuma, I request permission to examine Ayano's Forbidden Action."

"Having this sort of information will help the Class Trial to be fair also." Hayato starts battering his eyes at Monokuma. Monokuma has the same reaction as before. Although Hayato remains neutral, it is clear to see he is trying to find the truth in order to live. Nothingness is better, but, hey, what can I do?

"Permission granted."

"Alright..." Yasu gulps as they see the distances behind all the platforms. Even though I am closer to them than Minato and Takayuki, Yasu is still a fair deal away. They carefully move from one podium to the other. Mochi is back in his little box but is poking his head out.

"...Shall we move onto a more...pressing subject-"

"Haha, no. Hayato, you gotta follow the rules. I'm a bear, your flattery doesn't affect me," Monokuma laughs. Hayato is not affected whatsoever. What I find strange is that not only is Monokuma blatantly lying, but he is not doing his usual thing by calling people by their nicknames.

"If the culprit received the poison from the bracelets, may I ask whose they got it from? Do any of you with them remember something like that happening?" Miyuki questions.

"No," Minato and I answer at once. Takayuki keeps his mouth shut. Most likely because of the very thing we are talking about.

"Maybe the dirty commoner culprit took it while they were sleeping?" Cassius is trying to fix up his jacket like usual only to accidentally make it look even worse. He frowns but still looks confident. Somehow.

"I don't think that happened," Kira responds.

"Yes, I agree with Kira. They would have most certainly woken up," Tsukiko agrees. It is weird that I cannot refute any statements, but that is likely because of us having no information about this yet. Why did Monokuma begin with something that should have been discussed later?

Yasu finally reaches me, out of breath by making the distance between all of the platforms. They are taking a moment to steady while they search through their toolbox to find the right equipment for the job.

"Hmmm...one of us should just make a really stupid claim to advance to something else. Satoshi, time to do your job." Akemi glares Satoshi down. Made even easier because they are right next to each other.

"So I'm still the butt monkey...oh well! Time to do this! Umm...the killer got...the killer got the poison from _his butt_!" Satoshi exclaims. We all are staring at him. Sighing, Miyuki is the one to refute it with the Takayuki's Poison Lesson bullet.

"Takayuki explained to us that the poison comes from the plant nicknamed nightshade." Miyuki is the one that is glaring at Satoshi the most. She even broke her usually neutral stance just to prove him wrong. I always thought she was the type of person who would always put her emotions aside, but even Miyuki is starting to wish that Satoshi will just shut up. If he does not die, he is doomed to be forever the person kept alive only to be framed for murders.

 **Non-Stop Debate Stop: Time to Plan Out Avenues of Discussion!**

"Ayano, kid, keep this secret," Yasu whispers into my ear, being careful to not let Monokuma know the truth of the situation. Their words do not appear in front of us. Looking in their hands, there is a small, white, folded up note. I take a deep breath while I quickly place it in my jacket's pocket.

"Monokuma, this bracelet cannot be abused without any experience of tools. I would say that it would acquire somebody that has years of experience to crack."

"That only paints a target on your back, you know," Hotaru responds.

"There's no evidence pointing me to the crime. Since I didn't do it, kid, I would've no reason to be afraid to share this information." Yasu, trying to ignore Hotaru, slowly makes their way back to their own podium. Hotaru keeps her eyes on them.

"Years of experience?"

"Attention, my students, I shall add the new information to the Truth Bullets! Please make this trial interesting now!" Monokuma is acting like a little kid watching a TV show. He is the most immature of all of us here. "Since Miyuki is the one who 'won' the debate, she'll pick the next topic."

...But, thinking about it, some of the other students seem to be planning something. Like they are purposefully making it so that Monokuma will be bored but they can still find Shinichi's killer. Monokuma does not know that keeping us in this situation will not break our spirits since we are used to being forced under unfair rules. No matter what, he will not break the other students' hope. Or my nothingness I guess. It is hard to break something that is not there.

"...If you say so. I believe that focusing on the party is the must. Exactly, how did the culprit set up the murder? Like how they got those cups in the right places under such a small window of time, filled them with poison, diluted the effects of the alcohol, turned the lights off-"

"We get it. Just continue already!" Hotaru is bored like Monokuma. Or possibly tired, since I believe the only thing that is keeping all of us awake is the adrenaline in our systems. Falling asleep now will possibly result in our deaths. Especially with us being so high up.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"...Hm, is it possible that the killer _hid the setup in advance in the cafeteria_ -"

"No, my talent is being able to create events like this," Namita interrupts, taken off guard. "In the final bits of preparation, I, Tsukiko, and Miyuki looked all over the cafeteria and saw no signs of it."

"I know, the killer used _magic_!" Mirabilis takes out her wand with a smile. Takayuki jumps even though he is far away.

"...Perhaps the k-killer found some way to get in the _e-electricity supply_? Or even f-found a way into _Monokuma's passageways_?" Kyoto suggests. Although it is possible, Kyoto is thinking too ahead of the group, leaving everybody but possibly Takayuki, Naoko, Tsukiko, Miyuki, Hayato, and Takayuki confused.

"That still doesn't explain how they did it in such a low amount of time," Akemi berates Kyoto.

"Maybe, _the killer h-had accomplices_!" Naoko shouts out. Thinking about it, that possibility would make the most amount of sense. Quickly searching through all the collected evidence, I remember something that my father told me. The ability to agree. I click on our hospital stay and direct the bullet to Naoko's statement.

 **AGREE**

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"Wait, you can do that!?" Kira reacts. Not waiting for anybody else to react, I state my thoughts.

"Naoko and I were both trapped in the Hospital by somebody that's neither the killer or the mastermind...That means that somebody is consciously making the decision to work with the Blackened."

"...Wouldn't that mean the Blackened would've been part of a group? Since they would have to plan everything out?" Hotaru asks. "Congrats, Ayano, you're off the suspects list!"

"But I wasn't on in the first place," I pout. Even though the culprit possibly tried to set me up, it seems like their plan has failed miserably. I look around to see whether or not anybody is acting weird. Like they slowly get off the edge. Surprisingly, nobody seems out of line. Maybe, though, that is because of me not knowing them that well yet other than actual personal insight.

"Speaking of, I think that's what we need right now. Let's not just randomly lynch somebody now though. Having a clear view might be-"

"Do not accuse somebody because of your boredom, Hotaru Amemori," Miyuki says as she slowly draws her sword.

"The best way to get a suspect is to check all of the alibis," Tsukiko notes. "Knowing who was with who is important. Plus, with all the preparations, it's easy to see for me that the killer was in the cafeteria and kitchen during the day." She makes a good point since, even if they somehow avoided the cafeteria, they would have to get the cups from the kitchen and alcohol from the cellar.

"So...does that remove all the commoners not working there?" Cassius questions.

"Yes, at least right now," Namita responds. She is forcing a smile to most likely make everybody else feel more at ease. "...That lowers the possible killers to me and Miyuki, who were working on planning it, Tsukiko, Kira, and Cassius."

"Why did you just pointed out all of them? That makes you have a real target on your back, Namita. Better step carefully or else something bad might happen. I'm pretty sure other people worked on it too-"

"Hotaru, shut up." Hotaru is taken back by Namita's sudden aggressive behavior. "It's because we were the ones who knew about the party before anyone else. Miyuki and I told Tsukiko and Cassius told Kira. So only we would have the foresight to plan something like this."

"Namita, there is a way that somebody else is involved. Somebody could have listened to the conversation," Tsukiko tells her friend in a soft voice. "We should focus on other things before-"

"Are you sucking all brownie points, Namita and Tsukiko? Trying to get us off track by focusing on people-"

"Stop interrupting people! Geez, you guys are seriously a bunch of toddlers! Do I need to train all of you to not be completely stupid!?" Mitsuru calls everyone out. "We've gotten nowhere in this trial since we're focusing on the wrong things! Monokuma is just gonna fuck with us again at this point!"

"Time for a debate! Seriously, guys, stop this. Debating shouldn't be done in this mode!"

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

I realize that it is technically my turn to start. Thinking quick on my feet, I realize we have not talked about something very important. "Perhaps we should talk about the killer's motive." Although this would be an easy time to point a finger, I have no idea who to do it to in this case. I have to be careful. Doing it to somebody I trust will only cause a riff, and picking out a random target would only make them think that I'm the culprit. Think, Ayano, think. Having no idea who the killer is makes this much more difficult. I would love to trust my classmates, yet I also have no reason to believe them. Anybody can be the culprit. Kazuhiko was the culprit before after all, it could easily be somebody like Kyoto and Naoko. The world just loves seeing more and more of my misery.

"...The motive?" Everybody is silent once again. Even with all this time, we did not think too hard about the motive. There was still some time before the time limit ran out, and the water motive is too stupid for anybody to fall victim to it...right? Is there something we're overlooking here? Perhaps there is a reason why the culprit would want to give somebody water. The culprit might know that Monokuma will do anything to continue the game beyond this point evidenced by him giving up Kazuhiko easily. Could there be something more than this than what meets the eye?

"I cannot believe in a million years that somebody would do this for them to be caught and give one person water," Akemi says. "That's stupid. They might've known _Shinichi's secret_ , or maybe felt like _ending the timer to the time limit early_."

"Is that perhaps the reason why they threw Shinichi's diary in the pool? _Or is it because they wanted to protect it?_ " Minato, finally vocal, asks. They are having a hard time keeping up with everything but somehow came up with a possible theory.

"Yes, and that also means the culprit _would've spent some time away from everyone else_ ," Namita adds-on.

"Maybe this is _random murder_ though? Everything can be a coincidence-"

"No, that's wrong!" Kyoto, with a surprising bit of confidence, interrupts Satoshi before he can even finish his sentence. "The marked cups tell a different story

"That's absurd!" Mitsuru shouts out. She points her finger to Kyoto and their two podiums move into the middle of the circle. They are only a couple feet away from each other.

 **Rebuttal Showdown Commence!**

Even though it is a new mode, and Monokuma was about to explain the rules, he realizes that he does not need to. It is like the Mitsuru is already in the debating spirit and understands this game very well.

"The marked cup is a different cup than the victim's!"

"...U-um..." Kyoto is uncomfortable and blushing. "The c-c-culprit could have done that as a diversion."

"When would they have the time? And why would they go out of their way? Satoshi might be right about it being a coincidence. Somebody might have accidentally torn the rim of their cup."

"Then w-why is there a Truth Bullet-"

"Because Monokuma wants to trick us! He wants us to think that this was a malicious attack when it's truly a planned out murder-"

"Mitsu-cho, I'm done with those games!" Monokuma announces. He is back using his nicknames. With a snap of his paws, Mitsuru's podium descents all the way to the floor. "Goodness, somebody teach that girl a thing or two about manners!"

"I can still fucking hear you!" Mitsuru shouts from the floor. Seconds after, she is 'escorted' into the room where all the students watch the executions by some spare Monokumas. Guess not even getting out of the trial will make you escape seeing your classmates brutally murdered. Takayuki though still stares longingly for the exit.

"Monokuma, why did she go? If I remember correctly, she still had points left-"

"None of your business! Now continue on with the Class Trial!"

 **Rebuttal Showdown End!**

"So...it was planned?" Akemi questions.

"Yes, yes-"

"I thought you said you wouldn't interfere with this trial," I interrupt Monokuma. The both of us glare at each other. Does Monokuma trust us so little that he solves our cases for us? Or is it because our killers are more experienced than those of past Killing Games, leaving us with less evidence? Is Monokuma truly scared that our inexperience would get us killed? No, that doesn't make sense. If that was the case, he would've made sure that Takayuki would take part in these little games of his. This Monokuma makes me confused. All I can read is his cowardice, nothing else.

"If you truly want that, Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan." Monokuma then zips up his mouth again. Although that does not prove anything, it makes me calm, for, in this small moment, we are free to explore our own nothingness.

"Once again, we need a suspect. This isn't going anywhere," Hotaru says. She is being strangely serious.

"Um, like I said before, the suspects should be Tsukiko, Miyuki, Kira, Cassius, and I-"

"Namita, you seem to forget that there are other suspicious people as well. Satoshi is the one who knows the most about alcohol and spent most time in the kitchen and cellar, Akemi is just a dick, I'm notorious for pulling off pranks and could've easily set it up, Mirabilis is the one who knows the most about plant life, and Naoko the most about poisons and how they affect the body. Don't jump to conclusions with the right amount of evidence! The only people off the list right now are Takayuki and Mitsuru."

"Still we s-should explore her theory-" Kyoto tries to say before getting interrupted.

"If you truly believe in that theory, then Ayano would've to be part of that list as well. In fact, if you believe that, then Ayano is the most suspicious one among us. She's the one who came up with the party idea. And she did speak with Kyoto and I-"

"N-no, Ayano is n-not the culprit!" Naoko shouts. "Although we do not have enough e-evidence to support Namita's t-theory yet since it's m-mostly conjecture, Ayano is n-not suspicious!"

Sighing, I say, "Hotaru, we haven't been making any progress since we're not working together. The best way for us to find Shinichi's killer is to team up to take them down!" I try to be more energetic than usual, but Hotaru does not look convinced.

"Then convince me!" Hotaru replies. Something is...of about her. Although she is carefree, she isn't acting like herself. There is something weird here...maybe I should figure that out. For this part of the trial!

* * *

 **Class Trial: These Kids Are Still Lost. (because DRAMA and not reading enough Agatha Christie novels)**

 **So, yeah, our kids need to step up their game if they truly want to find Shinichi's killer.**

 **Reviews~**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Keep your eye on EVERYTHING...even my billion typos. Mirabilis is the Grim Reaper (because TVTropes). The murderer is somebody really good at tricking these idiots. Because Monokuma likes to ruin everything, even precious cinnamon rolls. Being Takayuki is SUFFERING. But, hey, he gets clean clothes. And free cosplay. Bonuses!**

 **AnonChan1-Takayuki is still internally screaming. Only I know since I created this world. *evil laughter* Ayano is having a lot of fun getting framed. Satoshi might be an idiot, but he's our precious little idiot. No leaving Yasu! Swimming in the pool is nice. Hotaru really needs to learn how to read time. Akemi, NO. May our future executed classmate rest in peace. *huggles***

 **TheRoseShadow21-Mochi is in his little box. Takayuki is still screaming. These kids will do anything for some sweet poison. Thanks! :D**

 **ObieSenpai-Namita is like SHINICHI! TELL ME YOUR SECRET DAMMIT! Or not. Who knows? Wait, I do. The mastermind is feeling...unwell. Dammit, Akemi. For the DESPAIR!**

 **ShadedLyht-He did. Blame Agatha Christie. Yep, she did, but she's used to that. That's why the kids are having so much trouble. Requiem: Ultimate Theory Destroyer. All the jossed theories on the WMG page. All of them! Ayano didn't type on it, she only read out names. Hotaru, yeah, for shoes! Shoes from a dead person!**

 **SanityRequiem-Oh hey again.**

 **QueenofChocolateWinx-Hello. Congrats on being the 300th review! :3**

 **CommanderofInsanity-HEYA!**

 **SqualinaTralala-Don't worry, all of us have the disease. It is 's fault. I swear. Screw Logan Paul. Thanks! :D Good, since it takes forever to write these idiots. XD Akita Yamazaki: The Ultimate Base Breaker. Mei is like get away from me! Monokuma learns...to Ayano's despair...or nothingness. Kazuhiko is like...I don't want more death flags, I'm just gonna die right away. Shinichi got killed...by the poison...from his own butt! Hotaru is like, hey, it's me! I wonder...hmmm...I'm totally not planning _anything_ with Hotaru. Thank you. ^.^**


	27. Trial 2-2

**Trial 2-2: Midnight's Serenade**

* * *

"..." Since Hotaru is accusing me, a little plan comes up in my head. Chances are she is not the killer, for she does have too good of an alibi. She is getting on my nerves. "If you're accusing me of being the culprit, then I call you suspicious as well! Hotaru Amemori, I accuse you of murder!"

"Alright, that's cool." Hotaru does not seem bothered. She has her mind somewhere else and is acting as if nothing happened. "Pinning me as a suspect only makes you look even more suspicious."

"But I'm not-"

"Prove it." Hotaru looks about hundred percent done with this trial. That is when I notice that most of the students here are not fully giving their all in this trial. They look too tired, for they have spent way too much time being awake. The initial adrenaline is calming down about thirty minutes into this trial. Did the culprit purposefully make it so that the crime took place at night to have this effect? Perhaps me taking a nap in the middle of the day and used to all-nighters saved me from the same fate.

"Now, now, girls, this is no time to be fighting with each other like this," Monokuma laughs. He still cannot decide when to not shut up.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"A-Ayano, has _nothing to do w-with this murder_! She _did not have enough time_ to plan out the murder!" Kyoto states. Just seeing him stand up for any of my ideas makes me gently smile. It is good to see him happy. It is not fair that his birthday party, a chance for him to truly be happy, was ruined by somebody that murdered one of his friends. Just imagining the alternate universe where Kyoto dies from the poison brings great pain to my heart. He deserves the best, all of us do. That's not how the world works, however. It doesn't care about it. The world is the true description of nothingness.

...It is like those people many, many years ago that watched that girl die. Death doesn't care either, it just takes, for it always hungers for more and more, like life itself. An endless cycle of hunger only broken apart by nothingness but caused by nothingness. Human beings themselves have their true selves in the nothingness, the only one between neutrality, despair, and hope that is forever eternal. Those people that watched that girl die are an example of that. The dark side. Each one of these concepts have a light and dark side-

"You do realize she's the one who came up with the idea? She probably found a way to _prepare it beforehand_ ," Hotaru claims, breaking me from my train of thought.

"But there's _no evidence_ that proves that theory," Miyuki says. "Although we cannot trust what he says, it is safe to believe that Monokuma will give us the evidence we need before a trial and when we find it during the trial, like what happened before." She is right. It is scary to think about how much evidence we have that does not directly point to the culprit. Whoever did this took a long time planning everything out and knows a lot about murder.

"Yet Ayano makes herself look more suspicious." Akemi is still a pain. "If she's not hiding something, there _would've been no reason to accuse Hotaru_ , somebody with a _clear alibi and no motive_ , of murder."

"Then maybe..." Mirabilis gasps. "One of them used magic to brainwash the other into committing murder! And then their true talent would be the Ultimate Brainwasher!" Nobody pays attention to Mirabilis. Though there's some sort of deja vu feeling about that whole statement.

"The culprit would've needed _some kind of tool_ to get the poison from somewhere, kid. I do not see Ayano risking herself in that way when she could easily do another kind of murder." Yasu chimes into the conversation. Though they're not the most useful in the trials, it is good to know that somebody in this class is fairly normal and is both clear-headed and confident. They're the only relatively normal person here.

"Tools that Ayano can use-"

"No, Ayano didn't use it, you dumbasses. Do I've to solve this for you idiots again? She has nothing to do with this murder." Monokuma is still bored out of his mind. He punches Takayuki on the back of his head to no effect.

"...Monokuma, mind your own business!" Hotaru shouts out.

"Oh, Hotaru, temper, temper, that's bad. Maybe I should rewrite your character again. I know exactly the thing you need, to get out of this debate. Though, unlike Mitsu-cho, I want to see your reaction to everything. Hmmm." Monokuma points directly at Hotaru. At that second, chains from above us grab onto her. She is now on the ceiling, with every limb covered with chains. Even her mouth is covered. The only way for her to breath in through her nose. Her podium, however, goes down, joining with Mitsuru's.

"..." We all stand there in terror. Monokuma is in complete control of all of our reactions. Nothing about this is fair. Nothing. There's no point in even fighting back.

 **STOP. STOP. STOP.**

"Monokuma, I do not see how you can justify treating the common folk like...like they are nothing more than ants!" Cassius berates Monokuma. The demonic bear, however, does not pay any sort of attention to him.

"Shut up, for I know a lot more about this than most of you! Especially you Cassius. Puhuhuhu. You're derailing and the readers get bored if you talk about useless shit that's clearly not true. Please discuss something else." Monokuma punches Takayuki yet again. He just takes it like a champ, not complaining about his unfair treatment.

"...So i-it is n-not Ayano. Maybe we should go b-back to Namita's theory," Naoko states. She is paying attention to Takayuki, who is mouthing things to her and Takara. He may be onto something.

"Yes," I respond.

"Really!? Um, okay. So the main suspects right now are myself, Tsukiko, Miyuki, Kira, and Cassius?" Namita looks surprised. She clearly wants to go asleep, but she forces a smile on her face.

"I will defend myself and not point my sword at any other of my classmates. Though, may I ask what we should focus on now? It is highly illogical to have the suspects lead the debate." Miyuki makes a good point. Though, with Monokuma around, none of us other than the evil bear lead.

"F-first we should f-figure out why somebody would kill Shinichi," Kyoto points out. "Understanding the m-motive may make us understand the killer."

"Since I'm the one that ended the last debate, I'll pick that! Oh, sometimes you can actually be smart, my students!" Monokuma laughs. He begins to pull on Takayuki's hair now, but his victim is too focused discussing something with Takara to notice.

 **Free For All: Shinichi Edition Start!**

"I think that Shinichi's friends should discuss this the most since they were the ones that had the most contact with him," Tsukiko says. Even she looks shaken by all the events transpiring.

"U-um, does anybody know anything? I'm a-afraid I don't," Naoko replies. Everybody else is silent. We are all trying to come up with theories onto what Shinichi's secret is and how it could have been enough to convince somebody to kill him.

"...I do..." Takara's text comes up. "..."

"What is it!?" Kira shouts out.

"..."

"Oh come on!"

"...Do any of you know about the Saviors of Humanity?" Takara asks. Saviors of Humanity? Why is it capitalized? And what is it? I have not heard anything remotely similar to that in my life, or maybe I did and just forgot.

"Saviors of Humanity? That's literally the first time they got bought up in this story. Maybe everybody should've read the Christmas special and spoiled themselves," Monokuma grins. His face is contorting from its usual teddy bear shape.

"Saviors of Humanity, that sounds like a rebellion group from an anime!" Mirabilis comments. She is not wrong, for they sound way too fictional to be real, right?

"...!" Hotaru's eyes light up, just like Takayuki's. Good, the two other people who know remotely about what Takara is talking about cannot talk. I do not even recall Kazuhiko mentioning anything about them.

"There's a lot of things in this world that you naive kids don't know about! Maybe you should stop listening to the Committee and start listening to everybody else! Especially the True Despairs!"

 **Free For All: End!**

"Now, kiddos, everybody that knows about the Saviors of Humanity, raise your hand." Not wanting to test him more, we listen to what he says. The only three students that raise their hands are Takayuki, Takara, and Hotaru. Of course, some can be lying, but I imagine most of them are just as lost as I am. "That's more than I thought. Hmm, I wonder why these many students know."

"Monokuma, can I propose that you explain what really is going on with this group," Hayato says. He is once again trying to use his talent on a bear. Perhaps he is trying to get to the mastermind?

"Oh, you want story time? They're just another rebellion group destined to go down. There have been so many that they just bleed into each other. The Remnants of Music, The Committee of Taking Down the Committee, MARKA (seriously, that doesn't stand for anything, they just liked all caps), etc. None of them have creative names."

"Aren't the True Despairs technically also a rebellious group? They're destined to go down too," Akemi notes. Akemi sees that he has pissed off Monokuma again, but he does not back down. In response, Monokuma sends him down too.

"I-I'm actually glad that happened," Kyoto replies. I agree with him.

"...All you're doing is eliminating suspects, Monokuma! We will defeat you!" Akemi screams. Before he can do anything, the ground near him opens up to reveal chains as well. They cover Akemi's mouth and forces him to stay on his podium. That is when I notice that the door to the execution room is being banged on. Even more chills enter me as I fully embrace the hopelessness of this situation. We're just Monokuma's toys. This isn't a Killing Game, this is only somebody's sorry excuse for one.

"Monokuma, this is not a fair trial. You got to be neutral-" Miyuki's red eyes are glowing with hatred and her sword is out and pointed directly at Monokuma.

"Whoever said this was fair?"

"You d-did!" Naoko cries out. She covers her mouth after realizing what she just did.

"Don't trust an evil bear that forces you to kill each other. You're bound to be betrayed. Puhuhuhu." Monokuma does not even look like himself now. His face is fully converted to one of a true demon. His smile is far wider than it should. Most of us are completely still.

"...Kid, this is not cool." Yasu crosses their arms and stares at Monokuma. "Tell us the information."

"Yes, we gotta focus on something else. Monokuma's game at just distracting the conversation," Namita states. Her voice is still shaky.

"You scum! Even the lowest of commoners are disgusted by your actions! How dare you mock me!?" Cassius is unusually angry. Guess he is the type to get cranky if he does not get any sleep.

"Monokuma, you've no idea how to treat a lady or serve the finest wine, which even an idiot like me can do. Your actions are the pinnacle of stupidity." Satoshi is being oddly serious. His eyes are way more focused and he almost seems like a different person. I did not even know that Satoshi knew half of those words. Then he raises his hand. "And, um, I may know what the Saviors of Humanity are. Having ties to the underworld has its advantages."

"Wha...how...why?!"

"Monokuma, Monokuma, Monokuma. You underestimate all of us. And I know everything about everybody. Ties to the underworld after all," Satoshi smiles. Okay, this is weird. Is Satoshi being smart, awesome, and outsmarting Monokuma? And why is he calling the underground the underworld? "It's in his diary, right culprit? At least one of us also knows~ and not telling. He's a member of the Saviors of Humanity."

"...What?" Naoko questions him, lost like most of all. Even Hotaru and Takayuki are surprised by this sudden change of character.

"Truly, the code should've tipped you off and all, right Monokuma? Or do you not know other languages? Then you must truly be horrible with women!" He begins to laugh. "You really shouldn't mind an idiot like me."

"But what are the Saviors of Humanity? I'm lost." Minato was even more lost than they were at the beginning of the trial. Nobody blames them. My mind is trying to wrap around all of this. Shinichi was a member of a rebellion? How does that make sense?

"How does this help anything?" I question everybody.

"It doesn't!" Monokuma shouts. "Oh, looks like something came up with Satoshi. Your character isn't supposed to do that." Then Satoshi gets the same treatment of Akemi. Forced to the floor and tied down by chains. There goes the one person that could easily explain everything to us. "If you don't change the subject, I'll do the same to everybody. And then I win! Puhuhuhu."

"..." It feels like we are getting slowly picked off one by one.

"...! I-I think I'm onto something!" Naoko exclaims. "Due to Hotaru's alibi, t-there is a great chance that Kira and Cassius aren't involved. T-they wouldn't have the time! If they moved t-too much during the blackout, then the c-cards would be messed up."

"So we only have three suspects! We're doing better than last time!" Mirabilis looks at the bright side. Even though she is crazy in her own right, like everybody else here, I feel like she gives us all hope. And despair if she ever brings out her wand. Even somebody in the nothingness can see the pros of that.

"I am one of the main suspects then, right? It does not bother me, I will cut down your lies with my sword of truth." Miyuki is back to her emotionless self. She is rather unfazed for somebody who has been accused of murder.

"This will be easy to debunk. Showing how none of us could be involved will help the mystery go along! We already crossed off a lot of possible suspects due to Monokuma." Tsukiko is a lot different from the beginning of the Killing Game. It is like this game is slowly changing all of our personalities.

"Yeah, if we work together, we'll find the real culprit! No reason to be scared!" Namita, however, has noticeable sweat coming down her forehead. She is acting a lot more suspicious than the other girls.

"Alright, but we still don't have the motive," Yasu says. "None of them have any connection to the Saviors of Humanity that we know of. So why else would any of them kill Shinichi?" Once again, they bring up a good point.

"You know, you may be improving, but, hey, I'm bored. Let's say we play a game, children. Every time I get bored, one of your friends get sent away. That sounds like fun! But, first, I want to get away some...problems." Naoko and Takara are the next to be sent down. "Now, I know that's unfair, but Takayuki was cheating. They've too much of an idea of what's going on. I want you to struggle!"

"...Monokuma, may I request why you are doing this? This removes the fairness-"

"You didn't suspect them anyway. Shut up."

"W-we should continue," Kyoto notes. We all agree with him. To be honest, most of us are scared. Scared of Monokuma, who has still not returned to his previous state. I realize some of the captured students are asleep. Some of us still standing are struggling to keep their eyes open.

"The eleven of us can do this! I believe in us! We'll find the culprit and save them from Monokuma!" Mirabilis is one of the students trying to keep herself up by talking loudly. Really loud.

"I will work with you commoners, and especially Kira, for I am the Ultimate Jeweler! I swear on my family name that Monokuma will not win this!" Cassius is also with us...although he is almost on the floor of his podium. His eyes are only slightly open.

"As the other Ultimate Jeweler, and somebody who isn't short, I'll give it my all!" Kira smiles. It is still so weird to see Cassius and Kira be on good terms. They are really one of the oddest friendships here.

"Akita would nag me if I just gave up here," Minato adds-on. "Shinichi's ghost would be really mad at us! We've to make everybody find peace!" They are still too much for their own good.

"Yeah, yeah, all that power of friendship crap, you guys have a case to solve!" Monokuma brings out his claws, which are sharper than before. He claws Takayuki's back, and he cries out in pain. The wound covers most of his back and there is a lot of blood.

"Dammit!" he screams out. Takayuki is trying to hold back his tears.

"...If I ever find out who you are, Monokuma, I swear I'll pay for all the pain you cause my friends!" Miyuki is trying her hardest to not lash out. Of course, that fails.

"We need to focus!" Tsukiko reminds us.

"And, since it has been forever since we did a minigame of mine, I pick the subject again! Should be faster, kids! Soooo...what now? I wonder, I wonder! I wonder most about the Water Motive!"

 **Free For All: Water Motive Edition**

"Why would somebody fall for the water? It would be stupid," Kira states.

"Maybe there's a loophole we never found out about?" I ask. Something still strikes me weird about it. But is the culprit somehow influencing Monokuma's behavior? If he keeps this up, it will be easy to figure out who did it. Why would Monokuma do something like that? Maybe because he wants there to be a motive for next time without even trying. He wants us all to break. Break enough so that one person having water would be a completely possible motive for cold-blooded murder.

"A loophole? So the culprit is smart enough to outsmart a noble like me? How horrifying!" I did not want to be the one to tell Cassius that it is easy to outsmart him.

"Then what would it be?" Tsukiko questions.

"Maybe there's a way to make everyone feel happiness by defeating Monokuma!" Mirabilis takes out her wand, causing everybody to take a step back.

"It has to be something that would make one of the three chose to murder," Hayato points out. "It is not easy convincing somebody as stubborn as them to give in. That means there has to be a big loophole."

"M-Maybe..." Kyoto's eyes light up. "There might a-actually be a way to give everybody water! By making everybody the culprit!"

"Kyoto, Kyoto, that's a good idea, but it's not true. You bore me." Monokuma picks his next target, Kyoto. I try to get to him, but his podium goes down before I can do anything. Our space now looks empty with all the obvious holes between us.

"Damn you!"

"Extra time though! Yeah, you get five more minutes! Isn't that better?"

"..." I cannot find the words to say. This could be worse than what he did to Kazuhiko! Thinking about it just makes my heart sink even more in the nothingness. Is he also going to force us not to solve this mystery? No, that would be stupid. There is no way I can get a read on Monokuma.

"Kids, I feel like a piece of evidence would give us a better feel. There's always that one piece that points exactly to the culprit," Yasu says. They are trying their best to help us even with their limited knowledge.

"..." We all look at all the pieces of evidence over again. Nothing makes sense. There is obviously something else here that the captured students might know, but what is it? Why is Monokuma doing this to all of us? He is even more quickly climbing my list of least favorite people. The third spot is now a fierce battle between him and Kotori.

"There's nothing here? Was the culprit lured by the forces of the dark world to help Monokuma by eliminating poor Shinichi!?" At this point, we all ignore Mirabilis's off the wall theories. She is really out of her comfort zone when it came to anything else but flowers, Japanese, and anime.

"Why would they want it to look like a random murder though? Could there be a special prize if nobody finds you out but you turn yourself in?" Tsukiko thinks out loud. She is grabbing onto her head, clearly in pain.

"You know, this might make sense once you figure everything out! Just change it! These kids are so hopeless I don't even need my despair!" Monokuma does the same punching routine with Takayuki. Takayuki, however, due to being injured and doing his best not to die, grunts.

 **STOP ALL HOPE.**

"Oh, and I need to send somebody away! That's a thing!" Monokuma's laugh makes me want to cry. Hayato is next in line to go down. We may have fewer suspects, but Monokuma is clearly breaking his own rules. And thinking about how that may turn out later on in the game makes my skin crawl.

Monokuma is not paying attention so I purposefully not speak. I slowly open up the note Yasu gave me. Before I read it, I check on Monokuma again and see whether or not he is distracted.

"I swear, one of these days I'll purify you, Monokuma!"

With Mirabilis's words, he is not paying attention to anywhere near me. Monokuma is more annoyed than scared that Mirabilis makes the same threat without ever going through with it. He should have really made the courtroom smaller to stop moments like this. I finally open up the note, seeing what Yasu wrote down.

 _Monokuma is planning something this trial, kid. I'm gonna need to ask you to have Monokuma not pay attention to me. There's something me and some of the others have been working on. Just trust me and make sure Monokuma doesn't find this note. If he finds this note, this plan is all for nothing. We're gonna show that Monokuma doesn't have any control over us._

The note makes me want to smile, but I force myself to stay neutral. It would be suspicious if I suddenly started to smile and Monokuma would definitely notice the note. So I gently place the note back in my pocket and focus on the trial. Yasu...I need to get to know them better. Getting along with someone with a somewhat similar talent to mine might get us better results in getting anything done in this poor excuse of a school.

"...Oh, Mirabilis, can you explain more about the poison? How could the culprit get it?" Namita asks. With every person going down, she looks worse and worse.

"The Strychnos nux-vomica? That there's no way to get other than getting into the bracelets or being the mastermind." Mirabilis is deep in thought like all of us.

"Only if Satoshi was still here to explain how the alcohol diluted the drink," Tsukiko sighs.

"Actually, as a noble, I have experience with my father and mother having the finest of alcohol. There is a chance that the killer only added the smallest drop of that horrible tasting liquid and have the rest be water," Cassius suggests. All of us stare at him, not knowing he could be that smart. That actually makes a lot of sense. Especially because we do not know how reliable Monokuma's information can be.

"...But that would require more water than there was in the pouch-"

"Easy, the other pouch with water is a decoy. Whoever helped with the murder transferred the water in another way. The only thing that mattered was the one with poison. See, I'm smart too, right?" Kira also makes a good point while interrupting Namita. The cups could have also been prepared beforehand, and the people involved were careful not to spill. Although there was a fair deal of liquid inside, it would be easy enough to balance if the person was careful. So the people handling it would have to be both fast and agile to a degree.

"The culprit possibly has some sort of 'illness.' They would have needed to fall under Monokuma's conditions if they were not punished at the spot," Miyuki notes. "Of course, the killer could have done the tampering at any time, though it is most likely after Nakajima-san woke up from his coma."

"I think I understand more about what's going on." Minato looks proud of themselves. Perhaps because they are one of the few people left and not lost in their thoughts. Nobody is exactly slowing down to make them understand better.

"And..." Yasu has a new thought enter their mind. "They could've easily used one of Takayuki's old bracelets to get the poison! Monokuma never cleans up after anything-"

"I do clean my room, but that domain belongs to you. So, yeah, I don't clean that. But I can testify that one of Takayuki's old hands were in that room. Not telling if the killer used them or not~" Monokuma is still trying to act like this is even slightly fair, yet he knows that his word is absolute. That means that the killer did use one of Takayuki's old bracelets. How can this game get even more messed up?

"..." Tsukiko is deadly silent but has the same look on her face when she first accused Kazuhiko.

"Tsukiko, who is it?" I ask her. She stares at me.

"Oh, depending on good ol' Tsun-Tsun to do all the work. Just your usual fare. So, Tsun-Tsun, who is it?" Monokuma sounds surprisingly more feminine than before, much like the voice from before.

"..."

"Don't worry, we'll get through this together!" Namita exclaims. She is smiling truly now, placing her complete trust in her friend.

"I'm sure that you're right, Tsukiko." Minato joins in with another smile. Tsukiko looks back and forth between the two of them, clearly torn. She bites down hard on her lip as she points her finger towards Namita.

"I-It's...you, Namita Nakahashi...the U-Ultimate Event Planner..."

Hearing Tsukiko say something like that again makes me almost lose it. Kazuhiko Hiraoka...wait, did she call Kazuhiko a reporter? She totally did. That bitch...

...Okay, this really isn't the time to be thinking about that. There's something wrong here. Something inside me told me that Kazuhiko was the person who did it, but Namita...it may be true that the evidence may point to her, at least in Tsukiko's eyes, yet I feel like we are playing into the culprit's, or even Monokuma's, hands. Framing Namita and having Tsukiko blame her is almost the perfect plan to make this group fall apart. Does this culprit really want to be found, or are they hoping to split us all up and win in that way? By pulling apart the two people that are closest to leaders we are going to get? Whoever this person is, there's one thing for sure. They're brilliant.

"The betrayal! Oh, it warms my heart! Friend versus friend-"

"Shut up, Monokuma!" both Mirabilis and Miyuki scream at the same time. Both of their weapons are out and both women are ready to fight.

"...What?" Namita's face loses all of its color. Due to them being right next to each other, their eyes are directly looking in the others. Both of them are holding in tears. "What?...What?"

"Stop this foolishness! She has nothing to-"

"Cassius, shut up, let the drama unfold," Monokuma threatens him. Cassius and everybody else stands in place, looking towards the main focus of attention. Between our two leaders.

"..."

"Tsukiko, why? I'm not the killer! Shit, I just can't do anything right anymore, can I?" Namita's face goes dead. "...W-w-why am I not surprised you're accusing me of murder? Nothing surprises me anymore."

"Namita?"

"Just...j-j-just go on a-ahead," she says. Tears are falling out of her eyes. She tries to wipe them away, but the mass amounts of ponytails on her arms make it difficult. "What's the evidence?...I'll have to prepare my argument."

"...Oh, the beautiful sound of midnight! The sound of two friends duking it out to see whether or not they live or die!" Monokuma is sucked into the drama, not even paying attention to me, somebody nearby. I cross my fingers of my left hand as my right begins to input many different commands. This can be a chance to show Monokuma what I'm really made of.

"If you say so...your talent would make it easy for you to plan something like this out. You've got a way with people, so you can convince people to help you and stay quiet..." Tsukiko has trouble going onward, but Namita gives her a reassuring nod. You're the one who truly came up with the investigation positions this time around and...you're the one who has the most power to 'start' the party..."

"That's all, then this is gonna be easy!" Namita is back to her old self again. "See, everything's gonna be alright. Just gotta prove I'm not the culprit and find out the true one!" She smiles...along with Monokuma.

* * *

 **Next chapter is where shit gets real. And also really, really long. Writing this trial...the end...NNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

 **So onto the reviews~ (and more suffering to boot)**

 **ObieSenpai-She does have a valid alibi. Hotaru is off the hook and onto the chain. Nope, Yasu is part of the little rebel group inside the class. Thanks. ^.^**

 **AnonChan1-Maybe, maybe not. Stating what you think is one way for me to know whether or not I should step up my mystery skills. They are, especially to Ayano. Ayano doesn't want to kill herself! :D Yep, somebody has the info every chapter. Yasu is like, I'm becoming more important! :) Satoshi never stops. Monokuma is being a special kind of asshole in every trial. Hotaru is not having fun. Hint hint, it is also me.**

 **mayurie-Yeah, cookies! :D Shinichi did not have a fun death. Here's some more emotional development! This story likes screwing with you. Don't trust anything. Hotaru is up in chains right now. Thanks. ^.^**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Eventually, I'll write it. Eventually. Nobody still knows what they're doing. Monokuma literally solves everything. Tsukiko is going on a pain trip after this. PAIN. How much after? Not telling. ;) Thanks. Mochi is doing better than all of the students combined. Literally. He is having fun, being clean, having cool new plants to eat, and not dead.**

 **ShadedLyht-It truly would. Shinichi is just not having the time of his death. Namita is Namita. Hotaru is smart, just too blase. She is wearing Akita's shoes because it is getting cold soon and she would die without them. No, since Monokuma does not like rabbits (I wonder why).**

 **QueenofChocolateWinx-Only time will tell. And me updating this story.**


	28. Trial 2-3

**Trial (and Monokuma being really pissed off) 2-3: Slow Burn**

* * *

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence! Time to Determine Namita's Fate!**

"We shouldn't accuse each other like this! Instead, we should _find a way to defeat Monokuma and save the killer_!" Mirabilis pleads. She is swiftly ignored, however, as the only truly selfless person here. We all might think we are, but the main reason we are doing these trials are our own survival. I'm so selfish that I sent my own boyfriend to his death...

"Sorry, but that isn't gonna fly, my wannabe magical girl! I want some despair! Can't have any Killing Games without killing!" Monokuma looks like he's itching for the day that one of us kills Mirabilis.

"..There has to be some way-"

"Nope! Shut up...Mini...? Aw, I forgot your nickname, whatever. Gonna call ya Mini. Not gonna work, Mini. Shouldn't have come up with this many nicknames. So hard to keep count!" Monokuma becomes bored with Minato and sends them down to most of the others. Hotaru is trying her best to make sure nobody sees up her skirt. Satoshi's nosebleed tells me she already failed.

"We got to focus on the trial. Finding out another way has to come later," I sigh. There is a zero percent chance of all of us getting out of here alive. That is the same truth of our situation. Nothing is going to change that. Better to accept reality than play into Monokuma's games by being too much of an optimist. Also, whenever I speak, I make sure that I'm not working on hacking the system, just in case Monokuma pays attention solely to me.

"Sadly that is the case..." Miyuki is solemn. She is looking down, not looking any of us in the eye. Hair purposefully covers her eyes, yet something about seeing her like this still hurts. Even the strong can have moments of weakness.

"Well, right now we need to focus on Tsukiko's argument! _The quicker this is, the quicker I'm off the hook_." It is surprising to see Namita's personality change. She was just an emotional wreck a couple minutes ago and now happy as can be. My mind cannot wrap itself around Namita. Probably because I know almost nothing about her.

"First, _your talent makes it so that you can be the only one that can come up with such a complicated scheme_ ," Tsukiko states. Our leader is taking deep breaths but pure panic is still written all over her face.

"Objection! I think that is absurd. Many other of the commoners here, like the Kyoto Kamui fellow, _could come up with the plan_. For all we know, the killer could be somebody that is _hiding away their true intelligence_! See, I am truly becoming better at these trials!" Cassius is a little bit too proud of himself for coming up with that theory. He has matured since we got here, but maybe he wants to protect Namita. That maturity might have been caused by him accepting Kira and becoming friends with her, something that would have been impossible without the aid of Namita. Truly, there are important events happening that I have no idea about.

"...Second... _You knew about the party and could have prepared beforehand_..."

"Many of our friends knew!" Mirabilis smiles. "Plus, _Monokuma could've easily done the preparations_!"

"Isn't..." Thoughts of the old school rules run through my head. Rushing, I make my way over to the rules page, rereading them carefully. None of them state that Monokuma cannot interfere with murder. I could not finish my words...this whole game is unfair. This whole game is set up for us to fail. Monokuma views us all as hope, and he wants despair to win.

"Isn't what?" Kira questions me.

"...Nevermind." I see now that everybody is staring at me except for Yasu. Partly out of curiosity, and partly because I once again fell into the monotone, one-word type of speech. Hmm, I wonder how Kazuhiko would react to this. To all of this.

"..." Monokuma is now eyeing me which destroys my plan. We are both planning something and both of us know it. There goes that plan. It is truly all up to Yasu now.

"...So I take that as a sign that Monokuma helped the culprit, breaking the code of neutrality most game masters have. Does that mean that any of us still standing, minus Ayano, _could be the culprit_?" Miyuki comments. Everybody is silent for the realization that we are once again back to square one comes over us. Except for me...

"No, that's wrong!" I counter her. I flipped through my truth bullets quickly to find the one that fits my argument. "The letter Shinichi got. For none of us to see the culprit put it in his room, and for Shinichi to see it before the party, they would've needed to know about it beforehand. He never left in the middle of the party, and was with his friends for most of the day prior, which means it is the most logical to assume that he learned about the note's existence in the morning."

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"Thank you for pointing out my logical fallacy, Nishiki-san." Miyuki bows to me. I do not know how to react, so I just stay silent. She still has that sad look in her eyes that I cannot stop paying attention to.

"...But we still have the same problem. Our suspects are still Miyuki, Kira, Cassius, and I, with Namita being the main." Tsukiko has a point. All we know is that the person had to work on the party before, had a possible accomplice, and planned it out beforehand. Though there's something that strikes me as odd in this case. The only way we will be able to solve it is by turning it upside down. Think, Ayano, think.

"Well, I-I-I see. Just gotta make an argument again." Namita is not helping herself by acting as suspicious as possible. She's so suspicious that it makes it clear to me that she's not the killer. My father always told me that the killer is never the first person or even the second person, that you think of for the suspect. The first was me, the second Namita. So who is the third?

"But Monokuma is the killer!" Mirabilis shouts out.

"Oh, my wannabe magical girl, I'm not the killer, I only helped out. Those are two completely different things. And, no, I was not the one who locked them in there. I only helped the culprit with setting up their trick, but not the part with the lethal poison, and the blackouts. That's all." So that solves the mystery of the setup and the blackouts. Thinking back on it, it surprises me how little I'm surprised to hear that Monokuma is corrupt. Although with how he acted around Akemi, I believe that it safe to say that Monokuma wants the culprit to lose. Maybe that's why he is being so open to us.

"Then you're the killer! You might not have done it directly...but...but...you still killed them! You're the one forcing everybody into this-"

"You need to focus, or you're the next one going down!" Monokuma threatens Mirabilis. Mirabilis glares daggers while she bites her lip.

"Okay, okay, just need to calm down. Callllmmmmm." Namita looks the exact opposite of calm still. This is not helping her case but there's something wrong here. How exactly do I flip this case around? Think, Ayano, think! Think like your father told you too!

"...!" Miyuki then gets an idea in her head. "Nishiki-san, as a thank you for your correction, I have an idea to discuss. If the killer needed time this morning, then there is no way it could be Nakahashi-chan. We were together all day and, although they were not with us for all that time, Oda-san, Iwata-chan, and Lord Cassius Ambrose Irvine Jacobson the Third can solidify our alibis. There was simply not enough time of Namita being alone for her to tamper with the medical supplies, create the setup, get the right alcohol and cups, swap them, write the two notes-"

"That's enough. We get your point, stop making a list, that's boring." Monokuma, however, is completely absorbed into the conversation, betraying his words. Miyuki does have a point, she's Namita's alibi. No matter what, Namita would've never gotten past a real-life samurai like Miyuki who likes to remain neutral on all topics. It is weird to see her stand up for somebody though.

"That commoner Namita made Kira and I mostly work in the kitchen preparing the cake. She gave us the excuse that it was a trust-building exercise," Cassius says. "It disgusted me to get my hands dirty but I was convinced by Namita promising me to throw a party for my family once we get out of here."

"To add on to my plot for those still in doubt, Na...Nakahashi-chan was scared by the blackout and held onto me the entire time. It was easy to tell due to the vast amount of ponytails all over her arms," Miyuki adds-on.

"Then that means that Namita and Miyuki have clear alibis!" I announce. Although I'm not the closest to Namita, as I prefer Miyuki, it would be bad if we lost one of the people that hold this group together. Her talent as an event planner is extremely useful in this Killing Game.

"Miyuki, y-you didn't need to t-tell them that." Namita is a blushing mess, however. Her emotions have been all over the place in this trial.

"But..." Suddenly, Monokuma powers down, the red fading from his eye. Yasu wipes the sweat off their forehead.

"Gosh, that was out of my comfort zone. How do you do this every day, Ayano?" Yasu asks me. Although Yasu is the Ultimate Engineer, they do have a lot of experience with electronics to know how they work. They must have been studying to hack for a long time. Mochi climbs out and Yasu pets him a little before putting him back in their box. "We've to hurry, kids. It isn't gonna be long before he powers up again, about thirty minutes or so." The first thing Yasu does is hurry to me and take out their tools to fiddle with my bracelet. It comes off without much effort. "I may be the Ultimate Engineer but I still have a few more tricks up my sleeves."

"Now's not the time!" Kira shouts. She is rather jumpy and keeps switching her eyesight between Monokuma and us. Takayuki kicks Monokuma, and, upon seeing that he isn't dead, continues to do so.

Taking a risk, Miyuki climbs up onto the ceiling of chains. Although she is quite strong, I found myself worried for a second due to her extremely small size. Miyuki, however, prevails and swings her way across the chains to free Hotaru. Focus, Ayano...now's not the time...Kira is right, we need to hurry. Yasu has already taken off all of the other actions from my classmates.

"Okay." Working swiftly, I bypass all of Monokuma's programs and found myself breaking into Monokuma's system quickly. Whoever keeping us here has some idea about computer programming but not enough to keep somebody like me out. Miyuki gets Hotaru and jumps onto the nearest podium with her. The next thing we know, all of our platforms come down. Now that we are on ground level, Yasu, Kira, Miyuki, Hotaru, Cassius, Namita, Tsukiko, Mirabilis, and I work to free our other classmates from their imprisonment. There's no time for anybody to talk, just work. We've all lost count of the number of days we spent in this hellhole but it has been way too many.

"..." But something isn't right. This seems way too easy. I highly doubt the mastermind would be careless enough for everybody to escape where there have been only two murders. Plus, one of these students have to be the mastermind, right? What's going on here?

...Kaneshiro Kazuma...why is that name coming up in my mind again? All I remember from him is what Naoko has told me. Something is definitely off here! Even though my father told me to mostly listen to the facts of a given situation, he told me feelings could be used to your advantage as well. And things do not feel right at all. Things are being hidden from us. Monokuma wants us to not figure stuff off, that's a given considering he has banned...a lot of things, yet he doesn't realize that we are savvier than most Ultimates. We had to grow up knowing survival in this cruel world we live in.

 _Think, think, think._

"I need to do something real quick! Go on without me, I can catch up to you!" Before anybody can react, I hurry out of there, leaving them all behind. One of the benefits of being six foot, two inches is the long legs after all. Of course, that's also the curse. Probably going to have heart problems when I get older but this is no time to be thinking about that. I'm probably not going to live long enough to see my twenties, let alone beyond middle age.

* * *

Truly, I have no idea where I am going, just wherever my legs tell me. There is no time to be thinking long and hard when there are only about thirty minutes. For some reason, I find myself wandering into the library and park myself on one of the computers.

"Kaneshiro Kazuma..." I quickly hack the computer and open up the internet. First, though, before my curiosity gets the better of me, I search up The Committee. I do not know whether or not they can help us here, but, for them to have internet connection in the Suicide Forest, there must be some way to track them. This should be impossible. Then again, this is the same world where there are conjoined twins with different genders. The Committee is learning how to play God and whoever is behind this, most likely connected someway to the True Despairs, must have found the Committee's research. I wonder if that bitch Kotori was behind it when she was still alive.

I hurry on the Committee website, figuring the mastermind probably had a connection over here to help whoever they are. There's a help button on the website because of the violence in the world today. I press the button hoping there are a webcam and built-in sound system.

"Oh, hello, Ayano Kamukura." Instead of somebody at the help desk, I'm treated to a face I've seen a couple times before. Ayano Kirigiri. Her purple hair is a lot like Kyoko's, even to the point that there is a tiny braid in the front. Though her brown eyes remind me so much of her father, Matoko Kirigiri. The man that I will always thank for getting my father away from Junko in the Neo World Program. And the man I will always hate for indirectly causing the formation of the Committee and not keeping enough of an eye on the other Ayano. Guess I am the other Ayano though since she was born first though.

"How do you know my name? And why is this happening?" Even though both our fathers were friends, Izuru never left the island and I never got to see Ayano as a kid. She always addressed me as a Nishiki.

"Silly, Ayano, I know everything. Now, what happened to those one-word responses? It's so weird hearing you talk like this."

"What. Is. Happening?"

"Don't be so forceful, geez. I should know who you are since we're basically cousins or something. I mean, Matoko and...Izuru were like brothers after being the protagonists of their games. I wonder why you didn't bond with Akita." Ayano pouts. She is the same as usual. Though, for our headmaster, she is too carefree. Ayano also is going on about whatever this protagonist talk means.

"I'm not."

"Yes, you are. Maybe you should check your actions from another point of view. Your screw-ups are ruining the process of analyzing talent!" Ayano Kirigiri has taken after her grandfather in one way, her lust for talent. No matter what, she wants talent. Talent is her goal, so much that she has become completely distant from her family and betrayed them for her selfish desire.

"I'm not screwing up here! Kazuhiko and Akita are dead! And so is Shinichi! Doesn't that mean anything to you!?"

"Who cares? If they die that easily, they were never meant to be true Ultimates. Like most of the Ultimates in history. Just fools thinking they've talent." How can somebody like this be friends with somebody like Kira? I am curious about the relationship between those two.

"I care! Kira is here. Isn't she your friend?" I ask. I am being more emotional than usual, in a way that reminds me of Kazuhiko. Something inside me just tells me the other Ayano is no good.

"Kira will survive. Don't worry. Or else I'll fall into despair."

Is Ayano Kirigiri connected to this game? If she is, that would not surprise me. She is clearly not the mastermind, yet there has always been something off about her. Kazuhiko never liked her. Considering that she was easily able to betray her own family for her own, selfish desires, it is safe not to trust her. Though it is strange how calm and humorous she was. Ayano could have perfectly created some false narrative to protect her pride and cover up our disappearances, yet the hostage videos have clear signs that the outside world is still looking for us. Ayano might not be though since she already created another class. Another class for her to gather more information about her dear talent.

"We need help-" Before I can finish, the video cuts off and call ends shortly after. I try pressing up again, only to fail. Panic rushes over me as I search other websites for help to no avail. All of them won't let me press the button. My fingers were carefully placed on the keyboard to hack the system yet again before I see a notification come up. It is surrounded in red with little Monokuma faces in the corner.

Ayano Nishiki, please do not contact outside help or this place is set to blow. Yes, there are bombs that can easily blow your ass to next Tuesday. Only research.

That does not convince me so I continue with my previous plan. I have gone too far to back down now.

Ayano Nishiki, if you continue trying to get help, you're gonna get your ass EXECUTED.

As I type in another website, I see that Monokuma's little helper tries to stop me but it is a little too easy to hack into it. It continues to happen and the same order of events continue to occur. Then there is this bright light that Monokuma shines into my eyes...

You know what, trying to contact help is doing nothing, let's return to the original plan. Looking up names. That is totally the most useful way to spend my time now since even Monokuma wants me to do it. It is not like the original plan was thought up when I was not thinking too fast for my own good. Not at all.

I could always look up Kindra, but Kazuhiko didn't tell me anything about her. It would have been nice to know her last name at least. The two last names I looked up for her, Hiraoka and Yanagi, have no results. Even I know that it is pointless to continue with that lead. Kindra may not be the most popular name in the world, but there have to be hundreds, if not thousands, of people with that name, especially in Europe and America.

Then I look up Kaneshiro Kazuma. Kaneshiro has a lot more results, as there are various news articles, blogs, stories, etc dedicated to him. Wanting to know more about who this person is, I click the first link that is from the Committee's Hope Peak website. I do not remember this from before we were taken. There is a new page on the website now completely focused on all the Ultimates. This is getting weird...what is Ayano planning!?

On Kaneshiro Kazuma himself, he is part of the first class of Hope's Peak and is in fact listed as the Ultimate Brainwasher. I wonder if Shiro knew him? Anyway, the top of the page there is a picture...Damn, there is hair covering his face! It would be easy to figure out who the mastermind is if I could just see his face. Kaneshiro really must have thought about this ahead...wait, what am I thinking? Why am I thinking Kaneshiro is the mastermind? For some reason, that popped into my head. Is there something I'm forgetting? Well, he is the Ultimate Brainwasher...

"Kaneshiro...Kaneshiro..." Only if Kazuhiko was still alive! He would have figured this out already! Damn, why am I so stupid? First I leave my FUCKING boyfriend alone to commit the murder, and now I cannot tell who the mastermind is even with this information.

Strolling down, I am disturbed on how much information this new section of the website has on us potentially, though, with Kaneshiro, it is all blank. He was totally planning for all this happen! I have to explain this to Naoko even if it does break her heart. Just why would such a person be close in Naoko in the first place? It is almost like all of this was made...made up?! That light just now...was it controlling my actions just like one of Uncle Mitarai's videos? If so, how much times have something similar been used on my classmates and me?

I try to look up his accomplishments, but it is all classified information. Everything about Kaneshiro seems to be like that. That just means there is another way to solve this mystery. Since the internet is heavily regulated by the Committee, gathering more information on Kaneshiro would be a waste of time and I highly doubt a potential mastermind would just leave his information in this school. So there has to be something else. Just what?

 _Think, think, think._

Hmmm...

The next thing I do is look up Chiyo Jinya, the Ultimate Mediator, expecting something. I am surprised that I get the same results as Kindra. Nothing. Sae Emiya? Nothing. Akita Yamazaki...

My eyes widen to see that she has been completely erased from the internet as well, even her blog that Kazuhiko told me about is gone. In a panic, I look up Kazuhiko Hiraoka to see that the same thing has happened to him. Nothing. They're all lost in the nothingness! Shinichi Fujimoto is too. Then I look up my name, to see the same results.

"Wait, what the fuck!?"

This does not fit the narrative of the Killing Game at all. Why would we be erased from the internet if we are classified as missing persons? Even the Committee knows that is not a good practice. Is what Hideyoshi said to us a lie? Maybe everybody has forgotten us and there is no hope for rescue. All of us have been left to die. Whoever is doing this has the support of the Committee. What is the Committee planning? Sure there are some traitors to their cause in our group, like Shinichi, but he is already dead, and there are people they need here, possibly dying and erased from recent history. This all makes no sense.

In a state of panic, I type up Shiro's name, wondering if they erased somebody like him like his classmate Chiyo, then the first article that comes up makes me feel lightheaded. It details that Shiro Amari and another class of Hope's Peak students were abducted by somebody and sent into space. Wait, what? I refresh the page, but, when I do, I see that the article is gone. My head begins to spin from this overload of information. There's only one more name that I can think of...

"Hideyoshi Yamazaki."

"Woah, woah, woah, that's been enough information for you, Aya-Izumi- _Kamukura_." The last person, or thing, I wanted to see makes his appearance. Monokuma. I knew that this was too good to be true. "I never expected to have a Kamukura with me again. Puhuhuhu. Maybe you'll be less of a pain in the ass as the last one."

"No, I'm going to be more of a pain in the ass!" I shout. Throwing one of the chairs and purposefully missing Monokuma, I see that the bear is confused. That is my chance to book it. There is a high, high chance this will not succeed, but there is a low chance that it will. Kazuhiko's hope is really starting to rub off on me, only if he could be still alive to see this.

"..." The last thing I see of Monokuma is his dreadful glare.

* * *

Rushing, I run back to the other building of the school. The others would be smart enough to leave the trial grounds already, so they must be in the woods. Now I need to figure out which direction they have gone. It is not that hard to see a large trail of footprints. They must have gone together not split up since they suspected to not be found out. Ever the optimist, aren't they?

I truly do not believe I will catch up with them but it is worth the shot. Though, before I can progress any further, I feel something grab my leg. It is scary but predictable.

"Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan, I can't believe that you're the Kamukura brat. You look different from before." Monokuma is breaking character. Sure, he is still using those ridiculous nicknames, yet there is something very off. This is the mastermind being themself.

"..." I decide to stay silent. Voicing my opinion might prove to be deadly here. Monokuma doesn't need to follow any of his rules right now.

"The silent treatment, huh? Writing your character like this was a mistake." Monokuma lets go of me, and, instantly, I begin to run again. A whole bunch of Monokumas pop up in front of me, blocking my way. "I'm trying to be civil and this is what happens. This is why nobody likes you."

"No."

"Oh my God, this again?" And then I see that Monokuma has a bracelet in his paws. He tries to put it on my wrist again but I carefully dodge out of his way. Last time he caught me off guard, I will make sure that doesn't happen again. Though I lose breath quickly due to how much I have run, I try to outlast Monokuma. It might be a stupid thing to do with a demonic teddy bear but it is better than nothing. At least one good thing has come from all the pain that the Committee has put me through, strength.

"Yes," I smirk. Not the smartest idea but the sudden feeling of control has me made cocky.

"Hhhhmmmm...I wonder how everybody else is doing-"

"My classmates? They're fine-"

"I'm not talking about them. I talking about your family, your actual family. Screw the Nishikis, nobody likes them."

"You just figured out I'm a Kamukura. What else could you possibly know?" I ask him. A part of me knows I am playing into some kind of trap but natural curiosity takes over my better judgment.

"What else do _you_ know?"

"..." Strangely, Monokuma does have a point, I really do not know. I have not seen everybody for a long time. Who is still alive and who else has died? There is a hundred percent chance that somebody else is dead even though I do not want it to be true. Especially since I have not been on the island or heard anything about anybody since I was young. The Nishikis would tell me some information at the beginning, yet, after a while, they stopped caring and dropped the subject altogether.

"A-Ayano?" Kyoto asks. Both Monokuma and I turn to him, not expecting him to be here. But Kyoto is here and probably heard all of that. Kyoto must have made some sort of noise, but because we were so focused on each other, neither of us noticed.

"..." Silence.

"Kamukura?"

"..."

"Yes, that's right, Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan here is Izuru Kamukura's adopted daughter-"

"How did you know I was adopted-"

"You don't look like his kid at all. At all. All you got are those reddish, brown eyes, and even that's a stretch-"

"W-what?" Kyoto can barely form any kind of word. I can just tell by the pure look of betrayal in his eyes that this is something that we cannot just talk out. The only other friend I had from before this Hell now hates me. His eyes have lost all life.

"Kyoto, I can explain!" I call out. Monokuma places the same bracelet from before on my wrist but I truly do not care. There has to be something I can do to fix this situation. Kyoto is more important than me in this situation! He can still use his talent to help people, while I am burdened by the constant weight of my wrist.

This is something that I was warned about but never thought would happen. Kazuhiko took the news a lot better, but that is probably because we have just met, were kids, and Kazuhiko does not believe what the Committee tells him. Kyoto may be smart, yet he doubts himself. He must know that the Committee's teaching is not true because he is the Ultimate Strategist, a person that can plan ahead everything. That is the scary thing about the Committee, their brainwashing of young minds to not believe in the truth. Perhaps that is the reason why Kaneshiro is openly accepted into their ranks while people like us get erased from history. Nothing can satisfy the hunger of the beast expect for more power.

"Oh, I can't have this coming out to all the others. It would distract from Shinichi's case and that's no fun. Somebody still has to be executed for being very, very naughty," Monokuma says. Then I see that Kyoto also gets the action and does not fight back. "Puhuhuhu. If you try to out Ayano as a Kamukura, you're gonna to die, Kyoto. Turns out you really are just second rate. Now I'm gonna catch up with all of my other bastard students."

It strikes me as odd that Monokuma is taking his time to explain everything to Kyoto, but he wants my secret to remind what it is longer, a secret. Perhaps the only reason why Kyoto is not being brainwashed in some way right now is because the mastermind wants to see his suffering. If that is what it is, I cannot stop my disgust. I do not care if I despair, but Kyoto does not deserve this! He deserves the truth!

"...I can really explain. Izuru isn't the person you think it is! It's all Committee propaganda! Listen to me, Kyoto!" I yell. Kyoto begins to walk away slowly. I follow after him, not knowing what else to do. Being a Kamukura truly is a blessing but even more of a curse.

* * *

When Kyoto and I reach the end of the forest, I automatically know that there is something wrong. The Suicide Forest does not end with only being a couple miles out. It was easy to create an estimation of how much time has passed due to the silence between the both of us. Now it has been about two hours and thirty minutes. My body truly hurts and wants to shut down due to the vast amounts of exercise, emotional stress, and lack of sleep. How my eyes are still opened is beyond me.

But, even with all this time, I'm nowhere near finding out who Shinichi's killer is. There were too many other things that were on my mind. Like should I tell everybody else that we have been deleted from the internet? I don't want to cause panic so maybe that is a bombshell for later.

...Though now I see everybody else and the sky. The sun is beginning to rise so my estimate is that it is somewhere near six AM. This is the first time I have seen the sun for a while so it hurts but is truly stunning. My eyes are in awe of its wonderous glow. It is beginning to creep closer and closer to us. However, there is one thing that I am certain of, this is not the rays of hope or despair, but something else. Just the question is what?

"How can something be so beautiful but so heartbreaking?" Tsukiko thinks out loud. Nobody can answer her question because...because...

The biggest thing that catches me off guard is the sea. Although it did remind me of my father's Killing Game, I would have never guessed this was an island as well. Though, now that I am thinking more about it, the more sense it makes. This is why nobody has found us. No matter how massive the Suicide Forest is, there are many people familiar enough to explore the forest and eventually find us. There would be dead bodies, signs of life, trash, something if this was the real deal. But there was nothing. And I highly doubt that even in the Tragedy, the building of this replica school would go unnoticed. We are on a manmade island, in the middle of nowhere, that is a replica just like Hope's Peak Academy. Everything about this is a ripoff.

"Now, now, kids, since the trial has already been delayed due to...complications. The rest of this trial will be held out here!" Monokuma announces. Nobody seems to have the energy left to fight back. I see, however, that some students have suspicious, Hotaru, Kira, Takayuki, Mitsuru, Akemi, and Hayato, or worried, Mirabilis, Minato, Cassius, Yasu, Naoko, and Takara, expressions toward Kyoto and I. Kyoto still has his soulless eyes. I never thought he would hate me being a Kamukura so much, but it seems that his parents coming from America have carried over their hatred of Izuru Kamukura with them. So many people are still fooled into thinking that Izuru was one of Junko's right-hand men and the cause of the Future Foundation Killing Game. Nothing can be further from the truth.

"Seriously?" Kira questions him. Her eyes begin to droop but she forces them open again.

"May I ask how we are supposed to do that?" Tsukiko asks. The ground shakes and we all get in our earthquake positions. However, it ends shorter afterward.

"Look over the cliffside and you'll find out how." Monokuma seems to have planned our potential escape attempt. He must have purposefully fooled us into thinking that this is the Suicide Forest for the hope of escaping. That five-mile rule and Minato's action must have been to make sure nobody finds out before this kind of moment. Minato must have almost spoiled the entire surprise.

All of us make our way to the cliffside to see there are platforms on the edge. They are small and have no means of protecting us from falling into the ocean. The sea is unpredictable, and, if we are not careful, we might fall victim to its wrath. The bottom of the platforms have our names written on them, and I feel shocked that I am relieved to see that I am still noted to be Ayano Nishiki. And, like his usual self, Monokuma placed pictures with xs of the dead members of our class. Guess he could not find a way to get the stands out here.

It takes us some time to safely get on our platforms. Most of the students hug the rocky cliff behind them for some kind of comfort, including myself. Although I would not in most situations, I can feel that my body is about to give out. Hotaru sits on the edge of hers like usual, allowing her legs to dangle freely. Sometimes the water would reach them but it did not bother Hotaru. Miyuki, Mitsuru, Kira, and Cassius stand up, which I admit is a fairly unusual group of characters to see do something together. Takayuki tries his best to stay safe even with his lack of hands.

All of us are in a relatively straight line. The platforms are in the same order as the podiums, with me being the farthest left while Namita is the farthest right. It is already strange to be put in this position. We are not facing each other, and the sound of the crashing waves underneath us is overwhelming. There is a lack of the floating letters so Takara seems to make peace with the fact that he is silent once again during this trial.

"Now, kids, start talking. Now the trial is timed since you've been bad children. You only have an hour to find the culprit." Monokuma's words fully dawn on us. Though I seem to realize that there is one silver lining of this situation.

"Alright, Monokuma, I will destroy your plan, you motherfucker," Takayuki comments. I notice that Monokuma has not given Takayuki his action back. For once, we have the Ultimate Private Investigation working for us. Though it is hard to take him seriously since he has not have the time to change out of his strange new attire. "I think I've already found one suspicious person...isn't that right, Kira Iwata!?"

"What?" Kira shouts.

"I said I think-"

"I heard you! Where's your proof?" Kira and Takayuki are now in a fierce showdown. I hear whispers in the back but it is still hard to hear over these waves.

"You think that somebody like Kira is smart enough to pull this off? Isn't that a stretch? She's kinda an idiot," Akemi responds. There are some redeemable qualities in him if he is able to stand up for a friend. Maybe helping him with Akemi can allow Kyoto to trust me again.

"If you're random lynching, I'm gonna purify you even more!" Mirabilis threatens.

"Trust me, h-he's not random lynching! There i-is proof!" Naoko exclaims. She can barely be heard so she has to extend her voice to lengths I have not heard from her. It is like she is shouting but in a calm way.

"How can you explain all of the clues then, Kira Iwata? There are only three people now that can be the killer, Tsukiko, Cassius, and you. And you've got the most proof-"

"Wah, Takayuki is picking on me with no proof!" Kira cries out. Her tears are obviously fake.

"Now you made a girl cry, you're going too far-"

"Mirabilis shut the fuck up with your stupid fucking fantasies and make me fucking finish my sentence," Takayuki interrupts. He has been silent for so long that I almost forgot how Takayuki used to speak. Apparently with a lot of curse words. "Kira, you were in the kitchen, yes? You had access to the cellar without looking suspicious, as you could just claim you were finding something for the cake. Cassius is an idiot so he would believe you-"

"Boy-"

"Ahem, during the party, Hotaru noted you went to the bathroom-"

"Did Nakatani-san also go to the bathroom? There is a logical fallacy in your statement. Sorry for interrupting, but I only do when I see fit. All of us want to survive," Hayato points out.

"That's not everything. Let me finish my point," Takayuki rolls his eyes. If he had a middle finger, he would have flipped somebody off. "She's always in the right place at the right time. Hell, you were even in the group that Shinichi talked to last. You were in the kitchen for before and during the party, and you were searching Shinichi's room, correct? You could have accused yourself of another position without looking as suspicious as in other areas. Even without going out, you could've easily found evidence inside and hide it away-"

"All of that is a coincidence! That doesn't prove anything!" Kira is on edge and not making her case any better. "Stop pointing your finger at me! Guys, stop him, Takayuki's being mean again!"

"Maybe she's innocent. Takayuki, stop it!" Minato pleads, easily taken in by Kira.

"All of that is a coincidence. There's no solid proof-" Satoshi is not given time to finish his sentence before Takayuki interrupts him.

"The cup with the mark on it. It leads to two people, Kyoto and Kira. Kyoto has already been cleared by Monokuma, and I'm pretty sure none of us want to go through the ordeal of the first part of this trial again. Therefore, Kira Iwata is the most suspicious person out of everybody here!"

* * *

 **Puhuhuhu. I've finally updated but this a long chapter. Before you all go wondering about the next Despair in Our Stars chapter, it is almost done. Just, you know, I'm in the middle of a trial. If one of my fics is in the middle of the trial, it is safe to assume that would be the more updated one. If they both are, then...shit.**

 **The reason why I haven't been updating as much is that I was really busy. Because family issues. Family issues falling out of my ears. To say my family is...interesting is an understatement.**

 **I hope I did that plot twist right. Since, you know, I always have a habit of thinking something is obvious until people are like...what? And then I'm like...okay, that didn't work. I'm looking at you Ayano Kamukura twist. I've improved so much as a writer in almost the year that this story has been going. Some of the older chapters make me cringe now. (and I just really want to write as Akita again)**

 **Also, I am planning on revising FoD after I finish the third chapter. Why? Because I feel like it. And I'm too lazy to do it right now. So, yeah, that would happen.**

 **Now, finally, to the reviews~**

 **ObieSenpai-All your theories go out the window. Cause that's how I roll, baby. Kyoto has been proven innocent by Monokuma.**

 **AnonChan1-Ayano and Hotaru have an...interesting relationship. Yep, I'm surprised whenever canon games forget that their cases are happening late at night (I'm looking at you, DR2 case 1. It is like really late at night during that one). Anybody can be brainwashed. Read the Christmas special for more details. XD They were planning to hack Monokuma's systems and get out of there. It didn't work that well. Who had the information last time is up for discussion. RIP everybody.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Monokuma doesn't know how to hold these trials. Now it is at sea! With nobody facing each other! Brilliant! Yasu tried. You sound more like Commander making up ship names. :P Cassius is my precious idiot. Mirabilis is trying to do that. Thanks. ^.^**

 **CrayonPencil-Welcome back! Join all of us in this story of suffering.**


	29. Trial 2-4

**Trial 2-4: Diamond is Unbreakable**

* * *

Kira Iwata.

What do I know about her?

She was somebody I had no interest in getting to know better. All I knew is that she really likes her position as a jeweler and that it is not a good idea to call her short. Kira seemed like nobody special, just another person in this game. If she turns out to be a serial killer, I am quitting.

Shinichi Fujimoto.

How do the two of them connect?

Even if I was interested in a platonic relationship with Shinichi, there is nothing I truly know about him or the reason why Kira targeted him. Shinichi saved my life so I have to bring Kira to justice. Maybe then I can understand her and Shinichi better. Monokuma does like talking too much.

"...Do you really hate me this much?! Why are you always bullying me!?" Kira cries out.

"Kira, I literally never had a one and one conversation with you," Takayuki responds, clearly tired of her childish antics.

"Oh? Is it because of that stupid action of yours? You should've kept your mouth shut. Be a good little kid and you'll get what you want." Kira is a lot more serious. She has completely thrown out her crocodile tears in exchange for a cooler persona.

"Kira? What about your argument?" Akemi asks. He is suspicious of her but there is still the look of hesitation. The look of being confused on what to do next.

"Could it be that we have truly backed her into a corner? Even though she created such an elaborate plan, it fails the moment she is backed into the corner," Hayato comments. He examines the rest of his classmates, most of which were trying their hardest to stay awake, let alone create a solid theory. Hayato himself cannot give enough energy to stand up and even his voice is weaker than it was at the start of this trial.

"It seems like the most logical thing to do now is to review the case to see if we truly have it all figured out." Miyuki is using her sword as a makeshift cane for some waves were threatening even somebody of her physical prowess.

"B-but we still haven't solved everything yet..." Naoko tries to get her voice heard but she is too tired to fully express her opinion. The opinion that has helped us many times in these two trials alone.

"Fine, I'll confess. It's what Ayano would want me to do," Kira says out of nowhere. Everybody but Cassius and Namita, who I presume to know more about Ayano Kirigiri, turn to face me. Having the same first name as that woman is sure proving to be difficult right about now.

"Are you sure you gotta confess? It's clear that Monokuma is the killer!" Mirabilis is still trying to convince everybody to side with her. Too bad it is not working. Unlike most people though, Mirabilis still has determination. It is clear to see in her eyes, holding steadfast to her goal. Her goal of protecting all of us.

"But why would you do something like this? How important is water? Enough to kill somebody else?" Tsukiko questions Kira. She is a lot more emotional than the last trial, possibly from the lack of sleep. Although pointing your finger at your innocent friend is a lot harder than saying some guilty person you knew from middle school is a killer. That and the lack of sleep. Yeah. I pulled two nighters before...those are torture and made me finally learn the true price of losing so much sleep.

"There's a...l-loophole," Kira explains. With all the talk of loopholes and using Monokuma, Kira must not be afraid to cheat to get what she wants. "...That l-loophole failed."

"Loophole? What is it?" Namita is focused as well. Maybe because she does not appreciate all the effort she has put into Kira has been wasted. After all, Kira did kill somebody, and I can never forgive her. No matter the reason, I will not forgive Shinichi's true murderer.

"..." Minutes pass with only silence and occasional whispers.

"Oh, look at that, the culprit has decided to use their right to remind silent. Finally, somebody isn't a dumbass," Monokuma laughs. He is using his jetpack from the first trial to reach us and not waste one of us many, many dolls. "That loophole is...drumroll please... _ **suicide**_!"

"..." Every person is now completely silent. It makes sense. The person can still be found out if they committed suicide during a trial, and, because everybody fulfilled the requirements, and nobody is there to decide the person who gets it, one of two things could happen, everybody or nobody gets the water. How did I not think about this until now!?

"K-Kira tried to commit suicide?...For all of us? Dammit, Kira!" Akemi shouts out.

"I cannot believe such a preposterous...thing! My friend, Kira Iwata, would not do something as take her own life for a chance of all of us getting a reward!" Cassius defends his friend. It is hard to believe that just last trial they were wasting time on their useless bickering of both being jewelers.

"G-guys?"

"But didn't you say Monokuma that the culprit targeted Shinichi on purpose? If Kira is the killer, how is that possible?" Hayato brings up a good point. There are still parts of this case that do not make any sense. Why would Kira throw Shinichi's diary in the pool if she just wanted to kill herself?

"I don't know! I t-truly don't! I didn't even throw S-Shinichi's diary! I didn't even know he had one!"

"But why are you confessing to the murder then, Kira-"

"Hayato, she could be lying about Shinichi's diary easily. We should listen to her confession before we do something stupid," Takayuki interrupts Hayato. Hayato is surprisingly calm about the whole incident, electing to take a breather once again. He is truly somebody that is hard to rattle.

"...O-okay." Kira is shaking as she nervously glances at all of her classmates. "After h-he introduced the motive to us, I w-waited for the night to call f-for Monokuma. There I-I got him to agree t-to help me with this murder. H-he gave me the H-hospital key to help with my plan-"

"H-hospital key?" Naoko questions. She is onto something but she is not telling. Realizing that she just accidentally interrupted Kira, Naoko covers her mouth and begins to blush. Before continuing with the rest of her confession, Kira took out a key with Monokuma's face on it. It is clear to tell that she is telling the truth.

"Then I-I retrieved the p-poison from one of Takayuki's b-bracelets using Monokuma's instructions. I also messed with what I could with S-Satoshi still out. Hearing about the party, I d-decided to do my p-plan there. Everybody would see me and find it obvious. B-because Satoshi wasn't there anymore, I-I messed with the last needed supplies. I knew that nobody would go in there to check. I w-worked in the kitchen until everybody arrived. During the party, I-I was with my group. I e-excused myself to the bathroom to finish u-up my plans. It would easy to find during the blackout a-and nobody would look in there. I-I was scared when Akemi went in there, b-but he couldn't find where I have hidden it-"

"You mean I could've stopped this stupidity!? Dammit! How can somebody this stupid make a murder this complicated?" Akemi interrupts.

"Akemi, stop interrupting. The important characters are talking," Monokuma laughs. Akemi scowls. Kira tries to make eye contact with him, but his eyes purposefully wonder into the dark depths of the ocean.

"W-when the blackout occurred, I hurried to the b-bathroom and got the poison. I ran back to the cafeteria a-and quickly felt for the m-mark. I barely made it in time as I notice the lights turn back on," Kira continues to explain. "T-there's this random note. Cassius thinks that i-it is a good idea to talk to Shinichi...for w-whatever reason...so our group all went to him. A-and then I drank my drink...and...and...and Shinichi died all thanks to me!" She begins to cry again yet I cannot tell whether or not her tears are real.

"...What?" I ask. "...Cassius?"

"..." Cassius is silent though he seems more confused than scared. It is weird to see him react in this way.

"This doesn't make any damn sense! How can Kira be the killer if she did stuff the killer didn't?! Dammit!" Mitsuru kicks the side of the cliff, making some of the rock fall off. She then decides to keep her hands to herself.

"...Kira isn't the killer! Somebody used her trick!" Naoko exclaims. She is visibly shaken as if even she is still coming in terms of the events of today.

"Dammit...that's what the two bags mean! There's no reason why Kira would have two for her damn trick! Monokuma has been playing us like damn fools!" Takayuki bits down hard on his lip. "That means the killer is-" Before Takayuki can reveal the truth to us, Monokuma covers his mouth and places his action around his neck again. It seems like Monokuma wanted Takayuki to figure everything out.

"What do you mean? It's Monokuma! He's tricking everybody!" Mirabilis cries out. "There's no way somebody else did this! No, no, no! I won't allow another execution to happen! Take me instead DAMMIT!" Everybody is taken aback by Mirabilis cursing. I never thought I would live to see the day, but everybody is doing the unthinkable. Everybody is breaking away from their character type.

"..." Hayato takes a look at his side but keeps his mouth shut. His eyes tell me he clearly know who the possible killer is and is purposefully keeping his mouth shut. Such is neutrality.

"Now this is...not fun." Even Hotaru is lost of all of her energy. Nobody wants to speak or fight back since our bodies are craving at least seconds of sleep. Even my eyes are struggling to stay open. This is a damn trial, be awake!

"It makes sense that it's the other person in the kitchen...Cassius Jacobson..." Tsukiko can barely get her words out. "...Is the...killer."

"..." Cassius is even more confused as everybody begins to stare at him. We all just want an answer. All of our energy was spent trying to get away that now we cannot even properly fight against Monokuma's unfair game. A game where nobody is safe. "The audacity you have to even fathom such a thought! How dare you believe that someone from such a noble bloodline could do such a thing-"

"I love my family too but that didn't stop me from murder. Your family is the most precious people in the world." Suddenly Kira turns on Cassius. "I can't believe you used me! Only Ayano is supposed to do that!" She begins to cry again. And, once again...again, she confuses everybody by mentioning the other Ayano.

"Puhuhuhu, let's see how this changes things." Monokuma then lowers most of the platforms. Now the waves crash onto all of the lowered, soaking us to the bone. This is not a good sign. The only people left dry are Kira and Cassius.

"..." Looking up, I see that Cassius is trying to figure out everything. "...Fool...you lied to me!" At that very moment, Cassius realizes the situation he was in. His face contorts. "I demand a retrial! Yes, a retrial-"

"Cassius, we haven't even voted yet," Kira reminds him. "...Monokuma, you made fools out of both of us! You're worst than all of the people that call me cute combined!"

...Can this really be happening? Could Cassius even have done such a thing? Dammit, not this shit again. Monokuma is going to pay for this. For so clearly disrespecting the rules of the Killing Game! The last ones you had a chance of grasping at true hope but only the dark depths of the void of nothingness can be felt here.

"Kira, Cassius, let me be blunt with you. There's nothing I like better than fucking with people that follow the Committee. Especially because you two are idiots with the same exact, boring, useless talent. You can't lie to me, I know everything about you." Monokuma then ignores them while they look at each other, coming down to our level. He is back to his out of character persona. The persona that scares me much, much more. Since this is possibly the true mastermind, yet Monokuma is a sad version of Junko Enoshima.

"What do you mean? Use both of them? Cassius didn't do anything," Tsukiko questions him. It is true that a lot of things do not make sense, but I think it would be easier to figure out if we had all the answers and none of the questions.

"Puhuhuhu, I might've been a naughty boy. It was foolish for Kira to ask for my help," Monokuma explains. "I may or may not have used Cassius like a fiddle. It is easy to manipulate people with the power of secrets! Kira could've chickened out and wasted my time, so I created another plan. I may or may not have brainwashed one of the students to play tricks with Cassius-"

"Wait, demonic bear, if what you say is, in fact, true, that means-" Another Monokuma pops out from...somewhere and places his hand over Cassius's mouth.

"What, you won't even let him reveal that you damn bear!" Mitsuru tries to throw a piece of rock at Monokuma, but he dodges out of the way, laughing while doing so.

"Silence! Villain speech is needed!" All of our mouths are then covered with Monokumas, except for Kira. Kira is both horrified and angry, and tries to yell over Monokuma but failing. "Since I had my human servant, I technically had nothing to do with this murder-"

"We all know that's bullshit!" Now Kira has learned how to curse more from Mirabilis. She is not about to go down without a fight.

"Anyway, as I was saying, my servant came up to Cassius with his big, dark secret. And to shut my little helper up, Cassius played along. He was tricked into throwing Shinichi's diary into the pool. Cassius didn't know what it was, he didn't ask questions. All to protect that biiiiigggggggg dark secret. And my little helper guided the poor soul during the blackout to Shinichi's cup and gave him the true poison. Puhuhu. Kira, how did you not predict something like this would happen? I mean, I did stop the previous trial early to save my own ass. I'm not Junko Enoshima, this game is not fair-"

"But you said you would give us a fair trial this time!" Kira tries to fight back, not realizing how futile her actions are. "He's lying, right Cassius? There's no way this is true!"

"..." Still unable to speak, Cassius stills has a confident stance. He, however, shakes his head.

Monokuma...if he really did what he is implying, then nobody is truly safe. Cassius did not want to murder but that did not stop Monokuma forcing him to. Instead of letting murders happen naturally, Monokuma is forcing them. Perhaps Kazuhiko was lucky to get executed so early in the game.

"Hey, instead of bickering, let's do a recap of this entire case!" Monokuma exclaims. A giant TV comes flying down out of nowhere. Monokuma positions himself in front of it and begins to summarize the case.

* * *

 _This case all started when the true second motive was announced. Kira Iwata decided that she would take her own life to grant her fellow students access to water. She made contact with Monokuma, and the two of them decided to work together to create a solvable suicide. However, Kira didn't imagine that Monokuma would twist her plans to instead cause a complicated murder mystery._

 _Kira went inside the Hospital to tamper with the supplies, to make sure nobody stops her suicide attempt, and get the murder weapon, a poison most commonly referred to as nightshade. She was originally going to do her plan during breakfast time when most of the students are gathered at the same place, but Cassius Jacobson told her about the party. That changed her mind since she thought that would make a more obvious suicide. Having everybody see her die and confess before her final breaths would surely result in a short trial._

 _Little did Kira know, Monokuma set his own plan into motion to kill a severe pain in the ass, Shinichi Fujimoto. He had one of his brainwashed servants talk to Cassius and convince him to play along in the murder. Cassius was handed Shinichi's diary to test his loyalty, and he complied by throwing it in the pool._

 _Shinichi, during this time, was on edge due to the letter that somebody sent him. Little did he know that both of the jewelers, people he did not get to know well, were unknowingly causing his very own death._

 _Now that it was nearing the presumed end of the party, Kira set her plan into motion. She excused herself to go to the bathroom from the students she was playing cards with. Kira set up what she thought was the poison in the bathroom, placing it inside a little bag. Then she placed the bag in a hiding spot that she decided from before the murder._

 _Monokuma knew Kira was ready to enact her suicide attempt, so he caused the first blackout. The bear, using supplies, set up the cups. Then he had somebody place the letter and trick Cassius into pouring the poison in Shinichi's drink. At the same time, Kira made her way over with the presumed poison, and, using the mark Monokuma said he would place on her cup, poured water into it. The bear knew about this and filled her cup less than the other students so she would not cause suspicion._

 _With the lights back on, the students realized the odd setup. Cassius, following the orders of my slave, told Shinichi where to sit. The male jeweler hinted during the conversation that he knew about Shinichi's diary, so the translator did as he was told, not wanting anybody to find out his own secret. Moral of the story, kids, don't keep secrets._

 _All of the students drank from their cups. Shinichi drank all the poison, so he started to show small symptoms until he went into a full-on seizure. Kira and Cassius both realized that they fucked up._

 _Three of the class members, Ayano, Naoko, and Takara hurried into the Hospital to get the supplies to help Shinichi. They noticed too late that there was nothing of use in there. Kira would have given them the correct supplies, but she had given Monokuma the job of hiding them. Monokuma was also the one that created all the fake labels._

 _In the cafeteria, there was another blackout. Due to an overload of sensory perception, and the vomit he threw up still lingering in his mouth, Shinichi went into a state of shock that caused his death to be quicker than usual. He suffocated on his vomit, killing him slowly and brutally._

 _Shinichi then takes his last breaths. While there was chaos, Kira found her way to the bathroom and hid the pouch again. Cassius only stuffed it into his pockets. My little slave then told Cassius about Kira's little hiding spot. Not in the mood to disobey, Cassius found Kira's pouch. He then hides both of them poorly before returning to where the other students were collected._

 _Both of our possible suspects went into a state of panic. Cassius only screamed like a little girl. Kira, on the other hand, decided to lock both Ayano and Naoko in the Hospital. Whether she did this to make them find evidence, have nobody else enter the Hospital, or try to cover up her possible motive due to having a reason to live, or maybe all or none of the above is all up to the readers._

 _In the end, Shinichi Fujimoto was killed by two idiots being used by Monokuma for being less of an idiot. He will never live to see another day because of the ignorance of this duo._

 _So...the murderer is either Cassius Jacobson or Kira Iwata, both the Ultimate Jeweler! Your life depends on your own decision._

* * *

"I wonder...who will you decide? The fool...or the bigger fool? Which one of these precious little jewels are gonna break into a billion pieces? Who is the fake diamond?" Monokuma asks. Suddenly, all of us, besides Kira and Cassius, notice that something opens from behind us, a door. Chains come out of it and hold us down. Kira and Cassius are the only ones still left standing.

"...Vote me! I'm obviously the killer!" Kira flips between emotions way too fast for me to keep up with her.

"Puhuhu, for all you know, I may be lying. The killer and I are in some sort of cahoots." Monokuma makes a good point. However, something in my gut tells me that one of them is, in fact, the killer. Then again, nobody knows the full truth of this game of lies except for Monokuma.

Then one of my hands is freed like the rest of my classmates at this level. Suddenly, pads come flying down to us. It is the same as before with pictures of everybody. The dead, once again, is crossed off with an X. Two more have joined Akita since the last time, and now we are cursing another one of our classmates to the same fate as Kazuhiko. Execution.

Various different choices fly by my head. Was it Cassius Jacobson, Kira Iwata, or somebody else entirely? The short amount of time we have continues to tick down and down and down...until I press the picture of Kira's face. My vote then gets counted.

Kira Iwata, one of the Ultimate Jewelers...what do I know about you? What do I know about Cassius?

I know something for certain about Cassius, his pride of his family. How much he loves the name of Jacobson and won't shut up about it. Unlike Kira, where I only have her fake tears to go by.

"Oh, is this a series first? The audience back home will love this!"

 ** _Kira Iwata - Votes: 9_**

 ** _Cassius Jacobson - Votes: 9_**

 ** _Abstain - Vote: 1_**

 ** _Only the mastermind has the power to abstain._**

 ** _Congrats on finding the Blackened, kids!_**

Horror washes over all of us. Cassius is finally let go of the Monokuma but given his very own action.

That is the last of my worries, however. The mastermind is surely having fun messing with us. Why else would they not vote when they are supposed to know who the killer is? It is nothing more than a big game to Monokuma.

"...That's right...The Blackened is...!" Monokuma shows us his sinister smile before trying to snap his paws. It does not work so he claps them instead. Then we all, except for Kira and Cassius, get dragged into...the original trial room.

"This can't be happening! Not again!" Mirabilis begins to shake as she hugs herself. I notice that our mouths are finally free.

"Now, kids, I need to prepare the execution room for something grand. I can have a story time while we wait," Monokuma says. A projector comes down and all of us feel weirdly drawn to it. It then starts to play a video. The first thing I see is the familiar face of Shinichi Fujimoto. I have no idea how I feel about his murder having the only clear 'bad guy' being Monokuma.

* * *

 _Shinichi Fujimoto, the Ultimate Translator. All he wanted was to get stronger...wait, wrong story time!_

 _All he wanted was for the world to treat his younger brother kindly-_

* * *

"Wait, what? He had a younger brother!?"

"Stop it, this is supposed to be story time! You're breaking the fabulous flow I got going on."

* * *

 _You see, his mother was what I would like to call a piece of shit. Even I think that and I've given my very soul and being to despair, so you know she's bad. Since Shinichi's brother was so much younger than him, and he was already BFFs with high ranking officials of the Saviors of Humanity, he thought he could use his job at the Committee to betray them. That's all good, but then he began targeting the True Despairs! That's no good! I tried so hard for us to team together, but, no the Saviors are all a bunch of goody-two-shoes. Fuck them and especially Shinichi._

 _Since Shinichi was so close to figuring out the secrets of these two organizations for the sake of his little brother, I decided to kill him. I mean I already know all of the Committee's secrets so it wouldn't have been helpful to keep him around! Can't have him figuring out the truth behind Akita Yamazaki and so many others, you know? Don't think that Akita is the only bullshit insane person here, because, trust me, there's an even more insane joker in your midst. Puhuhu, the despair he must have felt during his last moments! I'm so jealous! Even in the end, he couldn't stop thinking about his dear, dear brother._

 _Oh, and I may or may not have sent a version of the Despair video featuring his death to every single known member of the Saviors. Oops._

* * *

Despair video? Well, whatever the Saviors were doing, it sure as Hell will not continue. But...Shinichi, you could have at least told everybody that you have a little brother. Is a picture of that little brother inside his locket? Maybe that's why he was so on edge all the time. Only if I knew this would happen, then I would have never allowed him to give into peer pressure and drink that! Stupid, stupid, stupid! There would be a chance he would still be alive.

Although, with Shinichi being on Monokuma's radar, Shinichi still wouldn't last long. In Jabberwock Island, Monokuma gave motives that targeted certain people, but this is not the same. Jabberwock you had a choice, here you do not. It is like you might as well commit suicide since even that action will be controlled by Monokuma.

"Despair video!? How the hell did you get access to that?!" Hotaru shouts.

"...What?" I focus on Hotaru. She is on edge. Hotaru knows something that most of the others here don't. Does she know at least some bit of the truth as well?

"Now, kids, proceed into the Execution room. I've something that will shock the crowds for ages to come!" Not really having the power to say no anymore, we all behaved like good little children and followed Monokuma's lead. However, Monokuma grabs onto Yasu.

"..." Yasu seems to accept their fate. Monokuma drags them out of the room and I can only guess that she is being forced into that same exact chair I was. After all, that's how Monokuma punishes people like me and Yasu.

"Yumiko...I'm going to have fun with you," Monokuma laughs. Yasu looks up to him, a newfound fear hidden in their eyes.

"Stay safe, Yasu!" Mirabilis calls out. Dumbfounded, Yasu takes awhile to finally smile. That smile is then meet with the door of the execution room closing. Now we are truly trapped in here. So I slowly but surely making my way to the front. Sure, I did not want to see anybody else get executed, yet it is my first time here. Plus I want to make sure that the people behind me can see as little as possible. All of the other tall students join me except for Kyoto, who is ignoring me but still has blush all over his face.

There is only a fence keeping us from charging into the execution. We are on the same floor but are far enough to remain safe. I see that for this execution the setup is rather complex. But the thing that worries me the most, and I assume my classmates, is a giant oven. I don't want to see how that gets used. Guess this time I can always close my eyes.

"Alright, kids, I know how long you've been waiting! It is time for our second **_PUNISHMENT TIME_**!"

* * *

 **Childhood Over**

 **Kira has been found guilty by the court of Monokuma**

 **TIME FOR PUNISHMENT!**

* * *

 **A Diamond is a Girl's Best, Worse Friend**

 **Ultimate Jeweler Kira Iwata's Execution**

* * *

The first thing I notice is how Kira's eyes are dead and she seems to have accepted her fate. She walks into the execution willingly from an open space in one of the walls. After she gets into the execution room, it closes behind her, eliminating all possibilities of escape.

That, however, does not allow Monokuma to be soft with her. A fully robotic hand comes down from the ceiling and picks Kira up from her jacket. As if that triggered some will to live, Kira then takes off her jacket, falling onto some sort of track underneath her. The sound of one of her legs cracking can be heard throughout the room and she cries out in pain. Then Kira tries to run as fast as she can as the robotic hand from before begins to chase after her, only this time it has an overgrown needle dripping with pink paint with it. The paint drips and drips, leaving a trail behind Kira.

Kira then stops in her tracks when she realizes that the only thing in front of her is an oven that can perfectly fit her. The hand attempts to attack her with the needle, but Kira tries to dodge. It only hits her on the side of the chest and the attack had her falling back into the oven. She screams but then closes her eyes and stops fighting back once again. Then she realizes there are unmade diamonds all around her. Seeing the irony, Kira chuckles a bit.

Then the hand goes up to the controls. It is about to turn up the heat of the oven when it suddenly breaks down. Kira, confused, only stares at it before trying to escape. She is locked in.

"Oops, gosh, I keep making mistakes today. I think that's the moral of the story of today: everybody makes mistakes. Kira isn't supposed to be executed-"

"What!? What the Hell am I doing here!?" Kira interrupts. Monokuma seems annoyed with her but, other than a stare, does not give her any sort of attention. He is solely focused on us.

"Gosh, this is so underwhelming, I wonder what idiot actually thought it was an execution. Nope. Now, may I ask you another question: who is the true jeweler? Only one can be telling the truth. And I sure as Hell ain't gonna give this all away! Now, ladies and gentlemen, and whatever Yasu and Minato are, I present you the true second execution! C'mon, let's have our own _**EXECUTION TIME**_!" Monokuma claps his paws again and the setup changes a little from Kira's execution. She is still there, though, trapped inside an oven filled with diamonds.

"No! I'm the killer! You gotta know that, Monokuma! What the Hell are you doing-" Once again, Monokuma points to Kira, which has another Monokuma come out from a passageway from the bottom of the oven. It covers her mouth with duct tape before leaving.

"I'm just doing what a dear _'friend'_ of mine would've wanted! This is punishment for the whole class for trying to escape this place using dirty methods! Honestly, you should know better than that by now."

* * *

 **Family Over**

 **Cassius has been found innocent by the court of Monokuma**

 **Too bad that's the worse crime of all**

 **TIME FOR EXECUTION!**

* * *

 **Cassius's Killing Adventure: Diamond is Breakable**

 **Ultimate - Cassius Jacobson's Execution**

* * *

Cassius, like Kira, has tape over his mouth. He looks at her, and she returns it. She presses her body against the pane of glass, while Cassius tries to go up to her, but then he realizes the saw that comes between the two of them. Like Kira before, Cassius gets out of the way before severe damage but still gets nicked by the blade, this time on the arm. He is about to react to it before more blades come down, forcing him to run away. Kira begins to knock on the glass to no avail.

Various saws come out of the floor, which Cassius is barely able to get away from. They start to eat away at his clothing, hair, and skin, leaving him a bloody mess. Kira's pounding of the glass begins to make her hand bleed. Then, however, a laser comes out of nowhere and hits Cassius's leg, the same one Kira has broken, leaving a hole in it. This does not stop Cassius, however, as he is determined to stay alive.

The next part of the execution comes. Two big spinning axels come out. Cassius is able to quickly jump out of the way (he is a lot stronger than I thought he was, but, at the same time, he is a jeweler that is over six feet tall). A small bit of his shirt tears off, forever trapped by the axels. More lasers come out, leaving Cassius no time to rest since the only reason he's alive right now is pure adrenaline. The shirt, however, gets ground up to some sort of round shape.

Then a bunch of hoses begins pouring water all over him. With the lasers still on him, Cassius begins to trip. Both of his arms get festered with holes, and he tries to cry out in agony. With the last bit of water, Cassius falls once again, resulting in a laser going right through the area right above his stomach. The water and all the screaming weakens the tape and Cassius's primitive screams echo through the walls of the torture chamber.

Kira, however, breaks through the glass. She begins to go through the same process as Cassius, ignoring all of her injuries. She does not care as she is determined as Cassius to get where she is going.

Cassius, still going onward but at a snail's pace, stops when he realizes what is in front of him. A tub filled with clear acid. He begins to walk towards Kira before Monokuma pushes him. Being severely injured and tired, it does not take Monokuma a lot of strength. Cassius falls into the tub as it begins to slowly eat away at him. His screams become less and less human as his classmates can only watch in horror. Kira finally makes her way to him. She is all bloody, with her hands being barely recognizable.

She tries to get Cassius out of the tank but, due to his state of pure panic, he accidentally splashes some of the acid onto Kira's face. She screams out in terror as it begins to slowly eat away at her. Kira passes out before anything else can happen.

Cassius does not get that treatment, however. He slowly dies as the acid eats away at him. It does this into there's nothing left of him. The acid has now been stained pure red.

* * *

 ** _Lord Cassius Ambrose Irvine Jacobson The Third, the Ultimate Jeweler, the embodiment of pride, has been executed for Kira Iwata's, the embodiment of sin, crime._**

* * *

There is nothing fair about this whatsoever. This clearly breaks the rules of Monokuma's Killing Game, but it only matters if we, the students, break them. Monokuma cannot be punished.

...All I can think is that how much Shinichi reminds me of one thing...death.

* * *

 **Yes, Monokuma did just execute an innocent person. And, yes, Cassius is dead.**

 **Thank you tobi-is-an-artist-too for sending in Cassius. Truly, he was a wonder to work with. And now I just painfully killed him off. Because I'm sadistic.**

 **I know that I said DiOS was almost finished but I kinda got too eager to write this chapter. Also, I'm having writer's block for DiOS. Like, seriously, I just need a hundred or so more words and I'm just kinda like...uuuuummmmmm...fuck.**

 **Yes, I'm still having my family issues but I just figured out how to solve a lot of them. It will take a long time but it will be worth it. Just know that this will update much faster once I get out of this hellhole once and for all. Thank you so much for being concerned about me. I might write more about what I'm going through on Tumblr once I get everything settled.**

 **On the much more happier news, it is almost the one year anniversary of Forest of Despair! You bet your ass I'm doing something special for it.**

 **Also, the poll for best girl is still up...kill me now. XD**

 **Now onto the reviews~**

 **Scissor-Snipper- But Namita wears ponytails. Once I rewrite this, I'll reword it. Thanks for the tip. This story will probably get a heavy rewrite once I solve everything happening in my life. But I kinda want to create jokes out of these like the McCommittee. I'm not gonna spoil Ayano Kirigiri at all since I'm proud of that plot twist. Monokuma wants to keep it that way.**

 **AnonChan1-Mini, Minato is Minnie Mouse, Akita is Mickey Mouse (now I want to create an AU where everybody works at Disneyland). Yasu is awesome...too bad Monokuma is a dick. I'm not gonna talk about Kirigiri. XD Everybody run! Kyoto, you just destroyed a possible ship! Monokuma is tiring. Bye, Cassius. Yeah, nobody was like...hey, maybe we should say fuck Monokuma and save Cassius somehow. RIP everybody.**

 **QueenofChocolateWinx-Indeed. Say it with me people...fuck.**

 **SanityRequiem-Be very scared. Very, very scared. Also, chapter three is gonna be fun. Really fun. Puhuhu.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Yep, they're on an island. It is huge. The two Ayanos have a very interesting relationship to each other. Thank you so much.**

 **mayurie-Yes, this chapter is indeed a mindfuck and emotionally heavy. Well aboard JewelShipping since Cassius just died. Poor Cassius. Thanks. Have some cookies too! :D**


	30. After Trial 2-1

**After Trial 2-1: The Green Mile**

* * *

"How could you Monokuma!? He was innocent! You should've executed me instead!" Mirabilis screams out. She stays in the execution watching area whereas the rest of us leave. All of our movements are heavy, slow, and painful. At least we knew that Kazuhiko did kill Akita, it was still debatable whether or not Cassius was guilty. Monokuma is a pathological liar to put it lightly.

"..." Hayato tries to stay neutral about all this but his eyes betray him.

"Now kids I gotta go! Kira needs immediate medical attention! But, sadly, it seems like we have another Fuyuhiko on our hands...with both eyes. Everything connects my bastardly students!" Monokuma hurries out of there with Kira. I see that her eyes are being eaten away by the acid slowly. Another unpleasant sight to add up to everything else.

"We should...get some rest," Tsukiko says. Even she has a hard time finishing her words as her feet drag across the ground. Everybody else follows her except for Hayato and I. It is quite awkward just standing there, saying nothing.

"...I need to save Yasu!" Mirabilis exclaims while finally making her way over to the trial room. Throughout all the chaos, I almost forgot that Yasu is in my old situation. Thinking back to the first trial...the first trial. I may have come up with some kind of conclusion for Shinichi, but, at this rate, it can never happen to Kazuhiko. Hell, even to Akita.

Following Mirabilis, Hayato and I also go into the torture room. Yasu is still in the contraption since I believe they are weaker than I am. It is the same setup as before, being bolted into that uncomfortable chair and having your eyes forced open.

"..." Yasu, much like Hayato, has nothing to say. Pure horror is painted on their face.

"Help me get Yasu out of here!" The three of us help Yasu get out. I do it a lot softer than last time because I remember how painful the forceful way is. All of us are taking careful actions, even Yasu, who has calmed down now. The last drip of possible adrenaline is running through our veins before we fall into the realm of painful yet well-earned sleep. There is nothing more than I want to do right now except close my eyes. Then Yasu gets free from their trap but elects to stay in the chair for a little while longer for obvious reasons. Then an idea came to me...

"We should make some sort of strategy. Us four together," I suggest. That quickly gathers the attention of all of my classmates.

"Do you trust us that much? That may be the wrong move considering anybody here can easily be the mastermind, even you Nishiki-san. I am not accusing you but it is in the realm of possibility. It will not surprise me that I am one of the main suspects considering nobody trusts a salesman." Before I can refute Hayato, he leaves the room. Truly he did the same thing with Tsukiko. The only person that he would work loyally with was Cassius...who we all killed. It will not surprise me if Hayato was like me and voted for Kira.

"Kid...whatever you're planning, I'm in..." Although Yasu is not back to their old self, it is good to hear them say something. They are not like I was during the aftermath of the first trial. That is a very, very good thing. I notice however that Yasu is beginning to scratch at their wrists, which may be a nervous tic.

"A magical girl never lets her friends down! I'm with you all the way! We also don't reveal our secrets."

"I know you two aren't the mastermind. If my theory holds, the mastermind should be with the students that went to the dorms. I highly doubt that Monokuma will do a lot to help with Kira's condition, considering the electronic model does not seem to have thumbs. They need somebody else to help them..." I take a deep breath. Truly, I am reluctant to tell anybody this information, but, after the events of this trial, I believe these two are one-hundred percent innocent. Neither of them would make sense as the mastermind, and, even if one of them was, they would purposefully downplay their act to not make me suspicious of them and not make any moves. Yasu and Mirabilis may not always be the greatest help during trials due to their limited area of experience...though I believe both of them would be smart enough to piece the puzzle if the mastermind acts rashly.

"Oh! So somebody with medical knowledge!"

"Not exactly...You see...Um...During my adventure of the break, I discovered something very important: the mastermind's true identity-"

"You know who it is!?"

"Not exactly, Mirabilis. I just know their true name since they're hiding under some sort of alias. They are Kaneshiro Kazuma: The Ultimate Brainwasher. It would not surprise me if they could brainwash one of the students to help them and then forget," I explain. There are not a lot of clues to go off of. Maybe Akita knew more and didn't tell anyone due to her mental breakdown? That could be a possibility.

"Then what's the plan!?" Mirabilis shouts out. Yasu is still clearly paying attention even though they are quiet. I quickly look around the room again to see if there are any new security cameras, so I'm relieved when it is the same as last time.

"Hmmm...we meet up in the upper library tomorrow. We should have a better idea of what's going on after we get to rest. For now, we should go to our rooms," I say. It surprises me that I am taking such a leadership role but it would be what Kazuhiko would have wanted. I may not have been keeping track perfectly of the days but it has been around a week since Kazuhiko died. Damn, I miss him so much.

"That's a great idea! It's a promise!" With that out of the way, the three of us make our way back to the dorms as well.

* * *

I may usually have troubles sleeping, but, when I entered my bedroom, I automatically went to my bed to sleep. It may not have been the wisest idea to not put Shinichi's body away yet but none of us have the energy. Every part of me aches, especially my head and heart.

* * *

 **Monokuma Theatre!**

 _Nothing matters. Give up._

* * *

 _Since the Monokuma Theatre had been so short, my mind wonders off to other places. To true dreams. Monokuma must have messed with all of our heads to give us these weird segments, but now he is too busy to care about our dreams. Finally a dream of my own. One that belongs solely to me._

 _"What...?" I immediately notice the dead body of Kotori Hiraoka at my feet, exactly how she was described by all of the newspaper articles. Her head was beaten in with a blunt object until it was nothing but a pile of mush, no other wounds on her body. Her brains are seeping onto the floor, coloring the floor a mix of the colors pink and red. "K-Kotori?"_

 _"That's right, Kotori..." I can hear...Izumi, right?...but I cannot see her._

 _"Hello, Ayano, glad to see you've made it..." Hearing that voice again makes my spine crawl. The lack of emotion but subtle hints of sadism and pleasure. "From this point on, you're Ayano Nishiki. Now go say hello to your parents. They're on the first floor." Memories of memories that I have tried to keep hidden inside me bubble up onto the surface. No, Monokuma, what are you doing!? I rather be executed again than this!_

 _"Just like a good little soldier, you're gonna do everything we tell you, okay? We need to do this to you and all the others to find a cure. Everything's for the cure." Out of nowhere, a nurse I remember from the first days of the Committee comes up to me, a devilish smile on her face. There comes a shot dripping with something illegal, but, before it can make contact with my arm, the scene changes again._

 _"You're such a pretty girl, Ayano...shame you're a Kuzuryu..." A man is behind me, grabbing onto my arm, forcing me to stay in place. I remember that to protect my secret I lied about being a Kuzuryu. However, that is not the important thing here since I see Eishi Nishiki towering before me._

 _"Believe in yourself, Ayano. You can make it through this." Then Kazuhiko appears in blinding light, exorcising all of my demons away. His hand is reached towards me and I try to grab onto it...only for the conveyor belt to fall onto him once again. This time killing him instantly._

* * *

"Ah!" Being reminded of Kazuhiko's death, I suddenly feel nauseous. I hurry into the bathroom and begin to throw up. Just the blood everywhere...I cannot get the image of him out of my mind.

"It's morning. Wake yourselves up." Hearing Monokuma's voice, I take a gulp. Only if there is some way to brush my teeth, for I can just imagine how horrible my breath sounds now. I take a deep breath and make my way out of the room and into the cafeteria. After all, the first thing to do is give Shinichi and Cassius a proper funeral.

* * *

 **So fast! I know, I know. I'm still sick. But, you know, the after trials don't take a long time to write at all (because they're really short). No, these dreams will not be a usual thing. Ayano is going stay our lovely protagonist.**

 **Reviews :D**

 **AnonChan1-Oh, we sure do learn a lot more about Kira. There are a billion references...if the chapter name is a JoJo reference, there can be a Death Note one. Well, it is a replica of the suicide forest so suicide...yeah. It was a matter of time. Everybody has secrets. The mastermind does whatever they want. But the new, surprising OT3 of Ayano, Yasu, and Mirabilis will try to stop him! I love me some foils, right Kazuhiko? Oh, some of the others are major spoilers but Kira is Sin. Thanks. :D**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Well well well. Ayano is like Kira reminds me of somebody very important to me...I wonder who. Cassius had too much stupidity to live any longer. Fatal flaw indeed. At least there's extra material! Of whenever I post the full free time events. But some of them contain spoilers so I'm waiting.**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-Full mental breakdown alert. Kira and Cassius are both idiots. I know what is going on and it is fun knowing the truth behind everything and how wrong theories are. Thanks for giving me an idea of torture. My mother knows I've lost my mind and we lose it together (because I'm a lovely daughter that shows her Clannad). But I want more of your madness! Mirabilis, time to purify yourself! Glad to hear you like my version of Cassius! Kira's embodiment and why Ayano thinks that way makes more sense in chapter three. Monokuma gives zero fucks (except for Yasu since they almost ended the game themselves...yes, if this was on the mainland, the game would be over). Its okay you don't review more often, just do it when you want to. Thanks. I know I'm gonna mess with heads this chapter.**

 **QueenofChocolateWinx-Good. :P**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Yasu got the same treatment as Ayano. No going back! Woo! Thanks a bunch! I'll try my best to post a really good chapter on the anniversary. Hard to believe this story is almost a year old. Damn. I'm almost nineteen! I started this when I was just a teen! Wwwoooo! Wait, I'm still a teen. Serenade is still happening but Rachelle is facing her own problems right now but it should be here soon. Thanks. :D Internet hugs for everyone! *huggles***

 **BIBOTOT-Welcome to the reviewing community of FoD! Hopefully, I'll finally get off my ass and review more of On the Road of Despair (which is highly recommend...seriously, read it! READ IT). No, I'm not kidding you, I'm completely serious. You don't know how much I evilly laughed when I read Cassius was one of your favs. It was very evil. Monokuma is really pissed off that Yasu was able to outsmart him. Think about it, Yasu has been the only person in this canon that almost ended the game when he was watching. So there goes Cassius! Good luck too! I'll catch up with reviewing! (and my readers are like...plot twist, Requiem actually reviews! OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD)**


	31. Chapter 3-1

**Chapter 3-1: The New Age**

* * *

Walking into the cafeteria, I immediately get bombarded with the overwhelming smell of dead flesh. I cover my noise but it does not help the aroma that already infiltrated my nostrils. The most likely reason on why nobody in the cafeteria has thrown up is because we are somewhat used to the smell of death.

"Nishiki-san, you are awake as well. Would you mind helping us move Fujimoto-kun? Leaving him here would not be advisable," Miyuki asks. With her, there is Takayuki and Mitsuru.

"Of course." I hate seeing Shinichi like this, yet I need to do this. I need to, I need to, I need to. Luckily, he is not in a state of bloating but this smell is going to stay here for some time. It would be advisable to move our meetup spot to somewhere else.

"That damn bear, why does he want to see us suffer so badly? He didn't even follow his motive!" Mitsuru shouts. She does have a point since nobody has been given what Monokuma promised. We were in too much of a state of panic and tiredness to question him during the trial. Except if Monokuma asked Cassius before, but then Kira would have known and not been tricked into thinking she was being executed. Unless...

"Wait, Mitsuru, we don't know that yet. Monokuma might have asked Cassius during Kira's execution and given the person water while they were sleeping. We should wait until everybody wakes up."

"You have a point, Nishiki-san. I believe some of the students are in the library or outer gardens, I will start asking them after we finish the task at hand." Miyuki begins to examine Shinichi's body, not sure on how to carry him out of here.

"This is gonna suck." Mitsuru sighs and begins thinking as well.

"Anno-kun, you do not have to be here since you cannot lift the body up. You can make your leave if you want. If I remember correctly, Kawabata-san should be in the library with Kamui-kun and Miyagi-kun." After hearing Miyuki's words, Takayuki looks at Shinichi for a second before moving towards the exit.

"Bye," he says in a somber tone. Now at the door, Takayuki makes his leave from the room.

"Let's see what we can do here." At this moment, I can only think about how glad I am that we have closed Shinichi's eyes. My stomach begins to growl. Well, I guess I have been more hungry lately since although there's food here, I am mostly focused on other things and forget to eat. That should be something that I fix. I also have not eaten at all yesterday. Now I want that cake but I guess Monokuma took it for himself.

"We should eat after this is done. All of us, as a group. Discussing what to do next is something that will prove beneficial in the long run." Miyuki keeps her attention on Shinichi. She coughs a little but it is nothing to worry about.

"Good! That's what we should do!" Mitsuru then takes hold of both of Shinichi's feet and motions her head towards me. "Ayano, grab onto the head, Miyuki will balance us underneath."

"Alright." Following Mitsuru's orders, Miyuki and I do what we are told, and we lift Shinichi up. It does not feel right to do this to a dead body yet there is no other way. The feeling of Shinichi's skin is weird, to say the least.

Slowly, the three of us slowly make our way to the patio. I just want this to be over as soon as possible. We also still have to make a grave for Cassius, even though his body completely dissolved in that acid. Guess Monokuma cannot dump his body in one of our rooms like he did with Kazuhiko.

Now on the patio, the very last remnants of Akita's murder can still be slightly seen because Monokuma does not supply us with supplies such as bleach. Blood is still soaked into the wood and plants, forever serving as a reminder of the grizzly murder that started this all. I know that if Kazuhiko hadn't killed Akita, somebody else would've succumbed to the sweet, tempting words of Monokuma, but maybe Akita and Kazuhiko would still be alive. Maybe Shinichi and Cassius would still be alive. Maybe I would've been the one that died instead...

Then the three of us make our way down the stairs with Shinichi. Each step we take is done carefully, especially for Mitsuru, since she is the one going backward. With every step, we could hear the old wood creak like it is about to give out. It made for a very unnerving trip. At times like these, I wished I was shorter and weighed less. All three of us girls were on a different step, or else the wood would for sure break. Moving a heavier person down these stairs would be much more dangerous.

We make our way to the bottom where all the other graves are. On Akita's cross, however, we notice something strange. The three of us carefully place Shinichi's body onto the ground and make our way to where Akita rests.

"Hmm...what's that?"

"I believe Japanese people use to have these all the time. If my memory serves me, this is what is called a Noh Mask, a very common part of Japanese theatre," Miyuki explains. "My...father told me about these. We had some of them at our house. This is the type of Noh Mask called a Kagekiyo, which represents a deranged person, once a great soldier who was defeated and exiled, prisoned, lost his sight and became a beggar."

"It's creepy as all Hell!" Mitsuru shouts. She is about to punch the mask, but Miyuki stops her.

"Mitsu-cho, this is quite the expensive masterpiece. I do not want to press my opinion but look at the craftsmanship. This mask is old and has a lot of care put into it. The main question is: why is it here?" Miyuki asks. She picks up the mask slowly, caressing her fingers on it.

"I agree with Miyuki, somebody must have put it here with a purpose in mind." I have to bow down to reach Miyuki's height to fully observe the mask. It is one of an old man that is still fairly in good shape even on this makeshift island.

"Yeah, I'm not a dumbness. Doesn't mean I can't find it creepy!" Mitsuru follows after me. She is a little shorter than me, but, if I had to guess her height by appearance alone, it would still be in the six-foot range. I am surprised that Miyuki is neither annoyed or threatened by our heights.

"It is not a spider, Mitsu-cho," Miyuki chuckles to herself. Mitsuru is most definitely irritated by that comment.

"Argh! Enough of that! Why the fuck is there a mask here? I'm confused as it is!" The gang leader is staring at the piece of theatre equipment as hard as she could. Miyuki, continuing her search, flips the mask over to see that there is something written on the inside of the mask.

"Well, maybe it has answers for once," I respond. The words are honestly smart and hard to read due to sloppy handwriting. It is also written in some sort of marker that is slightly smeared.

 _To my darling Akita Yamazaki,_

 _Things weren't supposed to go like this. Honestly, this game is going horribly, but, hey, I still have Hideyoshi working with me, it's gonna be fine! Kotori has been avenged so that's a good thing at least. And that bastard Cassius finally got what he deserved, along with that traitor Shinichi. Damn, this is all because of that hope obsessed freak, isn't it? I knew she was a bad idea, yet Kotori thought that would add more despair or some shit like that. You know, because that Kirigiri bitch took you away from us. I can never know what is going on in her mind._

 _I've no idea how I'm gonna fit this in a mask of all things but there isn't really any paper I can use except from Takara and asking for that would be suspicious. So, um...I know people are gonna read this and, don't worry, I got Monokuma to cover my ass. Just, you know, I gotta get this out somehow. Us despairs aren't really known for being logical and thinking things through, huh? Well, at least we're better than those hope obsessed freaks..._

 _The final plans of Kotori are still going smoothly. Don't worry. There's no way we would mess that up._

 _Just...for the bastards that are reading this, I wonder what will happen if you tell Mitsu-cho and Yuki to remember March third. That would be all the punishment that I want for you invading my personal belongings._

"...That fucking piece of shit!" Mitsuru yells. She storms off into the main school building before either one of us can question her about anything.

But Kotori...that has to be Kotori Hiraoka! Do not tell me that her murder has something to do with this? But things are starting to make more sense. This is a lot like the handwriting that was used in the note, so it has to be the mastermind. The mastermind is careless and emotional, but also a coward that will hide behind their power whenever things start to look tough. Also, the reason why the murders might be so brutal, and the executions more so, is because the mastermind wants to punish us. This is our punishment for whatever the mastermind wants us to pay for.

March third. Something about that date seems familiar but I cannot exactly put my finger on it. Kazuhiko would, he knew a lot more about the situation around Akita than me. Only if there was some kind of hint. Think, think, think. What is the most logical answer? That would probably not make sense since we are talking about people that are in despair here. Despair does not make sense, hope does not make sense, only nothingness makes sense. Because there is nothing to make sense of.

"March third...? We can think about that later, Nishiki-san. For now, we need to focus on getting Fujimoto-kun a proper burial..." Before she can finish her sentence, Miyuki begins to cough. I try to help her, but she pushes me off.

"Miyuki?"

"I don't need help, Ayano! I'm fine!...Sorry for the outburst..." And, just like Mitsuru before her, Miyuki leaves, but not before she places the mask to where it was before. I stare at it, trying to figure out the secrets of everything before I am reminded of the awful smell. Although I understand their reasons, I do not like the thought that I have to make Shinichi's grave all by myself. Perhaps it is some kind of payback for me doing nothing for the first couple of days after Kazuhiko died.

"Shit."

* * *

It takes me a couple hours to complete the task that I have been given. A boring two hours but it is better than wasting time doing something unimportant. But, no matter how much I tried to focus on something else, the letter on the back of the mask keeps haunting the dark recesses of my mind. What does all of this mean? We have to start piecing everything together soon or all the questions are going to drive me insane.

Kaneshiro Kazuma has a connection to the late Kotori Hiraoka, who was the head scientist of research in the Committee. I know from first-hand experience that Kotori loves experiments and would have done anything to prove her point. So she was actually a despair. That does not surprise me. Kaneshiro, Hideyoshi, Akita, and Kotori all have ties with each other, while Kirigiri is the odd person out. Also, they all have so stake with Kazuhiko, Shinichi, and Cassius. They must have been as pissed off as Akita was when Kazuhiko posted that report. Shinichi was a Savior of Humanity, a person of hope, but I have no idea why they would think that he was a traitor, except if he somehow convinced them he was on their side. Cassius. I truly have no idea what they have against Cassius. That might be the reason why they tricked him into putting the poison in one of the drinks and executed him instead of Kira since they seem to have no previous ties to her except for Kirigiri. And that must be how they used their inside man to blackmail Cassius!

That does not explain things, but I guess all of us have some sort of connection to the mastermind. Some sort of connection that will make whoever is behind this want us dead. It will not surprise me if the only reason I am here is because of Kazuhiko. If that is the case, then that truly is a pity. Nobody deserves to go through this except for the ones hypocritical enough to delude themselves that this is somehow for the sake of justice, not misguided revenge resulting in the deaths of many innocent people...

"Shinichi, what did you do?" I ask his grave. Before I put him inside, I pried his locket from his cold, dead hands. It was hard but it was worth it. I debate on whether or not I should open it. Monokuma did tell us what is inside, yet I still have this morbid curiosity. "I'm sorry Shinichi."

Inside the locket, just as Monokuma said, was a picture of a toddler with the same brown hair and green eyes as Shinichi. I see a name written on the bottom of the photo in cursive. The price I will have to pay for invading Shinichi's privacy is finding who his true killer is and killing the mastermind just like Junko Enoshima.

"Hisan Fujimoto." I close the locket and then place it on the weirdly made cross. Making these things out of sticks make them look a lot worse than actual tombstones.

"Ayano!" somebody exclaims. I turn behind me to see that Takayuki is running down the stairs, panting. He seems to be fairing better than Mitsuru. Perhaps that is because he does not know the content of the strange mask yet.

"Takayuki." I take a deep breath while I debate on whether or not to tell him the new information. Considering his talent and relationship to Akita, I find that he will bring a lot more clarity. "What is the importance of March third?"

"..." Takayuki's eyes scream the question of how do you know about that. He then begins to walk the other way after motioning me to come follow him. There is nothing else for me to do, except for eating since I am starving, so I follow him. Solving the mystery of whatever is happening on this island is more important than eating anyway.

"Alright." All I could hope for is that this is not somehow the mastermind's trap. They are planning something, and I feel like it is going to happen sooner than later.

* * *

Realizing where we are going, I do not know how to feel. I have perfectly memorized the ways to the library by now. It has been almost two weeks since we have been trapped on the same floor, so it does not surprise me. Monokuma would have probably bragged about the third floor if he was not entirely focused on making sure Kira survives.

The door is already open when I realize Naoko, Takara, and Kyoto are all looking through various different kinds of books. When my eyes meet Kyoto's, things instantly become awkward. Though that is also due to the fact that now there is a person missing from their usual group.

"Oh, Ayano, w-we're looking for clues. There might be s-some down here, but we-we're going to also check the upper library," Naoko says, realizing she is the only one able to talk at the moment. Does not mean she enjoys it, however. Her face is red and she instantly goes back to the book she is skimming.

"The upper library?" I ask. Seems like I am not the only person with that idea. It does not surprise me that it is this group that is also trying to find secrets throughout this library. The thing is that not even the mastermind has time to sort through all these books, so there is all types of hidden, trustworthy information everywhere.

"..." Before saying a single other word to any of us, Takayuki leaves the library. Naoko and Takara seem confused with their lack of information but definitely, know something is going on. I can tell by the look in their eyes.

"Hmm...what is this here?" One of the books is open without anyone reading it, so it must have been one that Takayuki was investigating. I grab it from the table and begin to flip through the pages. It is a weird collection of death reports. Though, something strikes me as odd...

"There are multiple pages clearly torn out," I note to myself in a whisper. Whoever torn these pages out did it in a rushed manner, as if they were under a fierce time limit. Even preschoolers could do a cleaner job than this. The mastermind is becoming sloppy and panicked because we are still fighting against them as a group. Strangely, I think the setting and harsh conditions have forced us to come together than drift apart. Even though there have been murders, they both have been for the sake of selflessness, and neither Kazuhiko or Kira wanted to hurt people they viewed as innocent.

Akita was a red herring but it was clear that was caused by her own chaotic actions, not by the mastermind. I still understand basically nothing about her. Kazuhiko thought she was the mastermind and was somehow forced to be quiet by the real one. So the mastermind has to be somebody that could establish contact with him between the time of Akita's murder and when he meets up with people again. Also, the mastermind must not have known that Kazuhiko was planning to kill Akita, or they would have stopped him. There are security cameras, yet it seems like the mastermind cannot always view the footage. That means that there is no doubt that the mastermind is one of us. One of us is Kaneshiro Kazuma-

"Ayano." Takayuki's sudden appearance catches me off guard. He must have returned to wherever he ran off to.

"Takayuki!" I respond, almost dropping the book in my hands. Takayuki then walks over to Naoko, tapping her lightly on the shoulder. She then comes with him as Takayuki makes his way towards me again. He then mouths something to Naoko, who takes a deep breath.

"U-um are you sure about that?" Naoko questions him. He nods his head. "Well, um, March third was the day that Akita was found after she was abducted by Hideyoshi."

"Hideyoshi Yamazaki? I remember him being the Ultimate Clown? And Akita went off about him being your cousin, Takayuki, when he was hers." To answer my lingering thoughts, Takayuki once again tells Naoko something.

"We have come to t-the conclusion...that Akita's memory h-has been altered in some sort of way."

So the mastermind...no, the mastermind has no reason to do something so absurd since Takayuki is here to debunk her. The Committee then? Why would the Committee alter Akita's memories as well? Were they not the ones that purposefully put them in a situation where they had to be together every day even though they clearly did not want to?

"But why? Why change her memory? I get changing the fact that she was the Ultimate Ringleader and a possible member of the True Despairs, but why everything else? Why did they give Akita the title of Ultimate Mediator when it obviously did not fit her? None of this makes sense."

"..." Once again, Takayuki leaves the room, leaving Naoko and I confused. He must know more than he is letting on. There is silence until I hear a rumbling sound.

"Um, Ayano, w-when was the last time you ate?"

"Oh. I should eat. Bye." Suddenly getting the overwhelming urge to consume something of actual substance, I make my way out of the library. I could feel Kyoto's eyes follow me out.

* * *

There is so much information to process. Consulting with Yasu and Mirabilis might help me get another view on things, but maybe I should get to know at least one of them better first. It is better than going into everything blind.

Anyway, I enter the kitchen from the cellar side, and I see that a few other of my classmates are here as well. Hotaru is up on one of the counters, swinging her legs as she waits for her coffee to finish brewing. Or maybe that is another person's coffee. I truly do not know, but just thinking about Hotaru and caffeine is surreal. Akemi is also here, laying on one of the walls next to Satoshi. The three of them seem like they were in the middle of a conversation.

"Oh, Ayano!" Hotaru shouts. "We were talking about the last trial. Wanna join?"

"Not really." Even though it would be best to have more information, I personally cannot trust any of these three. Hotaru and Akemi are obvious, but something strikes me as off with Satoshi. Nobody is that dumb, right?

"But you're really smart!" Satoshi protests.

"She can do whatever she wants." Akemi is less than thrilled to see me. Although we do not have the best relationship, I wonder why he is this cold right now of all times. Maybe the death of Cassius and Kira's suicide attempt took a toll on him as well. Kira more so than Cassius.

"I am just here to get some breakfast." I then walk towards the fridge. I notice that the cards on the floor are gone so the three of them, or possibly somebody else, must have picked them up.

"It will take more than an idiot like Ayano to figure this out," Akemi comments. "I do not like the position we are in. If this was a game of chess, the mastermind would be close to check."

* * *

I eat on a rock that I found randomly when looking around the outside of the school since I did not feel like talking to anyone right now. It is the only rock that I found so far that is not sharp. Honestly, it is a miracle. But, thinking about the terrain of this place, there was evidence that this was not the Suicide Forest. There might be rocks but there are no caves in sight. And, of course, the lack of natural wildlife, even bugs, is disconcerting. Something about this island does not feel right.

"Ayano!" Minato says out of nowhere. I jump when I see that they are behind me. "Oops! I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay, Minato," I respond. Thinking about Minato, their action is probably some sort of red herring, or maybe the mastermind did not want them to figure out this is an island. Yasu must have severely damaged some part of the mastermind's plan. If we were not on an island, there would have been a chance to get out of here. The mastermind might not be as smart as Junko but they did think ahead.

"What you doing out here?"

"Oh, eating. Nothing that important." I am about to say something else before a familiar ring comes over the speakers. Minato and I venture closer to the school building to hear Monokuma better.

"Attention, my fellow students, I want to discuss something with all of you. Please make your way to the cafeteria, or I'm gonna to blow your asses to next Tuesday!" the demonic teddy bear announces. It seems like he has gone back to 'normal.' I truly do not have any idea on whether or not that is good or bad. "...Well, Mini is excused since Mini doesn't know how not to be lost."

"Minato?" I look next to me and sigh. Minato is gone again. "Guess I've to go by myself."

* * *

Now in the cafeteria, I see that everybody, excluding Minato and Kira, has made it before me. There are various kinds of new, different reactions to the smell. Mirabilis and Takara, however, seem to be the only two not used to it, with both of there faces turning green. Most of the students here are used to this repulsive feeling though. We may not like it but we accept it for what it is.

"Now, now, now, wannabe magical girl and Taka, you can let it out. Be like little preschoolers and let the other students clean it up."

"Mono-" Mirabilis shuts herself up before vomit can escape through her mouth.

"Finally, something that shuts that girl up! Thank you Fujisaki...wait, I mean Fujimoto, for dying-"

"What did you call us here for?" Mitsuru shouts. She is always the one to truly voice what the class is thinking. Monokuma laughs at her, causing Mitsuru to clench her fists.

"One strike, three you're out~"

"...I know that you bastard bear!"

"Anyway, since I know how patient you can all be, I decided to do something really special! Grace you with the true motive already." The bear then begins to laugh again. Whoever is controlling him must like the sound of it. But the new motive is something to be scared of. Monokuma really wants us to kill each other now and quick. There is no other reason why he would reveal the motive this quickly.

"Piece of shit!"

"Mitsu-cho, can you please learn from the dead and shut your lips? Anyway, the new motive is...drumroll, please...I SAID DRUMROLL!" At Monokuma's command, nobody follows his orders. His eye glows red and then every student becomes like a dog and listens to their master. "Good, good, you're better learners than Monomi. The motive is the ability to save someone!"

"Save someone?" Hayato questions. He still does not look that great but it is good to see that he is able to do things like this.

"Puhuhu, let me explain, my dumb shits. I see a pattern of you all being idiots and killing for the sake of others and not yourself. The power of friendship and all that crap. So I ditched the original motive and created a new one!" Monokuma explains. "Now if one of my precious students decides to kill someone, they won't escape themselves. Instead, they will have to pick somebody else to be sent off this island. And, as a little bonus, your fellow classmates won't get their asses executed if they don't find you, although I think meeting with them will be a little bit awkward. Like, hey, I just killed your BFF to save my BFF, sorry about that...Well, time to finally make a third murder that isn't shit!"

"This doesn't follow the pattern..." Satoshi notes in a whisper. I would not have heard him if I did not happen to be right next to him. He may be right, but how does Satoshi know about that? And, continuing that thought, how did Hotaru know about the Despair Video?

"Oh, as for the original motive!" Monokuma claps his hands together and a big pile of something falls from the ceiling. My eyes widen when I realize what it is: a stockpile of various weapons. "I was just gonna give you free weapons to see how bloodthirsty you truly are. Well, I guess I did that right now too. Oops. Please don't hack your classmates to bits with the chainsaw then! Chainsaws leave a mess and a whole lot of unwanted evidence." He then leaves the rest of us all alone, staring at the weapons. There is truly nowhere to even put these that could be considered safe. Of course, we could dump them all into the pool, but I highly doubt Monokuma will let that happen.

"Hm, Monokuma is rushing things," Namita comments, stating the obvious. We all agree with her.

"Make sure Kira does not hear this motive. We do not want her to do anything rash again," Hayato adds-on. It almost disturbs me on how little emotion is in his voice. Unlike Miyuki and I, it does not make sense for him.

"I will keep watch on her. She must be in stable condition if Monokuma left to explain to us the motive. Goodbye." Miyuki is the first of all the students to leave the room. Takayuki, Takara, Naoko, and Kyoto follow after her, most likely to assume their research. They are probably thinking that somebody like me will fill in details for them if anything important is discussed.

"I gotta go! I've duties!" Mirabilis runs out of the door, almost pushing over some of her fellow students.

"This might be the perfect time to discuss things. Stay if you're not an idiot," Akemi says. For once, I agree with him.

"I think you said that a little too late, big shot," Hotaru smirks teasingly at him. Akemi takes a step back from her. She then begins to giggle.

"Shut up, Hotaru." Akemi glares at her but Hotaru does not seem to mind.

"Alright, alright...where did Tsukiko and Hayato go?" Namita sighs as she realizes she is the only person out of her group left. "Okay, that's it, I am going to check on Miyuki. You guys can talk amongst yourselves. We'll discuss things tomorrow morning." And, just like that, Namita leaves.

"That bastard Monokuma! He's getting his rocks off by watching us suffer, isn't he?" Before Mitsuru could damage any more property, she takes a seat on one of the tables with a big thump.

"Yes, kid, I think we clarified that a long time ago," Yasu responds. They slowly but surely make their way away from Mitsuru.

"This is sure an interesting group of people to discuss things with," Hotaru notes. "We've got the trickster, A.K.A me, the idiot, the know-it-all, the one that really needs anger management skills, Ms. Emotionless except when people die, and the actual hacker that almost saved all of our asses. Oh, and Mochi."

"Who can ever forget Mochi? Apologize to him at once!" Yasu puffs out their checks while they hold Mochi up to Hotaru's face. Hotaru begins to pet Mochi and is still smiling.

"Aw, I wanna pet Mochi too!" Satoshi complained.

"Everybody can pet Mochi. Except if you hurt him. Then you'll have to answer to the backside of my wrench!" Yasu gets places Mochi down on one of the tables. They keep a very good eye on him as he runs all across it, doing weird jumps sometimes.

"I don't get what's so cute about a rabbit," Akemi scoffs as he secretly tries to pet the rabbit. Nobody around him is convinced.

"Hey, kid, we're still up to what we discussed yesterday?" Yasu whispers inside my ear. Everybody else is too focused on Mochi to care about the two of us. Mitsuru and Akemi are fighting about who gets to pet him first, while Hotaru laughs and Satoshi stares, dumbfounded.

"Yeah, why?"

"Just making sure. Let's meet up soon in the gardens and discuss more things. I gotta make sure Mochi gets his exercise and none of these fools hurt him." With that, Yasu strolls over to where Mochi is, petting them softly. They begin to hound Mitsuru about being too rough with him again. I then leave the room as well.

* * *

Thinking about all the things there is to do, one thing clearly comes up in my mind first. Going back to the library. So I am once again meet with all the faces of the people in the investigation team. However, they swiftly return to what they were working on before I got there.

It is good to have a head start on things, so I climb up to the upper library. I take a deep breath and begin skimming through all the book titles, seeing if anything catches my eye again. But all I could ask myself is why the mastermind would put clues to whatever is going on here in an obvious place.

I stop when I notice there are books that are obviously not professional crammed into the corner as if somebody was trying to hide them but didn't want them to be suspicious. Looking at some of the covers, I notice that the books are a collection of papers titled: Kotori's Findings and Plans. Reading that name again makes me puff out my cheeks.

"Hmmmmmmmm." I grab the first one and flip through the pages. Nothing that I did not know already. Kotori would not shut up about her experiments, especially since she viewed Kazuhiko and me as special guinea pigs. So special that we would get her room, not the lousy research facility.

Though, with these, I debate on whether or not to show Yasu and Mirabilis them. It would be good to have another point of view, but these are personal to me as well. I can see my name written down in some of these reports already. So I decided to search them all before making up my mind.

It is a boring couple of hours reading through all the pages. These are definitely Kotori's notes because she loves boasting about her findings even though the Committee choose her as a last resort thanks to the other person considered for her position declining. It is strange that the Committee did not force the position onto the Ultimate Psychologist, yet I can take it as a rare moment of kindness.

"What is this?" I ask myself when something finally catches my eye. The thing that is suspicious is that some of the names are blacked out with some kind of ink, which Kotori never does. She does not care about the privacy about the people she experiments on. I quickly begin to read it just to realize that it is actually an experiment that I never heard about before. So Kotori really does know how to keep her mouth shut about some things.

 _Personality Experiment #045_

 _On the basis of this experiment, there are three individuals: -, -, and -. These three have been given one of three treatments._

 _The first was given the personality of - but the history and talent of -. Both of them were valuable to the Committee but are now confirmed dead, posing some issues. Although both have succumbed to some kind of despair, it is in our hope that it will not happen again. We will change some parts of their personality and past in the hope that the subject will not fall into despair like their previous counterparts. All of the subjects involved have no right to their own free will, so the experiment is ethical under the Experiment Act of 2045._

 _This will help us measure once and for all what is more important, what has the most say in our development as human beings: nature or nurture. Is it the personality, backstory, or original body that will win out in the end? Only completing this experiment will tell us the truth._

 _As for the second subject, we, once again, had a problem with somebody needed for our plans being dead. So we took - and gave them the personality and past of - without the despair, as both subjects have fallen into despair before as well. This will act as some kind of control to see if the other experiment is truly working right. With having only one false personality, and one body, things will be easier to measure. Of course, this also is ethical according to the Experiment Act of 2045._

 _Lastly, due to having limited information about the events of the game inside the apartments, we took the only confirmed death - and placed them inside the body of -. This will hopefully give us more insight into what the True Despairs are planning since everybody else is currently missing and presumed dead. This might be the key to that mystery and another form of control._

 _Caution: It might be wise to keep the subjects away from items that caused their death. This is only a precaution since this kind of experiment has never been correctly documented before. Also, make sure the subject does not experiment any kind of head trauma since that can possibly create side effects that are unpredictable. This can only be done in a controlled setting._

The most surprising thing about the documents is that I am not shocked whatsoever about the content inside. This sounds like Kotori and she would not have any morals about finding and abusing legal loopholes. If the public ever found out what she was up to, Kotori would surely be fired to help the Committee save face. Cannot do that when she is dead, however.

Though something about this tells me that these three are somehow connected to this Killing Game. Especially because the mastermind, or possibly somebody else, took the time to cross out the names as if they did not want us to figure out.

There is one thing I am sure about, however. That somehow Akita Yamazaki was involved in this twisted experiment.

* * *

 **Guess who was busy thanks to her shit family~This person right here!**

 **Well, FoD is now officially a year old! :D And this story hit the 15,000 views milestone! Also, this story has a ton of awesome followers! Like, seriously, I thought this story would like only get like 10 follows or something like that so thank you.**

 **I still need to do the special. Don't worry, it will be coming. Soon...soon. Hopefully soon.**

 **And this is actually an answer arc. Yes, you'll be getting some answers at the end. So be excited. ^_^ Things start to make more sense. XD**

 **Well, time for the reviews~**

 **AnonChan1-Nobody but Kaneshiro has fun during this fanfic...expect for me. With me knowing the plot. Cassius didn't leave anything behind though. Mirabilis is true MVP. Hayato is not having fun but at least we have a new OT3. Even Monokuma is busy sometimes. Goddammit, Kira, stop almost dying. I love me some references. We need an OT3 after all. There's a lot of foils in this cast. I know what the others are. The true question for all of you is figuring out what Shinichi is.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Well, well, well. Ayano, Yasu, and Mirabilis (with Mochi as their leader) are the Finding the Mastermind Squad. Only I know what happens to this adorable trio. Thanks. I will try to remember to review other stuff. I've got a shit memory.**

 **dashunterman-Good, I want people to be confused since this is a mystery with hints of the dementia genre. Thanks. ^_^ (also my love for Higurashi and influence might shine through with question and answer arcs)**

 **BIBOTBOT-Yeah, Monokuma is a dick. Even if Monokuma knew Cassius was innocent and Kira guilty, he would continue the game (and Akemi might have something to say about that). Everybody has it rough. There are plans brewing everywhere. The question is: whose going to do theirs first successfully?**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-It is the this fanfic is under the dementia genre confusion (officially, I guess this fanfic is a psychological dementia mystery drama). This cast has always been fucked but they will not give up. I like seeing people give into despair as they watch Clannad. I guess that's how Kaneshiro got many people on his side. Show them Clannad and be like: DESPAIR.**


	32. Chapter 3-2

**Chapter 3-2: Only If I Could Tell You The Truth**

* * *

"Only if there was something else," I whisper to myself as I make my way down to the lower floor of the library and then out of the door. The moment I get out, I see that Yasu and Mirabilis are in the hallway, discussing something.

"Oh, it's Ayano. I've been searching for you, kid."

"Attention, kiddos, it's now nighttime. You know what that means...actually nothing but the time. But just letting you know that it's indeed night." Monokuma sounds tired, way more tired than how he was during the motive. I have no idea what that means, or if it even means anything at all.

"I found new information," I tell the both of them. I notice that everybody else in the library is leaving, making us truly alone.

"Alright, but first I need to get my rabbit back," Yasu says (while I wonder what kind of good argument the others made to let anything like that happen). They go and I am left behind with Mirabilis. It is sad to see the old purples on the magical girl's dress slowly turn faded or brown.

"Let us meet at the upper library in an hour or so." Mirabilis nods her head but I do realize she is going inside the library. Considering that is probably the only place where she can watch her anime, it does not surprise me one bit.

With that out of the way, I remember spending time with Shinichi in where we are going to the library back when he was still alive. I remember that he wanted me to become his tutor in math and hacking, while he would teach me more about the art of translation. Only if I could go back in time and ask him the important questions. There is no guarantee I could stop his untimely, cruel death, yet I want to know more about him and his struggles. What is he the personification of? But, the reason why those memories came to me in the first place is how we distracted Monokuma: Tsukiko and Namita. I should ask one of them to distract the bear before I discuss anything important with Yasu and Mirabilis.

The first place I should check is the Hospital. It would also be good to see what kind of condition Kira is in as well.

* * *

Making my way over to the Hospital, I stop in the dorm hallway to see that, once again, Tsukiko is in front of Hayato's door. Interested, I observe the scene distantly since Tsukiko is too focused to notice my presence. I do not blame her since this hallway is huge and people have commented that I am good at sneaking around.

"Come on, I know that you're not doing well," Tsukiko sighs. She looks concerned yet annoyed.

"My mental state has nothing to do with you. I suggest that you leave right now," Hayato answers. His voice is the same as ever. He shows no signs of giving into Tsukiko's demands.

"Oh, now you're just being stubborn."

"I suggest that you leave since you are being stubborn as well. I shall remain here and will not help you for the sake of being neutral-"

"You're not being neutral, you're just being a coward! Now, excuse me, I'm leaving." Tsukiko leaves and heads towards her own room, which I am now glad is near the entrance and the opposite direction of where I am.

Now that I think about it: how long was Tsukiko talking to Hayato? What is she discussing? Is she still trying to convince him to join her, or is she trying to help him because of her sincere nature? Perhaps Namita and Miyuki will know more, especially because they are always together. Even more reason to go to the Hospital.

* * *

When I enter the Hosptial, I notice that Namita and Miyuki are sitting on the bed together, watching over Kira. Miyuki's short legs dangle from the side of the cot. Kira's eyes are covered with bangled but blood is seeping from them. She looks so pained. The good thing though is that Kira is still breathing. Kira is struggling to even breath though, as, even in this somewhat peaceful state, she looks troubled. All those breaths in exchange for Cassius's life. Damn you Monokuma.

Kira's clothes, from what I could tell from her being underneath a blanket, are mostly in pieces. Scars cover her body from head to toe. Even her shoes are barely hanging by a thread. The once dressed up little girl now looks like a complete wreck. All of her jewelry is also gone, possibly taken away by Monokuma as a sick joke. Monokuma has way too much fun screwing with the Ultimate Jewelers. But then I remember he mentioned something by them being puppets of the Committee? Sure, I hate the Committee as well, and it pisses me off that Kira is seemingly loyal to them, and especially Ayano Kirigiri, yet that is no excuse to do something so cruel. Despair does have the habit of messing with how people think, however. It is scary how easily one simple emotion can make a normal person turn into a monster in a matter of minutes.

"...Hello?"

"Oh, Nishiki-san, have you come to check up on Iwata-san?" Miyuki asks. She jumps off of the cot and heads towards me. Namita, sighing, follows after her.

"Yes, but I also have a favor to ask," I answer.

"Hmmm, a favor. Whatever can this be?" Namita is also interested in this conversation. She makes direct eye contact with me, much like Miyuki. "You want us to distract Monokuma, right?"

"How-"

"Ayano, you have it all written across your face," Namita laughs. "But you should probably go somewhere else. Kira finally went to sleep and I don't want to wake her. She's not exactly in the best of moods."

"May I suggest we make our way to the cafeteria? I would like to inventory all of the weapons there." Miyuki has a point. Knowing what weapons are there would be good, especially to see whether or not somebody has taken them or if they could actually be used for murder. All the murder weapons so far have been quite simple and require an only basic understanding of how they work or physical strength. Though I still wonder how Kazuhiko gained access to that bat.

"Sure, we can do that!" Without asking about my opinion, Namita drags me to the cafeteria. I do not try to fight against her since she and Miyuki have a good plan. Then again, Namita is the planning person, Tsukiko is the information one, and Miyuki makes sure they do not do anything rash.

* * *

In the cafeteria, I notice that it still smells awful. There is nobody else here so I wonder where the group with Mochi went. The thing that still stands out the most is the large stash of weapons. It almost reaches the ceiling and looks like it could easily fall over if somebody takes out the wrong piece. It is like that old block game where there was this tower and people took out blocks one by one, and, whoever causes the tower to fall first is crowned as the loser.

"Wow, how did the mastermind even get all of these weapons?" Namita stays far away from the pile, while Miyuki approaches it carefully. She examines each piece one by one slowly.

"Some of these are old, while some of these are new. This is strange," Miyuki comments. I am surprised that she is doing such a thing without a piece of paper or anything else to dote notes on. Even as she examines near copies of weapons she does not feel the need to have anything with her that can help her keep inventory. Guess she really does know a lot about weapons.

"So...um, Miyuki is gonna be doing this for awhile. Do you want to chat or something?"

* * *

 ** _Do you want to free time with Namita Nakahashi?_**

 ** _Yes/No_**

* * *

"Sure."

"Hhhmmmm, whatcha want to talk about~" Namita smiles. She is fairly relaxed now, to the point of having her arms completely in the air. Don't know why she is doing that, but it must be something she does. Miyuki does not seem bothered by it...well, she is entirely focused on the weapons.

"I don't really know that much about you. Well, I know you plan things like parties."

"Yeah, yeah, my parties. You can go to one if you like once we get out of here. All of my friends are invited. You can even meet Yen!" Her eyes light up with the mention of Yen. I remember her name as one of the people that were supposed to be in our class.

"Yen?"

"Oh, my friend ever since I was a little girl. She's the Ultimate Interior Designer!...Now that I think about it, she was supposed to be in this class with me. I'm glad that she didn't get dragged into this mess." Namita has homesickness written all over her face. But it did strike me as odd that Namita is the only one that knows that the person related to them was supposed to be in our class.

"Yeah?"

"Hey, if you don't mind me asking...do you have any friends besides...you know...Kazuhiko? Outside of this game that is!" Namita asks, flustered by her own question. There is an awkward moment of silence.

"Ummm..."

"Ummm! Oh my God, what have I done!? Who asks a person that question!?" Namita begins to sulk and I have no idea how I am supposed to respond. She sure flips through her emotions a lot. Wonder which ones are real.

"..." Talking to Namita is harder than I thought it would be. How Miyuki and Tsukiko do this every day is beyond me.

"Okay, okay, um, parties! Yes, parties! We were talking about parties." And then she is back to her old self. There is a new, obviously fake smile on her face. It only makes her look more stressed out. Namita must have no idea how to talk to someone like me.

"Parties. Yes, parties." Anything to save this conversation.

"Kazuhiko told me that you already know about them though," she responses. "But I guess I can tell you a story from one of them. Which one though? You have no idea how crazy celebrities can get at parties. Even some members of First Light can get off the rail." First Light? Isn't that the name of the band Tsukiko manages? Even though the two of them might have not meet, maybe they knew of each other? "Jun might seem like the sanest one, but let's just say a certain somebody played a prank on him and I learned the hard way to never get the seemingly sane ones drunk."

"I literally know nothing about the band members of First Light...so, um, how did you start event planning anyway?"

"Well, let's just say that my parents, especially my _father_ , aren't that good at throwing surprise parties! Nobuyuki needed somebody that actually knew what they were doing!" Namita answers, clearly trying to avoid the question. There is definitely some spite towards her father, but this is not the time to press on that. She is already in a defensive mood. It is strange for somebody like me to hear somebody have so much contempt for their father figure when I was lucky with mine as a young child. Then again, my legal father is somebody I have no qualms about labeling as evil. Even if I believe in neutrality, I still am smart enough to know that there are still evil people in this world of ours.

"Nobuyuki?" Why do so many people related to the game have to suffix Yuki is their name?

"Nobuyuki is my little brother, you know? He's so cute! I wonder who would win in a cuteness contest: him or Mochi! Oh, I don't know! I mean, yeah, now he's a teen but he will always be a kid to me!" The sparkles return to Namita's eyes. "...Except for when he messes with centipedes! They're the devil, I tell you, the DEVIL!"

"I think they're kinda cute-"

"THE DEVIL!"

"Nakahashi-chan, how many times do I have to say that centipedes are not dangerous? If you ever feel threatened by one, I can protect you, as part of my onna-bugeisha creed." Miyuki comes up from behind Namita, stands in front of her, and then starts to stare. I do not know whether or not to find it hilarious because of their obvious height difference.

"But they're kinda cute-"

"THE DDEVILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL! THE DEVIL! _**THE DEVIL!**_ "

"Centipedes do not mean to cause harm. Their bite might hurt, but they will only do so once they feel cornered. Living up in a forest, I learned how to properly deal with all types of wildlife." Miyuki grew up in a forest? Perhaps that is why she is so unfazed by the setting of the game.

"Umph." Namita, crossing her arms, exits the cafeteria. I am left alone with the onna-bugeisha.

"Nishiki-san, I will distract Monokuma for you. Do what you desire quickly, alright?" Miyuki smiles at me. It is rare to see her show that kind of emotion. She is really adorable when she does not focus too much on being so stern. The smile warms my heart.

"Thank you, Miyuki. But make sure you do it in thirty minutes, that is the scheduled time." With that out of the way, I leave Miyuki in the room alone. It makes me somewhat nervous but I know that Miyuki can handle herself. Still wondering if either she or Mitsuru would win in a fight, however.

* * *

I enter the library to see that Yasu is the only other person that is there, so I make my way over to them. They are sitting on a chair nearby one of the tables. The chair has been taken out and flipped around, so Yasu would face away from the table.

"Yasu-"

"Ahh!...Oh, it's you, kid! Ayano, you scared me!" Yasu screams as they begin to pick at their wrist. Mochi comes up to them and rubs his chin against their wrist, causing them to stop. They begin to pet their rabbit.

"Sorry."

"Kid, it's nothing to apologize about, now whatcha want?" Now Yasu is back to their usual, confident, laid-back self. Mochi is completely relaxed in their lap. The rabbit...flops? Yea, flops into place, in complete bliss, not knowing the despair the events around him is causing. Sometimes I wish I could be like that rabbit. No care in the world and with somebody always taking care of me. Mochi has it easy. Not sure if he even knows if there is something wrong going on. Maybe if animals are as in tune with their owners as people say they are. I have never really had a real pet before so I do not really know how any of this really works.

"I thought I saw Mirabilis coming in here. Where is she?" I look around to see one of the episodes of the anime Mirabilis was showing me earlier paused on the computer screen.

"Haha, that little kid saw Takayuki and began chasing after him and got a hold of Naoko again. Don't think we'll be seeing her again anytime soon," Yasu replies. So Takayuki and Naoko came back to the library at some point? That is good information to know.

"Want to spend some time together then? It would help a lot if we got to know each other better."

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Yasu Matsuhita?**_

 _ **Yes/No**_

* * *

"Sure thing, kid." Although they answer me, Yasu seems completely focused on their rabbit.

"..." I stare at the rabbit. To be honest, I did not even know the Committee still allowed rabbits as pets. It does not surprise me onto further analysis since Monomi would be viewed as a symbol of hope for those that knew the truth behind the Killing Games.

"Do you know anything about rabbits?"

"...Um..."

"Haha, you're really cute when you get like that. Here, I can teach you. Mochi might be a lazy bum, but he's my lazy bum." Yasu then picks up their rabbit and gently places him on the library floor. He begins to run around but cautiously, as he seems to slip on what I presume is a wooden floor. Mochi jumps into the air real high. "And that's what we rabbit lovers call a binky."

"..." I am amazed at how cute rabbits are. No wonder Mitsuru is obsessed with him.

"Oh, you should pet him, Ayano! He seems to be calming down! Remember slow and light!" Yasu's eyes are completely lit up. And, just like they said, Mochi is now resting on the floor. Mochi really is a lazy rabbit.

"Okay." I approach the rabbit by slowly making my way over to them and then sitting on the floor. Even then I have to lean down because of how tall I am. Truly I have no idea how to do this. I put the image of Yasu petting him in my mind and try to do the same. Mochi seems to accept the way that I pet him. He's so soft though. I would never have imagined rabbits were this soft...Kazuhiko would have liked this...

* * *

 _"Hey, Aya! Guess what, guess what! I got a scoop on the rabbit island! It will be titled Bunny Island: The Place of Cuteness Left Untouched by the Tragedy!" a younger Kazuhiko exclaimed._

 _"Hm?" I took a second to take it all in. Kazuhiko, however, did not know the meaning of a second._

 _"So what about...hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...Bunny Island: The Cutest Place on Earth!"_

 _"Still sucks," I answered. I smirked as Kazuhiko began to sigh about his failure. Kazuhiko might have been the Ultimate Journalist, but everybody would agree that his names needed a lot of work. Work that can no longer be done._

 _"Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..."_

 _"Kazuhiko, all of your titles suck," I told him earnestly. He stares up at me with puppy dog eyes. I did not falter. Kazuhiko did not know the meaning of giving up either so he continued to do so while upping the 'cuteness.' This trick might have worked on middle-aged women, or Shiro for that matter (but, hey, only I know the true meaning on why it worked on Shiro since Kazuhiko was so dense), yet it did nothing to me._

 _"Fine! Then you come up with a title!"_

 _"Quiet down, you two! I'm working!" Kotori shouted. Neither of us knew she was still in the apartment so we froze up, especially Kazuhiko-_

* * *

"You seem lost in thought," Yasu comments. They bring me back to present.

"Oh, it's nothing," I respond. Yasu lifts up one of their eyebrows. They then get up to walk over to me and sit down. Yasu is now focused on me other than their rabbit. I could see their tired, brown eyes perfectly.

"I can help you with anything, you know? I'm always here for you." Seeing Yasu's steadfast expression, I can tell that they are telling the truth. They are so focused on me that they do not realize, or maybe they do but want me to know that I am the new center of their attention, Mochi coming up to them and sitting right next to one of their legs.

"..." I debate on whether or not I can trust Yasu. Then again, I remember that I am entrusting them with the task of bringing down the mastermind, which is way harder to do. If Yasu was not to be trusted and with the current psychological profile of the mastermind, it is safe to assume that I would have already been dead. Yasu is not related to the mastermind whatsoever. It is good to know at least one other person that is not their puppet. The three of us, Yasu, Mirabilis, and I, are in the clear. I can finally trust people again.

"Hm, I see you're not up for it yet...well, I can still help you!" I can see that Yasu is not exactly the patient type like Kazuhiko. Makes me wonder how they kept their plans for hacking Monokuma hidden for so long.

"Okay?"

"Here!" Yasu is smiling while they hold out a book in front of them. I read the cover to see that it is called The Wheel of Time written by somebody who uses the name Robert Jordan.

"A book?"

"Most of the books here aren't fiction, so I was really happy when I found this hidden in one of the bookshelves! You should read it!" It seems like Yasu is very into reading like Shinichi was. And Naoko is. I remember Naoko talking about a series named Harry Potter.

"Thank you?" I take the book from their hands and place it inside one of my jacket pockets. It did not fit, with it clearly sticking out, but it is better than carrying it everywhere. Especially when Yasu, Mirabilis, and I are going to stay up late looking through various books.

"I'm here~" Mirabilis suddenly comes bursting into the room. "Miyuki is distracting Monokuma so we gotta work fast!" It is good to have confirmation from Mirabilis that Miyuki is keeping her word. Although I never doubted her, it is still music to my ears.

"Alright. We'll continue this later, kid." Yasu then quickly picks up Mochi and sets him into their toolbox. Still, have no idea how they are able to do that.

And so the three of us make our way up the latter. It might be good to have a new perspective on the information about the experiments, but a part of me still loathes the moment in where I have to show these three the experiment logs. Hopefully, they will not have the urge to look through all of them. Only one of them is needed to solve the mystery of the game...right?

* * *

"Now, where do we start?" Yasu wonders out loud. They track their fingers on some of the books, picking up a fair bit of dust.

"My magical girl senses tell me to..." Mirabilis is thinking hard. She examines the room, looking for something that catches her eye. Most of the room is dull and lifeless, so her approach does not really work.

"Look at this." When the other two people in the library were distracted, I took the time to get out the book. Now that I have it out, it has the full focus of Yasu and Mirabilis.

"Experiments?" Yasu asks. Their voice sounds troubled. Of course, any normal person would find human experimentation to be extremely disturbing. Kotori was not an average human being. It is even a stretch to call her human.

"This one stands out the most." I flip to the page where the information about Personality Experiment #045 is stored. Both Yasu and Mirabilis are fast readers, so they take a much shorter time absorbing the information as I did. They both are visibly shocked. Mirabilis looks like she is going to throw up again, while Yasu is more is disbelief, rereading the page again to comprehend the reality of this situation.

"The Committee...I'll purify all of them!" Mirabilis takes out her wand, causing both Yasu and I to slowly back away from her. Seeing this, Mirabilis puts it back, taking a deep breath while doing so. It is weird to hear an American have no much hatred towards the Committee.

"...!" Yasu realizes something. They bring out their handbook and start to check something.

"Yasu?" Mirabilis and I question at once. They do not return their focus back to us until they are finished looking up what they were searching for. I see that it is the first Monokuma File for Akita Yamazaki.

"When I was hacked onto Monokuma's systems, I also picked up the information from the first case since it was still in the files..."

"The three victims...?" Yes, I remember being confused when three people showed up in the files even though Akita was the only one dead. Wait, does that mean!? I knew that Akita had something to do with this!

"It matches up with the experiments-"

"No!" Mirabilis suddenly looks very scared. "That...that cannot be true!"

"Mirabilis?"

"No, no, no, no, **_no!_** " In a fit of panic, Mirabilis runs out of the room and goes down the latter.

"I'm going after her! Stay here, kid, and make sure the mastermind doesn't get to us!" Yasu exclaims as they quickly make their way to Mirabilis. I might have been faster than them, but it seems like Yasu really wanted to do it theirself. I am left alone with my thoughts once again.

Hmm...Akita Yamazaki...

* * *

 _"...See, when you tell me something, I'll tell you something that measures up to that. For example, wetting the bed till the fifth grade is equal to having a crush on your cousin, kay?" Akita said. We were in the garden in the night. I was trying to see the stars through the leaves of the trees which was easier said than done._

 _"...Okay...? Wait-"_

 _"I'll go first...let's see...my-"_

 _"...Wait, do we have to play this game?" I interrupt her, afraid to play her game. I knew back then we both had our fair share of secrets and, if Akita revealed hers, then she would probably force me to reveal mine. That was something I could not afford to happen._

* * *

Now thinking back to that memory, what was Akita trying to tell me? She was trying to get information about Kazuhiko but was she searching for something else as well? But then again I was fishing for information about Kazuhiko from her too for Mitsuru and me so I am not one to judge.

Akita Yamazaki...Chiyo Jinya...Sae Emiya...Wait, Sae was the Ultimate Experiment Subject, right? I think that is enough information for me to confirm that Kotori used her in some sort of twisted way. Just how? How does all of this connect? Chiyo was also the Ultimate Mediator instead of Akita, and Akita herself was a ringleader. I remember that Kazuhiko showed me her like was stated to be the circus and dislike clowns. Hideyoshi was the Ultimate Clown and her cousin, yet, for some reason, the Committee thought it was a good idea to rewrite her memories into thinking Hideyoshi was Takayuki's cousin? How is Takayuki connected to all of this? He must know more than he lets on because that bracelet is restraining him by telling us all the truth. Smart Monokuma, if he had not done that, everything, or at least some of the mysteries, would already be solved.

"Kid, I can't find Mirabilis anywhere. We should focus on getting more information now," Yasu says as they make their way up the ladder again.

"Can I see the Monokuma File one last time?" I ask. Yasu nods their head and pulls it up again. I examine the contents at a safe distance.

* * *

 ** _Monokuma File #1_**

 ** _Victim-Akita Yamazaki, Ultimate *Spoiler*...I ain't telling you kids_**

 ** _Height-Five feet, six inches_**

 ** _Weight-One-hundred and eighteen pounds_**

 ** _Chest size-Eighty-five centimeters_**

 ** _Blood Type-B_**

 ** _Birthday-April Fourth_**

* * *

 ** _Victim 2-Chiyo Jinya, Ultimate Mediator_**

 ** _Height-I don't know_**

 ** _Weight-Seriously, there's no way to measure this anymore_**

 ** _Chest size-Seriously. Monokuma, what the...why is the height and chest size in different measurements?_**

 ** _Blood Type-O...at least we know that_**

 ** _Birthday-December Tenth_**

* * *

 ** _Victim 3-Sae Emiya, *Spoiler*_**

 ** _Height-Five feet, eight inches_**

 ** _Weight-One-hundred and twenty pounds_**

 ** _Chest size-Eighty-five centimeters_**

 ** _Blood Type-B_**

 ** _Birthday-May Eleventh_**

* * *

 ** _Cause of Death_**

 ** _The victim is Akita Yamazaki, along with Chiyo Jinya and Sae Emiya._**

 ** _The body was discovered on the outside patio, where one of the entrances of Hope's Peak Academy: Suicide Forest Branch is._**

 ** _The estimated time of death is believed to be around 5:30 PM._**

 ** _There are eighteen mysterious stab wounds that only pierce the skin and nothing more. Three wounds, on the eye, the wrist, and the heart are deeper. There is blunt force trauma applied to the back of the head._**

* * *

"Three people..." There is only one of the experiments that had three people. And I should compare this information with Akita's information in the official files to learn more about the truth. Who is the soul, the mind, and the body?

"No, it can't be!"

"There's only one of them that fits that description," I note. The other two are with, well, two people. So...

Akita Yamazaki has to be the first one.

But there is something else that strikes me as disturbing. It is noted that the other two people possibly involved in Akita's experiment are legally dead. So it truly does mean that Akita is gone forever, her secrets buried underneath her in the ground, forever. Just which one of these Akitas was the one that the class got...'along' with? Was it Sae, Chiyo, Akita, or somebody else entirely? I'm so confused.

"There has to be something else," I comment. However, before either Yasu or I could resume our search, we hear something behind us in the library. For a second I think it might be Mirabilis but the figure is clearly a man. The figure is coming out from a door behind one of the bookshelves.

"...Well, this is awkward...He he he...hi..." Surprisingly, Satoshi is the other person with us.

"What the fuck." If this day gets any weirder, I swear my head is going to explode.

* * *

 **Short chapter ^.^ Because the next ones are really, really long and I feel like this is the perfect way to end this one. And I have been helping Rachelle getting Killing Game's Serenade off the ground. (like, seriously, I'm super hyped for your reactions to the next two daily lives)**

 **Seriously, if you're not reading that story, READ IT! :P**

 **Reviews~**

 **Scissor-Snipper-The curse of having a long story with a lot of characters as well. The mastermind just called Akita deranged...because the mastermind likes them deranged and broken. It was mentioned offhandedly by Ayano a few times but this is the official, plot-revalent confirmation that Kotori is, in fact, dead. It means what you make it to be. ;)**

 **AnonChan1-Let the bodies...stay on the floor. STAY BODIES! No, they cannot wash their hands except for the one crappy sink in the kitchen. Avenge Kotori. Takayuki knows a lot about Akita. The mastermind has a reason for everything. Kyoto is sad that his arc always gets forgotten. Even Monokuma thinks Minato is a precious cinnamon roll that shouldn't be harmed...except emotionally because Monokuma does that. There goes your first love. More motives! The cast will do what they think is right. Give Kira love. Hotaru is messing with people (mostly saying Yasu is better at Ayano's job than Ayano). More Mochi! Here, confirmation that Akita is, in fact, an experiment! Just who is she really? Monokuma is laughing. Puhuhu. Shinichi is secretly.**

 **dashunterman-ONIONS!**

 **mayurie-AHHH! Groove means...hey, dad, what does it mean!? Thanks. ^.^ Kaneshiro doesn't give two fucks. Especially his two fucks are dead. Ayano switches pronouns with the mastermind. She has referred to the mastermind as they/she/he before. But I'm still a theory breaker! That poor, poor WMG page. All the questions will only be solved at the end of the story. Case 6, here we come~ in like a year. No, somebody has the water. You said something. Thanks. Have a great day too.**

 **BIBOTBOT-Kotori is evilly laughing in Hell knowing the plot twist of her character. Yeah, because in the game there's no funeral. Also, I know that the Japanese burn bodies, but, because of the influence of the Committee, that tradition has basically died out. The more you know. Well, Monokuma likes them fast except for the first one. Somebody has a plan, so worry. Worry.**

 **ShadedLyht-Welcome back! :D It was the only way for the plot to make sense (and the island feeds into a much bigger, debatably better plot twist later on). This is one of my fav executions between the three stories in this Saga (even though Serenade's are only in the planning process). I thought the recap would be a nice refresher. Oh, I know but I ain't telling. Slowly but surely the mystery behind the first case is too. Think about it. The mastermind has a plan now.**

 **cassiusfan-Welcome guess reviewer. ^.^ Poor guess reviewer really liked Cassius. Cassius is up there in Heaven thanking you for truly seeing the beauty of his family name.**


	33. Chapter 3-3

**Chapter 3-3: Tell Me Pretty Truths, My Precious Rose Petal**

* * *

"Kid, whatcha doing here?" Yasu asks Satoshi. We are still staring at each other, not knowing how to fully process this.

"Um...you see...I was doing...stuff, my sweets?" Satoshi answers. If Satoshi is bad at one thing other than flirting, it would be lying. He nervously laughs as the bookcase closes behind him.

"Stuff?" I further question him. Silence lingers between the three of us. It is incredibly awkward, to say the least. I never expected for Satoshi to be a person who would somehow find a secret passageway.

"Well, how do I explain this...Um...I wanted to impress my dear Yuki and then I found...whatever this is." He is clearly lying. Satoshi tries to open the bookcase again, and, after a few tries, he grabs the right book. It reveals the door once again. It is just a normal door that is a lot like the other standard ones in this fake school except for one thing. There is a pink x painted on it. A big, pink x that nobody can miss.

"You just found this?" Yasu goes forward towards the door. Satoshi opens it up for them since it appears to be unlocked. I find that weird since the mastermind seems paranoid about this game. If the door in the hidden passageway is locked, why not this one? Both of them are hidden after all? Is it possible that not even the mastermind knows about this place, or is it not as important as the other door? Why are there so many doors in this place?

Thinking back to the time I went inside that door, I could not see much of anything due to how dark it was. All I could see is the TV. The TV, however, plays the Suicide Video and Shinichi had to save me from my own recklessness. The mastermind did not seem bothered that I outsmarted them, however. Is it because I was playing with their plan, or is that door some sort of red herring? After all, the Suicide Video can be easily transferred from place to place, is this where they truly hide it? I guess the only way to find out for sure is to look inside.

* * *

Following Satoshi, Yasu and I venture into the room. It is dark like the last one, but I easily find the light switch and turn it on. And, to my disappointment, the room only contained more books. Right now I am getting tired of reading books to solve the mysteries.

"Crap! We should go back! It has been an hour, I don't know if Miyuki can distract Monokuma for that long!" Yasu comments while looking down on their monopad. They must have added a feature to tell the time as well.

"Then I'm gonna to bed-"

"Not as fast, kid. You got some explaining to do." Yasu drags Satoshi out of the room by pulling on his ear. The both of them leave me alone in this mysterious third library. Looking at the books closer, I see that they do not have titles. I pick one up at random and start to read through it.

 _Dear Diary...or whatever the fuck you call this nowadays,_

 _...Gosh, why does Kaneshiro wants us to keep diaries all the sudden? He was like...here, diary and you better write in it! What a pain in the ass. Why do Despairs like us need these kinds of things? Isn't this what hope-filled idiots are supposed to do? I'm a ringleader for God's sake, I just want to have fun, call the shots and all of that bullshit! This is boring!_

 _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! This is so fucking boring! Kill me already! Stab me twenty-one times and beat me senseless with a baseball bat! God, who would be stupid enough to do that? Maybe that fucking idiot Yanagi or whatever. What was his first name again? Kazu...Kazu...Kazuhiko! Yep, Kazuhiko Yanagi! He has done it before. Wait, didn't his last name change or something because of our second lord Kotori? Whatever._

 _I mean, don't do that but please do. Lady Junko says that the greatest despair is one's death but it has to be rewarded. Like starting a Killing Game or some stupid shit like that. But only Kaneshiro has the power to even think about doing that. Kaneshiro...how much I fucking hate Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro._

 _HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE **HATE** **HATE**_

 _...Hate...No, that's not right. How can my stupid brain even think about hating our lord and savior? The one that will show the world salvation through the Dangan Ronpa project! No, hate isn't the right word. It is love! Love makes the whole world go round! All hail our lord and savior, Kaneshiro Kazuma!_

 _LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE **LOVE** **LOVE**_

There is more to the diary entry, but, at that point it is unreadable. It just looks like a bunch of ink spots splattered across the page. And to not mention that there is some kind of strange liquid that emits a horrible odor. Please do not tell me it is what I think it is.

Although the writer does not sign her name, I easily deduce that this is one of the Akitas. Most likely the original Akita Yamazaki since she does call herself a ringleader. Akita did have an...interesting personality that easily stands out. My father told me that Despairs keep some of their personality traits intact even after going completely insane. It adds to their despair to have a mix of their personality and Junko's.

I do, however, stop my search there. Spending too much time in this room is bound to at least have me caught. I remember where the secret door is and then close it. Finding out the secrets of that room is going to take some time. And, to top it all off, I am getting tired as well. So I make my way over to my room with heavy feet. The second trial is still taking its toll on my energy.

* * *

Walking back to my room, I see something in the bushes of the garden. Mirabilis does stand out after all. Her colors are faded but her outfit still has her distinct personality. And she is still a talented florist underneath her magical girl act.

"Mirabilis?"

"Ah! Ayano!" she responds. She tries to run away, yet I catch her hand before she has the chance. "Um...I got duties? We still have to make the arrangements for Shinichi and Cassius's memorial...?" I raise my eyebrow which causes Mirabilis to stop making excuses for herself.

"We should spend some time together." I could feel how sleepy we both are. We both, however, decide to stay. I take a seat on the grass underneath me with Mirabilis following me.

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Mirabilis?**_

 _ **Yes/No**_

* * *

Because I do not want to immediately jump to the obvious topic at hand, I think about other things to say first. There is still so much about this secretive girl that I do not understand. Surprisingly the magical girl is one of the biggest mysteries along my classmates.

"Why do you make those memorials in the first place?" I ask her.

"Everybody should be remembered! It is my job as a magical girl to make sure that people have their legacy!" I am about to tell her about all of us being erased from history, but this is not the time. Mirabilis is still clearly stressed out about something. The last thing I need to do is make that stress worse.

"Ok." I am still thankful that Mirabilis took the time to remember Kazuhiko even though he is a murderer.

"The mastermind is trying to make us forget about ourselves! Ha, the joke's on you villain of the month, I'm not so easily tricked! I saw through your ploy during the second trial. I've watched enough anime to know how you think," Mirabilis grins. She does know the truth behind the killer after all. I will not push though since it would not surprise me if the mastermind is watching us right now. Having her reveal it here is not the best course of action. Should have asked her back in the library, but she ran off before I could do so.

"Anime?"

"Yep! I've seen some death game anime even though that's not my thing. It is my duty as an otaku! We have to believe in each other to defeat the mastermind! The mastermind's goal is to separate us," Mirabilis explains. She does bring up a good point. "We will never give up! We shall believe in hope and friendship till the very end! It is better to die believing in each other than live doubting one another." Maybe that belief is the reason why she always tries to give herself up to be executed instead of the killer. Mirabilis has a strong heart full of belief though she is not afraid to reveal the truth.

"But how do we defeat the mastermind?" I look at Mirabilis, who is thinking hard. She may have some stupid theories during the trials yet she can sometimes find the truth in the absurdity of anime.

"Defeat? Nah. We have to outsmart the mastermind again. That is the true way somebody of the magical girl creed will 'defeat' the mastermind! Through the power of not using our brawn, but using our brains!" Thinking about it, Mirabilis is right. The one time we tried to outsmart the mastermind is the time we almost got out of here.

"How do we do that?"

"With the power of friendship!" Mirabilis exclaims. Here goes her ridiculous theories again.

"Friendship?" That sounds completely insane. If the power of friendship truly existed, Kazuhiko would still be alive.

"Yes, friendship! It is more powerful than you think Ayano!" She thinks for a moment before taking out her wand again while standing up. I quickly move away from it. Mirabilis notices and takes a few steps back. "Um, this wand was made through the power of friendship! Somebody important to me made it." Putting it back, we return to our original sit-down positions.

"Somebody important to you?" This is the first time that Mirabilis has even hinted to such a thing in my memory. I could be forgetting something, however.

"Um...but friendship has the power to reform all!" Mirabilis is dodging my question. "There's no true evil in this world that cannot be...purified...with this wand! I just need to find the mastermind and do my ritual! Flores mundantur uirtute!"

"Is that another language?" I cannot stop thinking about how much Shinichi and Mirabilis could have gotten along if they spent more time together. Something tells me they would have bonded quickly once they got through the initial stage of awkwardness.

"You must have the potential to become a magical girl to notice that!" Mirabilis shouts excitedly. Not really, it just does not sound like English. "Yes, indeed it is! The second language behind Japanese of magical girls everywhere! Latin!" So not only did Mirabilis teach herself Japanese, she taught herself Latin, a language that has been dead way before the Tragedy took place.

"So what does...um...flora mature urine mean?" There is an awkward silence. Mirabilis laughs. And then there is more awkward silence. It is that way for about a minute, with both of us trying not to make direct eye contact.

"Sorry, I shouldn't laugh as a magical girl but...um...how do I say this nicely? Your Latin needs...help."

"Flower miniature truth?" Mirabilis is trying her hardest not to laugh. She really is trying and succeeds. Too bad her face gives her away. Maybe I should not try to speak Latin.

"Flores mundantur uirtute! By the flowers, you are cleansed!" Mirabilis announces. She sounds natural when saying it. Then again, I assume she does this for purification, and, given the number of times she has done the ritual, that is a given. And I truly do not even know if she is saying it correctly. The only one that would know for sure is Shinichi and he is dead.

"By the flowers, you are cleansed?" I see that Mirabilis still carries rose petals with her.

"Yes, and bye!" Suddenly, catching me off guard, Mirabilis runs away. I try to go after her but I am too tired to try that hard. The abrupt ending of the conversation leaves me confused.

"Bye?" It is no use as there is no way that Mirabilis can hear me now. I sigh. Left all alone once again. I flop down on the glass and look at the stars. They are so beautiful. Death can be such a mysterious thing. It can either be ugly and brutal, like in this twisted game, or it could be peaceful and beautiful. There is a duality to everything. Everything has an opposite to balance each other out. Life VS death, hope VS despair, nothingness VS neutrality. All of them are the same yet different.

My eyes feel heavy on the grass. I could feel that sleep is overcoming me but I keep my eyes open longer to stare at the stars longer. I could see the moon through the cracks of the tree branches. Moonlight lays on me, lighting up the darkness.

"Ayano." I am taken out of the zone by the sudden appearance of Kyoto. Our eyes stare at the other's until the moonlight disappears. We cannot see each other yet I can still feel the eye contact.

"Kyoto."

"E-explain." Then I hear him sitting down somewhere near me. I smile. There, Kyoto may not completely trust me yet, but he is back to his senses. That is good. There is a sense of warmness in my heart. "We s-still have free time..."

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Kyoto Kamui?**_

 _ **Yes/No**_

* * *

"Of course. You're wondering about my status as a Kamukura, yes?" I laugh. Guess my father and I have a bad habit of getting into the same shitty situations. Experiments, Killing Games, dead love interests and the like.

"Yes, what t-truly is Izuru Kamukura?" There is still doubt in his voice. It is hard to gauge his true emotions with the absence of light.

"Izuru Kamukura is an experiment Hope's Peak Academy did that Junko Enoshima manipulated. They removed everything from Hajime Hinata, the original person behind the experiment, that interfered with talent. And then that bitch Junko framed him!"

"Junko Enoshima?" Kyoto is paying attention. He must want to know my side of the story. Did somebody convince him to do so? Maybe somebody on the investigation team saw how he was viewing me and told him to listen. But, then again, I truly do not know. Kyoto may have used his talent as the Ultimate Strategist to overpower all of his biased emotions.

"Izuru Kamukura had nothing to do with despair. He was an observer that Junko used to her advantage. The only thing he did wrong was upload her AI into the Neo World Program." I could tell that Kyoto is lost. Maybe I could spend more time explaining it to him later. There are a lot of things I need to catch him up on, and I do not have the time to do it right now. "None of the Ultimate Despair joined willingly. They were brainwashed! All my aunts and uncles are nice people. Sure, some of them are weird...okay, all of them are weird, but they would have never destroyed the world without being forcefully corrupted the Junko."

"You a-are being strangely honest," Kyoto comments. He must have been expecting me to lie, lie, and lie some more.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you earlier. Not even the Committee knows I'm a Kamukura. They think I'm like a Kuzuryuu or Nevermind or something. Monokuma just found out through Kirigiri."

"Kirigiri? You mean our headmaster," he responds. He is still devoted to this conversation. That thought causes me to smile more.

"Yea, our headmaster. She knows because she's Matoko's child. I have no idea what is going on inside her head." To be honest, I find Ayano Kirigiri to be absolutely insane. I do not understand her actions one bit. Nothing she says or does make sense. And why does she have such an interest in talent in the first place? Izuru told me Matoko went out of his way to make sure that none of the Kirigiris would fall into the trap of the pure love of talent. That love of talent has caused the downfall of their very own name many times now.

"...I'm such an idiot! Why didn't I realize it sooner?!" Kyoto yells, catching me off guard. It is weird to hear him with his stutter. A lot of people in our class seem to have a stutter.

"Um...Kyoto?"

"Of course I'm an idiot! I'm always an idiot. Stupid idiot Kyoto Kamui, being manipulated by the Committee like always! When it counts, I can't do anything but be second!"

"K-Kyoto!?" I hear something nearby me. Standing up and going near the sound, I grab what I find in the darkness. It feels like Kyoto's arm. It is thick and has a mix of a rough and smooth texture. Definitely Kyoto.

"I'm sorry, Ayano." Then he catches me off guard again. I feel that he is hugging me. We are the same height, so it feels awkward to have our faces so close to each other. I purposefully look the way that I cannot feel his breath.

"F-for what?" It surprises me that now I am the one stuttering.

"For being such a failure!" Breaking from the embrace, I slap Kyoto on the check. "H-hey, what was that for?"

"You're not a failure! I'm so _sick_ of you calling yourself that! I don't want you getting depression too!" I yell at him. Before Kyoto can say anything degrading again, I hug him. This time I am the one that catches him off guard.

"...A-Ayano!?" Kyoto, however, does not protest. He hugs me back. "I d-don't even fully trust you yet! Why...?"

"Because you're my friend, Kyoto! Now get some rest and think about your actions. We'll meet again tomorrow. I'll tell the place later." Then I break apart the embrace again. "Bye...I really need some sleep. And you too."

"Wait, before that, there's something I need to tell you Ayano!" Kyoto tells me. "Naoko and I found something! D-don't tell anybody else! I'll tell you tomorrow too!" Then I hear him leave too. Both of us memorized the layout of the school so we had no trouble getting into our rooms. It is easy to remember something when you are stuck on the same floor for over a week.

There is a strange light that comes from the sky but I ignore it, thinking that it must be the moon.

* * *

Once I get inside my room, I head directly to my bed. It is weird to think about how the untamed, wild grass is softer than this mattress. Maybe I am more used to the sharp blades than the hard rock. But, even with how uncomfortable the bed is, like almost every night, I find myself going to sleep.

* * *

 **Monokuma Theatre!**

 _Truth and lies. What is the truth and what is a lie? Is the truth a lie, is the lie a truth? Only the true truth and the real lie can tell. But why should we care? After all, you're all gonna die someday. I'll make sure of it. That's the truth. Or maybe that's a lie. Puhuhuhu. Only I, the Ultimate Truth and the Ultimate Lie, would know!_

 _One of them is black and one of them is white. But what truly is the colors black and white? They're both all the colors and none of the colors. Like both truth and lies are everything yet nothing. And both of a part of Monokuma! That's right, I'm talking in third person now bitches!_

 _That's my character development! First to third person! Now stop trying to improve yourselves and fall into despair! I'm waiting! I know at least one of you has. Isn't that right, Traitor. You know who you are. Don't even try to lie to yourself any-_

* * *

 ** _BOOM!_**

It surprises me that I am able to hear the sound...until I feel that the earth below me is shaking! It's an earthquake! Shit! Remembering what the Committee has taught people about earthquake safety, I follow their directions. It will be the only time I follow their bullshit directions.

I stay in my bed. My very uncomfortable pillow is placed on top of my head to ensure more safety. Using the sides, I hold on. The earthquake is not a big one but it is a good idea to wait until it has stopped. I should check on the others to make sure they are safe quickly. It is possible that this small earthquake might be a sign of a bigger earthquake to come.

Then, as quickly as it came, the earthquake stops. I quickly make my way out of my bed and into the main hallway.

"Fuck!" Mitsuru screams. "Heya, Ayano, I'm sure you didn't expect there to be an earthquake too. I'm checking on Kira! Make sure everybody else is safe _now_!" She then runs into the Hospital. There is a slight limp in her step.

"Huh, what's going on here?" Namita asks. I notice that she is holding onto Miyuki for dear life. There are three other people in the hall beside me, Mitsuru, Namita, and Miyuki, with those people being Akemi, Hotaru, and Takara. Not everybody has left their room.

"Prepare for another earthquake! There's usually another one!" Tsukiko orders as she leaves her own room. Right as she says that, the ground begins to shake again.

"Great. We just had to experience an earthquake in the middle of a Killing Game," Akemi comments. He crosses his arms.

"Shit, we gotta get out of here! I don't wanna know how sturdy this building is!" Namita shouts. Bits of the floor above us begins to fall off. It is a miracle it is a small earthquake or else all of us might be dead. "Everybody, try to get everybody out that's still in their rooms!" She is about to fall over but Miyuki saves her. The second earthquake quickly subsides.

"We got to start working now!" I then begin to knock on random doors. There is a strange lack of answers until I reach Mirabilis's room.

"I gotta protect everyone!"

"Mirabilis, you can do that by making sure everybody gets out of here!" I say. All of the others in the hallway are gone so Mirabilis and I work on the other doors. Nobody else is in their rooms. I do not enter the Hospital, knowing that Kira still needs to be in there to survive. If anything bad happens, Mitsuru would be the best person to help Kira out of there. All I can do is pray to a God I don't believe in.

"Ayano, where is everybody?" Mirabilis has a point. There is no sign of Minato, Takayuki, Naoko, Hayato, Satoshi, or Yasu anywhere. Where could those six be?

"That's a good question, but we have to get out of here first!"

 _ **BAM!**_

There is not another earthquake but there is a loud, distinct sound of something. I can tell what that sound is: a gunshot. Why is there a gunshot? Were one of the weapons in the stockpile a gun that accidentally fired because of the earthquake? One thing is for certain. I do not want to enter the cafeteria right now.

* * *

Mirabilis and I escape the building. Legit fear begins to enter my system when thinking about the six missing students and the two left behind in the Hospital. This is a horrible situation right now.

But, even with all of that, the sky is still beautiful from what I can see. Nothing has changed. The moonlight once again is acting as our light, but the forest is still way too creepy during the night. I am severely on edge. A chill enters my body as I observe the forest surrounding me. Even with the moonlight, it is way too hard to see to make anyone feel safe.

"Where are the others?" I ask the current group.

"Missing and probably dea-"

"They're all in the old building of all places," Tsukiko answers, cutting off Hotaru. The interrupted girl sighs. But there is one question that dominates my mind. Why are all of them in the old building?

"Oda-san!" Suddenly Hayato comes running out of the bushes. He is out of breath and looks distressed. Seeing this amount of distress on Hayato's face puts me on edge. Something is not right. An immense feeling of dread is all over the forest.

"Hayato!"

"Please, you have to come quick! Follow me!" Hayato demands. He is unusually forceful. Aside from his appearance, and the fact that he probably left his handbook in the old building, there is nothing too out of the ordinary. That is until I notice something, there is a stab wound on Hayato's right shoulder. It is still bleeding. The wound might not look deep but it is still clearly fresh. His suit is now stained with the color of sweet crimson.

"You're injured-"

"You need to hurry!" Hayato grabs onto Tsukiko's hand, dragging her along. I notice how much he is shaking. The rest of the students outside follow him. All of us notice how out of character Hayato is acting. That can only mean one thing: something truly horrible awaits us in the old building.

* * *

Right before we all enter the old building, there is yet another earthquake, this one being more powerful than the last. We all stay away from the building and the trees, hoping that we do not fall on the sharp, jagged rocks underneath us. Once again, Namita almost does, only to be saved by Miyuki. Guess Namita is the only person out of this group that does not have good balance.

"This is starting to be real annoying," Akemi complains. He fixes his hair as the earthquake passes by.

"Aw, are you a baby?" Hotaru teases him. Akemi only stares at her, which Hotaru laughs at. Though, once I focus back on the old building, something feels off. My gut is telling me not to go inside. I may not listen to my gut that much, but it is screaming at me. It is pleading its futile case. No matter what, I have to go inside.

"We need to hurry," Hayato says. He is at the door when there is a sound that catches all of us off guard.

 _ **BAM!**_

It is another gunshot. This one is a lot closer than the one we heard back near the main building. My feet plant themselves into the ground. No, this cannot be what I think it is. Not even one day has passed since the motive was announced! Last one took a week, this one took less than twenty-four hours! And I hope to the God I don't believe in that this case is not like other cases that are the third.

"What...what was that?" Namita is holding onto Miyuki for dear life. Hayato looks like he is about to break down any second. Even Hotaru's face goes white by the haunting sound ringing in our ears.

"Everybody, go after me," Miyuki commands. Even her usual calm exterior is breaking. Namita stops hugging her but instead holds onto her hand desperately. Nobody tries to deny Namita's order. We all go after her. Miyuki very slowly brings out her sword with the hand that is free. She then opens the door.

Nothing is changed in the main hallway of the old building. The only thing that is out of place is the oppressive atmosphere. There seems to be a problem with the lights, with them being dim and flickering, making things much, much worse. I could hear my heart beat heavily in my chest as if it is trying to escape. Of course, there is also an ajar door. Only by observing it closely one can notice that it is, in fact, open. It is calling for us to come inside and experience the true horrors of the universe.

"Everyone, be careful. We know somebody has a gun." Tsukiko is still trying to be a leader. Sweat covers her forehead, making it weirdly shine.

 _ **BAM!**_

"Ah!" I recognize that scream. That's...Yasu.

We all jump. The sound clearly came from the room we want to enter.

"Asshole!" Satoshi shouts. "Shit!" Whoever is in there with them must be the person behind this, so they must be stopped. What can be their reason for causing all of this chaos? Something is not right. Somebody who truly wanted to follow the motive would not go to these extremes. They must have attacked Hayato first and then he came running to us to tell us the news.

"We have to go now!" Breaking our formation, I run towards the doors and throw them open with much might. I stop in my steps as I realize the horror in front of me.

"What's happening, Ayano? Who do I need to purify!?" Mirabilis asks me. I notice to Mirabilis has her wand out.

* * *

Inside the room, I see the door to the trial room is closing and hear something lock. Miyuki tries to get it open, but it is impossible. Everybody else begins to file in while I stay at the door.

The middle of the room has two bodies: Yasu and Satoshi. Yasu has a gunshot wound in her spine while Satoshi has been stabbed in the back shoulder. He is on top of them as a form of protection. There is a worrying amount of blood collecting underneath them.

"The door will not open!" Miyuki states as she and Mirabilis work together to try to force it open. Mirabilis continues to hit it with her wand but no dent is made.

"They both are still alive! We need them in the Hospital as soon as possible!" Tsukiko comments. She is with Namita and Akemi, and the other two are checking the pulse of their two classmates.

"No...we gotta..." Satoshi tries to say something but is too weak to finish his sentence. He is still conscious but barely. On the other hand, Yasu is out cold. "...The mastermind...the forest..." Before he can finish, Satoshi blacks out as well.

"Puhuhu, what despair! Three of your classmates have been brutally attacked. I wonder what happened here." Monokuma comes out from nowhere as usual. He is way too happy like his usual persona. I could tell that Kaneshiro is having way too much fun with the current turn of events. "Wow, I wonder which one of you is enough of a monster to do this."

"It is clearly the person who went-"

"Shut up, Akemi, the important characters are talking!" Monokuma interrupts. Akemi keeps his fingers on Satoshi's neck, yet his focus is centered on the robotic bear. "Alright, alright, I'll send these two to the Hospital. Yeah, yeah." With a snap of his fingers, gas suddenly surrounds us.

"Son of a bitch..." Akemi says.

"But first you need a quick nap. Can't have you guys figure out my secrets of transportation!" Monokuma explains. That is the last thing I hear before I lose consciousness. The darkness feels heavy.

* * *

 **Monokuma Theatre!**

 _Sometimes I wonder what is the meaning of life? Is it despair? Is it hope? Or is it none of these things? You know what, fuck it, this philosophical shit is already getting boring! Who cares about the reason? All that matters is that is how things are! After all, the only thing you can prove exists in yourself. I could be fake for all you know. Oh my God, this is boring!_

 _Now let's talk about the true most important thing in the world: salmon. Fresh, heavenly salmon. I once married a salmon once but then I ate her. She was the tastiest thing I've ever tasted! But then I had all these salmon children! I couldn't understand what they were saying so I ate them as well. End of story. Monokuma is the best father a person can ever ask for. And this will not come bite me in the ass when Monokubs exist. Monokubs will never exist in this universe. Only Monosalmon for me to eat! Forget about them right now dammit!_

* * *

When we all wake, the first thing I do is throw up in the corner of the room. Everything about what is happening is making me feel sick.

"Ayano, do you feel okay?" Mirabilis asks. She is barely up on her feet. Whatever Monokuma gave up must have affected our bodies more than the last one. I do not remember feeling this bad before.

"Yea, it is...just the gas." I try to get up but my legs feel too weak. That is when I look around me. All of us are still inside the entrance to the trial room. Everybody is awake and the only one injured is Hayato with his previous injuries. Whoever attacked Yasu and Satoshi did not take this moment to attack us.

"We have to check whether or not Yasu and Satoshi are okay," Tsukiko says. And, with her shaky legs, Tsukiko forces herself up and out of the door. Miyuki and Namita follow after her.

"That damn bear, what is he thinking!?" Akemi is not pleased.

"Only if there was a dart or something...I could..." Hotaru does not finish her sentence. She, like the trio, gets up and out. The only people left are Mirabilis, Takara, Akemi, Hayato, and I.

"Dammit." Hayato leaves as well. I am about to get up to ask him a lot of questions, but my legs do not want to work. They are most likely almost asleep. I must have slept on them wrongs thanks to the gas.

"I will make the person who did this pay," Mirabilis whispers into my ear. She then positions her shoulder so it would be easy for me to grab onto to. I see that Mirabilis has put her wand back in its original spot, putting me more at ease.

"This is cruel! Monokuma is just making us go through a...Punishment Game! There's no way to win when you have no pieces on the board!" Akemi complains. He does have a point, however. How can somebody even leave the island if they successfully murder in the first place? I am sure that we got here somehow but how? I cannot trust what Monokuma says about the matter either. He messes with the truth too much to even remotely be considered trustworthy.

"We should all leave," I say. Using Mirabilis's shoulder, I walk out of there slowly with everybody else. My feet drag as I know that no matter what happens today, there is something I will not want to see.

Once we are outside, one thing disturbs me. It is day.

* * *

All of us arrive at the Hospital, and it seems that the earthquakes have stopped. Luckily the earthquakes did not destroy the school building. There are bits of floor missing but it should be safe if there is not another one. Plus we have no choice but to sleep in this building. The only other places to sleep are outside and in the other building.

Inside the Hospital, I notice that Yasu and Kira at the only ones in Hospital beds. Hayato was not even brought in, and Satoshi seems to be recovered mostly. The two boys are talking to each other. The other people in the Hospital, besides the group I arrived in, are Namita, Miyuki, and Tsukiko. It seems like everybody falls under the rules of the Hospital. At this point, they seem almost useless. Anyways, Mitsuru is strangely absent.

"Where's Mitsuru?" I ask.

"Oh, Mitsuru, she's gone to the kitchen to get some things for breakfast," Kira answers. I then notice that Kira is awake, though she clearly does not sound excited to be. Her eyes are still completely covered. At this point, there is no debate, she must be blind.

"And where's everybody else?"

"They are still missing in action. All of their handbooks are still in the old building," Tsukiko replies. She and everybody else in the room is stressed out. "We are thinking about returning there when we are finished here. Checking if Monokuma kept his word was our first priority, and, by the look of it, he actually did."

"...But...the attacker...I didn't see their face...and they must have got acting classes to change their voice...but they said they were going into the forest itself..." Satoshi coughs. He may be up but his wound is still bothering him. It is strange to see Satoshi act so serious.

"The forest, huh?" I note. It does make sense. Once Monokuma knocked us all out, the attacker would be able to escape without any fuss. The forest would be the hardest place to find them with the vast amount of hiding spots.

"We must find them, no matter where they are!" Tsukiko announces. With that, I could tell how determined she is. We must stop a killing taking place, especially this early, or who knows what would happen next.

* * *

 **And then shit hits the fan.**

 **So, um, there is a poll now. For no reason. No reason at all. Completely innocent poll. There for no reason.**

 **Reviews~**

 **Scissor-Snipper-And then, Requiem messes up again. XD Thanks for catching that. Thanks. ^.^ Let's all go to Bunny Island. Kotori's death caused all of this though. Let's just say that Chiyo did something stupid that caused that.**

 **Anon-Chan1-Monokuma ruins everything. Well, Hayato is still alive and is not the attacker. Kira needs all the help in the world. Well, she's blind now. Those are very good names for the trio. Or maybe what happens when there's an earthquake and we don't know if anybody is inside? Not everybody is in the old building, after all, they just left their handbooks there. Ayano has a secret love of centipedes. Just protect Yasu from everything. Well, Mochi suffers when Yasu suffers. I just have one rabbit, Willow, who is a spaz that loves being pet (currently in process of convincing dad to get another one). Let's just say Kotori and Kazuhiko's relationship is one of the most messed up things in this series. I love your child too...time to make them suffer. ^.^ They did figure out Akita's secret (well part of it) so that's a plus. Mirabilis is not having a nice day. Well, Satoshi is doing stuff.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Namita is adorable. Yasu and Mochi are amazing but suffering. Bookworms are amazing because I read way too many books and fanfictions. ^.^ Thanks. I think there's more to talk about here.**

 **LoveLoveShippingLoveLove-Welcome to the review fam. Thanks so much. It is not bad that you ship Namita and Miyuki. Um, nothing bad has happened to Mochi, but Yasu is in a horrible state right now. Oops. Satoshi is doing whatever the fuck he wants. Thanks. Here's some suffering!**


	34. Chapter 3-4

**Chapter 3-4: Force Ugly Lies Down My Throat, My Twisted Marigold**

* * *

"Before you do that, idiots, there's more you need to know," Akemi criticizes us. "The one who has the damn water from the last motive is Kira. Cassius really was a damn idiot!" He stays by Kira's side. I am guessing he will not be one of the people in our search party.

"Hm, we should plan this out. Don't want the attacker to have any more victims," Namita states. "There are currently five people missing: Mitsuru, Minato, Naoko, Takayuki, and Kyoto. Our mission is to find them. Report here once you do. And don't do anything too dangerous." She is being deeply serious. Namita has an entirely different persona than when we spent time together. It is kinda jarring.

"I shall stay here. I will make sure the attacker does not target the injured." Miyuki is already ready for the job. She still has her sword is still drawn out. Her red eyes glow with much passion.

"Well, we should divide into three groups then. Hotaru, Mirabilis, and I are in control of the old building. Takara, Tsukiko, and Ayano search the forest. The injured stay here with Miyuki and Akemi." Used to her orders, none of us disobey. We all go our own separate ways.

* * *

Once we make it out of the main building, the two outside groups go our own separate ways. Seeing the three of them approach the building fills me up with dread but I know that they are most likely safe. At least safer than Yasu, Satoshi, and Hayato. I have to ask them what they were all doing there once the craziness dies down.

"Which part of the forest should we explore first?" Tsukiko asks. She is facing Takara. She and Namita must also know that Takara knows his way around the Suicide Forest. If this is a model of the real one, maybe Takara will know everything. The question is how faithful is this version really. It is just harder to get lost and it is easier to not die in the forest itself due to it being smaller than the real one. Just how would an artificial island like this one be created in the first place? And why? There's also the disturbing lack of anything in the sky. Something is weird that there are not even bugs on an island.

"..." Takara points towards the old building.

"The old building?" I question him. He nods his head. Although I know some sign language from Takara, I understand why he is not speaking to us with it. I am about as fluent in sign language as I am in Latin.

It makes sense to check near the old building first since that is where the attacker escaped from. Although most of us were knocked out by Monokuma, some students were still up and about. Running into Mitsuru would be the last thing they would have wanted. She is still scary, even if you have a gun.

"Alright, let's check there!" Tsukiko walks with much worry. She must be scared about our missing classmates like the rest of us.

* * *

We are at the edge of the forest. We all take a deep breath as our feet enter the dense woods. The forest is even more oppressive than it usually is. It feels like it is trying to consume my entire being.

"So where should we go, Takara?" I ask him. He points directly straight. I agree with him since something inside me is screaming that something bad awaits us here. My gut is tearing me apart inside.

"Let's remember to be safe, okay?" Tsukiko says. She is acting like an overprotective mother figure.

* * *

For most of the time in the forest, the three of us say nothing. We are all too stressed out to bring up any sort of conversation. Takara is guiding us as Tsukiko watches the back and I keep track of the sides. Getting attacked in this forest is the last thing any of us want to happen out here.

...Then I notice something in the bushes. The trees open up to the sunlight just enough for something silver to shine. My gut is finally being useful in my life and is telling me to go check out what it is.

"Tsukiko, Takara, there's something over here!" I call out to them.

"Huh? Really?" Tsukiko is very interested. She and Takara look at what I am pointing at and I could tell both of them can see the same exact thing. We all rush over to see what the bush has in store for us.

Once we all reach it, Tsukiko is the one who receives it from the bush. Her eyes widen as her hand first touches the mysterious object. Takara and I prepare ourselves for the worse. Tsukiko slowly brings it out to reveal that the items are...

"Are these bullets?" I ask. Takara also nods his head, saying that he wants to answer as well. I do not know that much about guns so I have to wait to figure out more about them. Takayuki can hopefully give us more information.

"Yes..." Tsukiko answers. She does not know where to put them so she places them back to where they were originally. Takara seems to be in the middle of memorizing where we are right now.

"..." Takara has something on his mind but it seems like he does not have his notebook again. Everything is a mystery when it comes to Takara. Only if Shinichi was still alive to translate everything to us.

"Let's continue onward. Bullets there might mean the attacker is nearby," Tsukiko notes. Takara and I both agree with her and we return to how things were before. Awkward and silent. Nothing but our own speeding heartrates to keep us true company. Then again, in this forest, you cannot even trust yourself. Only if I could tell them all that Kaneshiro Kazuma is slowly but surely making all of us go mad.

* * *

Silence. The leaves, both dead and alive, crunch underneath our feet, providing the only sense of really loud sound. There is nothing here except for our boredom. Hell, sometime during our journey, I somehow went ahead of Takara and started to guide the three of us. The attacker got a massive head start so it is questionable whether or not we will even catch up to them. Our only saving grace is that Monokuma's five-mile radius rule is still in effect. A rule originally used to conceal information is now here to make sure we have less freedom. Monokuma does not want us creating a raft and getting out of here. If the rule was not in effect, I would have already started that venture.

Then I remember that there are not that many dead leaves on the trees here. Sure, there are some, but since the weather and climate have been screwed with because of the Tragedy, falling leaves do not really start until next month usually. It is weird that all the dead leaves are collected here like its some sort of...oh shit...

"Ayano, watch out!" Tsukiko yells out to me. It is too late as I fall into the hole.

"Shit!" I land on my butt as I fall down to the cave. That is entirely my fault. I should have paid more attention and not have allowed myself to get into the zone. Being in that zone is dangerous in this Killing Game.

"...A...y...a...n...o..."

"Wait, I think there's somebody down here! Help me!" I yell out. It would be easy for a group of four people to escape out of here, near impossible for one. It would also help that I happen to be so tall.

Takara is the first one down while Tsukiko follows them. They have a much more graceful landing than I did. We all look at the ground to see that it is covered in a sickly shade of red.

"Is the person deeper inside? I'll take out my handbook." Tsukiko rushes as she pulls out her handbook. She then points it at the other side of the cave. Once we all realize who is on the other side of the cave, we all stood there in horror. We are too late. Tsukiko drops the item in her hand in pure horror.

I pray to Kazuhiko that whatever this is, it is a dream. Guilt immediately consumes my entire being. Once again, that familiar rush of emotions is inside me. The rush that wants nothing else but for you to lose itself to its overpowering presence. For this is what we call despair. And despair only wants you to give into it and allow your being to become something else for simple desires.

Something then plays out of the handbooks of both Takara and Tsukiko. They are both equally horrified to hear the familiar bear speak to them as if they are lower than him.

 _A body has been discovered. After a brief period of Investigation, there will be a Class Trial. Yeah, yeah, you kids know what to do by now._

* * *

There is a body lying in a pool of his own blood. It is everywhere but I notice that some of the blood in here is dry and probably belongs to somebody else. He is covered in dirt and it is clear that he has tried to escape his prison, only to fail. There are marks all over the place that tell the story of him trying to survive but not being able to. Worse of all, the killer must have known, since they had to create the trap and then prepare it again. A picture of somebody slowly bleeding to death did not stop them from proceeding with their plan. After all, giving him a nicer death would have left more evidence. That monster.

One bullet wound is on his stomach. His clothes have been stripped down to his underwear for some reason. Goddammit, killer, stop being cruel. Most of all though, I realize something. He's...He's...He's...

Kyoto Kamui, the Ultimate Strategist, is now dead. I will never be able to talk to him again...He can never fully forgive me.

* * *

"A..y...a...n...o..." Kyoto tells me. I can barely believe my ears. I rush over to him and place my fingers on his neck. There is a heartbeat. It is barely there but it is better than nothing. That heartbeat is what gives me hope.

"He's still alive!" I exclaim.

"What?...Oh no! Another person has to be dead!" Tsukiko and Takara then run up to Kyoto too. None of us have medical knowledge so we stare at each other. Think, Ayano, think, how do we stop the bleeding?

"K...a...n...e...s...h...i...r...o..." Kyoto takes another breath as he desperately holds onto his life. "...K...a...z...u...m...a..." I begin to freak out even more. How does Kyoto know the name of the mastermind?

"Kaneshiro Kazuma?" Tsukiko asks. She rips off a bit of her own skirt as she tries to find a place to tie it. Takara, on the other hand, is pressing down on Kyoto's wound, trying to stop the blood. I lift up Kyoto's head and place it on my lap.

"D...i...d...I...do...go...od? Do...I...des...erve...a...gold...medal?...No...that...is...on...ly...a...dream..."

"Of course you do! You got first! You're the first to know who Kaneshiro is, right? That means something! That deserves a medal!" I plead with him. Kyoto, however, looks like he does not believe me. In his eyes there is only sadness. Sadness of not being able to fulfill one's dream.

"I...for...give...you...Aya...no..." Then Kyoto goes limp. I once again place my hand to feel for his pulse but I cannot find one. Takara stopped trying to stop the blood since it is not a problem anymore in his eyes.

"Does anybody know CPR!?" I cry out. Before I press my lips against him for a desperate bid to save his life, I hear something familiar...

 _A body has been discovered! Gee, you love murdering people! Its only been_ one _day! Geez! Well, investigate that too. I guess. It wasn't supposed to be this early! Geez! What about all that buildup? Literally, it took you over a week last time, and let me tell you that was boring as all Hell, and now one day! Alright, fine! Fine, fine, fine! Just do whatever you want, crazy teenagers!_

* * *

 _"Hello..." I said to the contestant next to me. In my boy disguise, I feel weird. Kazuhiko said I looked fine and could perfectly steal his name, but I still had my doubts. My father may have taught me the basics of hacking to make sure that the Neo World Program incident never happened again, and Kotori continued my training, yet I still had my second thoughts._

 _"H-h-h-h-hello?" The boy next to me could not get his words straight. I recognized him from a lot of contests Kazuhiko covered. He is Kyoto Kamui, the boy who always landed second place no matter what. "I'm...K-Kyoto Kamui."_

 _"Kazuhiko," I responded. I smiled at him. He smiled back._

* * *

"...Dead...?" I struggle to get my words out. "No...not again..."

"Ayano?" Tsukiko questions me. She places her hand on my shoulder but I shove her off. Getting the memo, she begins to investigate the scene of the crime. All I could do was stare. Why must everybody close to me die? First Kazuhiko, then Shinichi, and now Kyoto! Dammit, what did I do to deserve this?! What did Kyoto do to deserve this? Why is Kaneshiro forcing all of us to play this game?!

"..." Takara stares at me. Catching me off guard, I feel him slap me. He then stares at me. "Get...hold...of...self...and...apologize." It surprises me that Takara can actually speak. I see that he is about to slap me again, causing me to leave my spot. Before that, however, I carefully place Kyoto's head on the ground. Takara places his jacket over Kyoto's face.

"Sorry," I tell Tsukiko when I reach her. She is surprised.

"It's okay. You don't need to do that." Tsukiko blushes. "But...thank you..." She then returns to her detective work. However, I completely trust her here, since I know that she is not the attacker, so I head over to Takara. I do want to leave this place anyway. Seeing Kyoto's dead body like this is too upsetting and I need some fresh air to fully calm down. That is what Kyoto would have wanted.

"Takara, I want to go outside. Can you help me?" I still had a difficult time forming words but I make sure I do not stutter or unnaturally pause. Tears built up in my eyes but I forced them to stay inside. Crying should be something done only after I found the son of a bitch who did this. Takara, once again, nods his head.

* * *

Takara only guides me out of the forest but returns back to Tsukiko afterward. I take a deep breath as I try to comprehend the situation around me. One thing is for certain though, somebody killed two people like all previous third trial cases. Is the mastermind trying to make this game resemble Junko's again? Kaneshiro does nothing but confuses me with his actions. What is that person thinking? All I know is that he's a monster for causing all this death! He will pay for killing Kazuhiko and causing the death of Kyoto!

"Oh, Ayano... _Ayano_." Akemi is there as well. He is looking at something, the old building.

"Why are you here Akemi?"

"I heard the Body Discovery Announcement and Kira wouldn't stop complaining about me coming to help you. So whose dead?" He looks so bored. Akemi, underneath that layer of boredom, does seem to at least a little worried. Even somebody like him has a heart somewhere.

"...I only know one of the dead..." I take a deep breath considering this is Akemi I am talking to. He and Kyoto did not exactly have what you would call a good relationship. "...It's Kyoto."

"Goddammit, somebody actually killed that bastard. Whoever did this is gonna pay," he responds. Akemi reacts completely opposite of what I excepted him too. It is actually a breath of fresh air. He may not have liked Kyoto, but feels bad that he died.

"Takara and Tsukiko are with the body," I inform him. Akemi is yet another person I am pretty sure could not have done it so I feel comfortable telling him this information.

"...How did that bastard killer kill him?" Akemi asks in a whisper. He is trying to hide his face from me but he does not do a good job. Seeing this part of Akemi makes me feel weird. Perhaps it is because of Kira?

"...Let's just focus on finding the other victim. They're probably in the old building." I start to walk away from Akemi. He follows after me. When I go faster, he goes faster.

"Hey, Ayano, stop ignoring me. Fine, fine. I'll go with you." Noticing Akemi will not go away, I sigh. This is not what I need right now. Especially considering he treated Kyoto like shit when he was still alive. He is lucky I have not snapped at him. His lack of ability to shut his mouth around Monokuma has caused many horrible situations that could have been easily avoided otherwise. "Listen to me for one goddamn moment of your life. God, people like you are so irritating!"

All I do is ignore him. If he decides to hang around me like a lost puppy during the investigation, that is fine. Catching Kyoto's killer is the top priority on my mind. After all, I do remember that he wanted to talk to me about something. Dammit. I cannot talk to him anymore like Akita, Kazuhiko, Shinichi, and Cassius. That is the worse part of people dying. Waking up and realizing that they will no longer be there with you. There is no waking up from a nightmare if it is reality. And this Killing Game is the worse nightmare a person can ever go through. How can it get any worse than this? I shouldn't think things like that, I'll end up jinxing myself.

* * *

"Just speak to me, Ayano. How the _fuck_ did that bastard die?" Akemi still does not let go of that question. We are in front of the old building and he is still bugging me about it.

"Bullet wound to the stomach."

"Oh, that sucks." He looks away from me for a second with doubt in his eyes but quickly reverts back to his usual self. "It's just that's it's really weird that Monokuma hasn't given us a file or any bullets yet. All of us are going in blind like you."

"Hm? Why's that?" I think and think about the possible reasons. The most probable is that he is waiting for the 'protagonist' to discover both of the bodies. Bastard. We already have enough on our plate. Hopefully, Kyoto's killer is as stupid as the other third ones and leaves a lot of evidence around that will easily convince them.

"Don't know. Any other information? Like, I don't know, what everybody did afterward."

"...Um...we tried to help...I tried CPR," I answer. Akemi glares at me. His judgmental eyes dig deeply into my soul.

"You tried _CPR_ on a bullet wound victim?! Whelp, I'm surrounded by idiots." Akemi then barges into the doors of the old building, ending our conversation early. This time I am the one following him. I ignore the immense feeling of darkness I feel at the doors. That feeling is not needed when I already knew what awaits us inside will be a gruesome discovery.

* * *

In the old building, I start looking through all the doors with Akemi. It is the only thing that he is useful for. I searched the left, while he took care of the right. We both know that we are about to see yet another nightmare. Yet another corpse to add to Monokuma's dastardly collection. Which reminds me, we were so busy with everything that we only had time to create Shinichi's grave. Maybe the lack of a corpse makes us more hesitant to officially make one for Cassius. Some childish part of our teenage minds is telling to convince us that the dead can somehow still be alive.

"Ayano, Akemi!" Hotaru calls out to us. It just so happens to she is at the last door to the right. I could tell that even she is disturbed. Whatever is in there, it is not good.

"Hotaru!" Akemi and Hotaru stop to chat with each other, exchanging information. I know that I do not have the time to do that. The more time I waste on idle conversation, the least amount of time I have to catch Kyoto's killer.

Once I make it to the door, I notice that Hotaru has closed it. My hand lingers above the knob. It is the moment of truth. Dread once again fills my being. I try to take a deep breath but all I can manage is a weak one. However, I still decide to open the door...open a door to an everlasting nightmare. A room that is no longer a classroom but a torture cell...This is true Hell.

* * *

One person is being comforted by Namita and Mirabilis, but they seem to be doing nothing for the eyes that have seen true horror. I see there are marks all over his wrists that seem to have been caused by handcuffs. His eyes still have life inside them but, at the same time, they look completely dead. It is horrifying to see Takayuki Anno, the Ultimate Private Investigator, somebody who has seen hundreds and hundreds of corpses in his lifetime, be taken aback by a crime scene.

The true horror of this torture room is the brutalized, barely recognizable corpse in the middle of it all.

She lays on top of one of the desks, with her body cruelly placed in an uncomfortable position. Handcuffs imprison her arms and legs to four different legs of the desk. The cause of death is hard to point out but, if I had to guess, it is her crushed neck. Stab wounds are all over her body, arms, legs, face, stomach, chest, you name it. Like Kyoto, she is stripped down to her underwear for some ungodly reason. Her mouth is gagged to make sure that nobody but Takayuki and the killer can hear her screams. Worse of all, not even somebody like her is immune to despair after experiencing such a cruel, heartless death. Swirls fill her eyes that are streaming down with endless tears...

Even Naoko Kawabata, the Ultimate Child Progidy, can fall into the darkest depths of pure despair...

* * *

 **This and last chapter were supposed to be one chapter but I decided that this has better pacing. So the chapter is on the shorter side. And, well, you guys freaked out last chapter. Now for more freak outs. I said next chapter will bring emotions. And, damn, if this wasn't the hardest chapter to write. I tried to make every excuse available not to kill Kyoto and Naoko so brutally, but, at last, I did. I had to stop writing this multiple times because I felt so bad but the story must go on! Yes, I'm the type of writer who cries while writing her own work. No shame.**

 **Thank you so much for ObieSenpai for sending in Kyoto Kamui and mayurie for Naoko Kawabata. I loved these two cinnamon rolls so much. And so I gave myself despair killing them. (but, then again, their original deaths in one of the outlines were much, much crueler but then I'm like...not even I'm that cruel and these kids need some sort of break)**

 **Seriously whhhhyyyyyyy do I do this to myself. And why do I do this to my audience. XD**

 **And, now, um, reviews-**

 **AnonChan1-Satoshi is happy that he didn't die like Kyoto and Naoko. These kids not how to not push their luck. Ayano knows everything about Kazuhiko. Even the narrator can hide things from the audience. A lot of things. Akita had too much fun with that diary. Mirabilis is an absolute badass. Kyoto's free time that's totally not full of death flags. Ayano, stop jinxing the story. Hmmm, I wonder which gunshot is which? And now for more FREAK OUT! Guys, Hotaru got to Monokuma again. Um, they do a really bad job on stopping the killer. Seriously, two people. Good job breaking it heroes.**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Akita is the master of subtly. Mirabilis has seen anime that dates before 2012 since no other anime exists in this timeline except for Pop Time Epic. Because. Best Boy is dead. Never trust me. Yet is always the important word. The Hospital is the most useful room in the entire school.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-It only gets worse from here. I love me some questions. Gotta wait for the Class Trial! No, the poll is there for no reason whatsoever. It isn't like two fan favorites are dead this chapter. No, not at all. The free time events are the calm before the storm...or should I say earthquake? Oh, don't worry, there are more players here. Nobody's entirely innocent. Thanks. ^.^ I hope you love all the despair.**

 **ObieSenpai-Sorry for killing your character so brutally. It was too cute with them death flags. Here is something to make you fall into despair!**

 **LoveLoveShippingLoveLove-Well, two people are deader than dead. Mirabilis is...going through emotions. It is not bad you ship KyotoxAyano. This chapter is full of it and KazuhikoxAyano. Ayano, stop having ship teases with dead guys that get shot that names start with K. Well, you were right to be scared.**

 **dashunterman-Yep. Two peeps.**

 **SanityRequiem-Oh hi me.**

 **scaredshitless-Best anon name. Here are two more cinnamon rolls dying! Cassiusfan isn't gonna be happy about this.**

 **ShadedLyht-Puhuhuhu, here are two more murders. Nope, we found three of them, Takayuki, Naoko, and Kyoto, which two of them are dead, and one isn't having a good day. Akita is the biggest puzzle in this series. Ayano knows way more than she is letting the audience know.**

 **mayurie-Oops, I killed your girl brutally. I have lazy reviewer disease to the max. *throws reviewer cookies* The emotions of your character being dead. Well...um...they're here. It's your precious Brain Child. Stop giving characters death flags in the reviews. XD First Yellow, now mayurie, I wonder whose next. Thank you. ^.^ Well, um, writer's block with Despair in Our Stars. Massive writer's block. So much writer's block. It is the same problem as why it took so long for the beginning chapters of FoD to update. I get writer's block a lot when I begin stories and it gradually goes away.**


	35. Investigation 3-1

**Investigation 3-1: A Sea Of Doubts**

* * *

"Ayano!" Mirabilis calls out to me. She then runs to me, purposefully avoiding looking at Naoko's body. The young girl grabs me by my arms since she is too short to reach my shoulders. "Who else is dead!?"

"...Kyoto..."

"We have to find out who did this! But...I have something else to do!" Mirabilis hurries out of the room, not noticing some of her rose petals fell out of her bag and onto the floor, and leaving me alone with Takayuki and Namita. Namita and I make eye contact and she signals me towards her. When I reach the two of them, there is a familiar beep.

"I'll make whoever did this pay," Takayuki murmurs under his breath. Upon further analysis, I see that his arms now have marks. The killer must have used something at the crime scene to make them stay on with Takayuki's lack of hands.

"Do you remember anything?" I ask him. Surely, I hope for answers, but, at this point, I highly doubt anything would be that easy. Takayuki stares at me as I seemed to forget his Forbidden Action. I would have to get Takara to translate him since he is the only one who can. After all, Takayuki might be the key to figuring out who killed both Kyoto and Naoko.

"Hm, let's just look at the clues Monokuma gave us." Namita then shows me and Takayuki her handbook.

* * *

 **Monokuma File #3**

 **Victim-Naoko Kawabata, Ultimate Child Prodigy**

 **Height-Five feet even**

 **Weight-Ninety pounds**

 **Chest Size-Only Takayuki and Mirabilis will get this information. ;)**

 **Age-Fourteen**

 **Blood Type-O+**

 **Birthday-November Third**

* * *

 **The victim is Naoko Kawabata.**

 **The body was discovered in the old building.**

 **The estimated time of death is 2:45 AM.**

 **Naoko's cause of death is suffocation.**

 **Before death, Naoko was tortured to the brink of despair. She has twenty-one stab wounds all over her arms, legs, and other parts of her body. Her neck is almost completely destroyed due to having an extreme amount of force applied to it a multitude of times.**

* * *

 **Monokuma File #4**

 **Victim-Kyoto Kamui, Ultimate Strategist**

 **Height-Six feet, two inches**

 **Weight-One hundred and ninety-five pounds**

 **Chest Size-Why is this still here? You know what, I'm just gonna remove it from all further files.**

 **Age-Sixteen**

 **Blood Type-AB**

 **Birthday-You guys should remember this. Literally, the last case was during his birthday party.**

* * *

 **The victim is Kyoto Kamui**

 **The body was discovered in the forest.**

 **The estimated time of death is 8:34 AM.**

 **Kyoto's cause of death was internal bleeding due to a gunshot wound.**

 **He was shot in the stomach. Due to the killer not doing it correctly, this caused Kyoto's death to be more drawn out than most stomach gunshot wound victims.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #2: Bullet Casings**

 **In the forest, there are bullets that are hidden in the bushes that were discovered by Ayano Nishiki, Tsukiko Oda, and Takara Miyagi.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #3: Torture Room**

 **Naoko Kawabata and another potential victim, Takayuki Anno, were both found in a room that was turned into one for torture. Takayuki was handcuffed to one of the branches near the wall while Naoko was forced onto the table.**

* * *

 **Truth Forest #4: Forest Trap**

 **Inside the forest, there is a trap. Ayano Nishiki fell into it while she was investigating.**

 **The trap was hidden underneath leaves. It is one of the caves on this island. The cave acts as a hole that is about eight feet tall. Escaping alone is near impossible but it can be done with more than one person or some rope.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #5: Mixed Blood**

 **Blood was found on the grounds of the cave. It is a mix of dry and wet blood. Some of the blood belongs to Kyoto, while the rest of it belongs to his killer.**

* * *

"This seems like a case that will have a lot of clues," I note. Usually, when there are two deaths, there is more evidence, meaning that the killer is more easily found. Though the amount of evidence did not make the second case easier than the first. Whatever, even if there was no evidence, I would find Kyoto's killer.

"I will reveal who did this to Naoko," Takayuki proclaims. He has the same determination in his eyes. Both of our eyes meet, automatically knowing we have the same goal.

"Well, we should investigate this area thoroughly. The smallest clue can lead to the downfall of the killer," Namita says. She puts away her handbook and we all nod at each other.

"Alright." I begin to look around the room around the desks. Takayuki is the one that handles the body while Namita handles the sides of the room. Let's find the evidence Kyoto's killer left in this room.

Examining the desks, I could see that they are arranged differently than before. Some of them are tipped over as well. It is easy to tell that there was a fight here. Naoko must have tried to fight off her killer before being constrained, most likely because she was much smaller than the attacker. Assuming the attacker was somebody bigger than her is part of the course but that does not erase anybody anymore.

There is something near the door I notice. Picking it up, I notice it was the dandelion hair tie Naoko wore. It is soaked with blood although it is far away from the body. Nothing else but where Naoko and Takayuki were restrained had traces of visible blood yet this hair tie does.

"Namita! Look at this!" I exclaim. Takayuki is too busy collecting all of the evidence from Naoko's body. Namita, coming from the corner she was examining, comes up to me to see what I pointed out.

"Hm, that's weird." Namita looks at it further. We both try to find the secrets of the hair tie, yet Akemi and Hotaru making their way through the door breaks our concentration.

"God, whose the ass who did this?" Akemi questions us.

"It's probably one of the people who were awake." Hotaru's response makes sense to me. But a part of me knows that it cannot be that easy. There is something going on here and we cannot jump to the easiest conclusion.

"We cannot eliminate anything yet," I comment. "If I was the killer, I would want people to believe that. Though there may be a chance that Naoko died before we were all put out."

"Alright, Ayano, if you truly believe that, maybe you should talk to Satoshi." Akemi does not seem to believe me. That is weird, even though he is an ass, he is a smart ass. Does Akemi know something that I do not?

"...Fucker." Before any of us could question what Takayuki meant, he storms out of the room. I could see that he is trying his hardest to keep himself from crying.

"Takayuki?" I question. Namita, Hotaru, and Akemi are exchanging facts with each other. They are distracted so I quickly make my way out of there. If somebody can help Takayuki, it is me. That pain in your heart is the hardest thing to go through, right Kazuhiko and Kyoto? Minato could also help him but nobody knows where they are.

* * *

I see Takayuki run into the next room over and I follow him inside. He is surprised to see me there with him. Takayuki tries to run away again but I grab onto his shoulder. That act of kindness shocks Takayuki as he faces to turn towards me. His innocent, baby blues eyes stare into mine with so much emotion.

"You better listen to me, Takayuki, since this is taking time away from finding Kyoto and Naoko's killer," I tell him. He nods his head with his eyes fixated on my hand that has not moved now. "What is this about?"

"..." Takayuki bites his lip as he still tries to suppress his tears.

"I said listen to me, Takayuki Anno! You are the Ultimate Private Investigator, you can do this! You investigated Akita and Shinichi's deaths, you can do this!" I then slap his cheek. Takayuki feels the hit with his stump of a hand. Tears then fall from his eyes.

"...You overestimate me, Ayano..." Takayuki remarks. Then I slap him again, getting the same reaction.

"Aren't you the one who says pity is for the weak or something like that!? Would Naoko like seeing you like this? Would Akita? No! Now get your shit together and start helping us!" I demand. The boy with me is taken slightly aback by my behavior but I could see his eyes sparkle moments after. He certainly has an idea.

"...Hideyoshi! This is his memo..." Then Takayuki's action starts to beep red. Realizing what he has done, Takayuki's eyes begin to dilate. "Shit! We have to go to the Hospital NOW. Help me, Ayano! This is really bad but I'm bigger than Shinichi, it won't affect me as quickly as it did for him!"

"Alright, alright. We are going but you are going to explain what you know to me. I know that you know more than the rest of us do."

"Ok..." I then lift Takayuki in my arms. "What do you think you're doing!?"

"The side effects of the poison will make you slower than usual. We cannot afford to waste time," I answer him. He is a lot lighter than I thought he was by looking at him. Guess it helps that Monokuma has still not returned Takayuki's normal clothes. By this point, nobody cares what anybody else looks like, the matter of survival is way more important than appearances.

* * *

"How does everybody connect to this? Especially Akita," I ask him. We are now just outside the old building, running quickly to the Hospital. It is a good thing that the two buildings are not that far from each other.

"Everybody is connected to the Committee...I'm hundred percent sure that even an idiot could figure that out." Takayuki is still the jerk I know so that means we still have time to save him from the poison. I do not want to be the cause of another death.

"What about Personality Experiment #045?"

"How do you know that?!" Takayuki questions me.

"There are files about it on the second floor." So Takayuki knows about the experiments? Was he paid from one of his outside sources to investigate them further? Takayuki does sell his information to the highest bidder, but, if that was the case, did Akita know about its existence? She could have possibly but not have known about her connections to it.

I arrive near the entrance of the main building. Mirabilis is indeed working on the graves like she said she would. She must be a lot stronger than I thought she was to do it all by herself. Then I walk up the stairs and open up the door to the building.

"It's that bitch Kotori...and that fucking traitor Hideyoshi...and that shit-eating snake Kaneshiro." Before we can talk more, I arrive at the Hospital. Both Takayuki and I look at each other and nod our heads. We are not to let the others know about our secret information. But it disturbs me that Takayuki knows Kaneshiro's name. Is Kaneshiro truly a member of the True Despairs that Takayuki knows about? He has been tracking them down for longer than I have known him. He explained that it had to do with something concerning his father.

When I open the door, I realize that Miyuki is still inside tending to both Yasu and Kira. She notices us and the horrible state that Takayuki is in.

"What happened to Anno-san?" she asks me as the device in her hands beeps. There must be a lot more evidence than I have not seen. I place him in the closest cot that I can find.

"He activated his action," I reply. Now I look for all the medicine Takayuki told us about from before and found that they are now all in here. Monokuma must have returned them to their proper places after what happened with Shinichi.

"I'll tell you what to do, Miyuki. Now begin investigating Ayano! Report back here with what you find in an hour or so!" Takayuki commands. I can see that Kira is looking at him with guilt in her eyes.

"Alright." I am about to leave the room before Miyuki stops me. She then pulls out her handbook.

"It would be best if you are up to date on the information, Nishiki-san," Miyuki explains herself. "This will be my big contribution to your goal of solving the murders. I am sorry I was not able to protect any of the victims."

"You do not need to apologize, Miyuki."

"If you say so, Nishiki-san. Here is the evidence that the others have gathered."

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #6-Bloody Hair Tie**

 **There is Naoko's hair tie in an area that otherwise has no blood. It is strangely far away from the body.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #7: Despair**

 **Somehow Naoko Kawabata fell into despair while she was dying. Kyoto Kamui, however, did not.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #8: Earthquake Positions**

 **No, Monokuma, the Truth Bullet header isn't supposed to look like that!**

 **Truth Bullet #8-Earthquake Positions**

 **There were earthquakes that transpired in the middle of the night.**

 **Ayano Nishiki, Rosalina Folium, Tsukiko Oda, Namita Nakahashi, Miyuki Kobyashi, Hotaru Amemori, Akemi Nakatani, Mitsuru Banda, Kira Iwata, andTakara Miyagi were inside the main building.**

 **Seven people consisting of Takayuki Anno, Minato Ueda, Naoko Kawabata, Kyoto Kamui, Hayato Akimoto, Satoshi Nakajima, and Yasu Matsuhita were somewhere else in the forest.**

 **Mitsuru stayed behind with Kira Iwata while the others in the main building left to go to the old building, which was caused by Hayato Akimoto.**

 **During this time, Naoko Kawabata and Takayuki Anno were both unconscious in the torture room. YasuMatsuhita and Satoshi went to a private room to chat. Kyoto Kamui and Minato Ueda were the only ones in the forest at that moment.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #9-The Injured**

 **Naoko Kawabata and Takayuki Anno were both knocked unconscious following a private discussion of theirs. Takayuki Anno was given more of the drug to make the effects last longer.**

 **Hayato Akimoto was stabbed by somebody before trying to find other people for help.**

 **Satoshi Nakajima and YasuMatsuhita were attacked by the same person. One of them was shot while the other stabbed.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #10-Gunshots**

 **During the night, three gunshots were heard.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #11-Hideyoshi Yamazaki**

 **Takayuki Anno notes that the murders follow the memo of serial killer, Hideyoshi Yamazaki.**

 **The memo is simple. Strip a person down to their underwear and give them an ironic, brutal death. Most serial killers do not have a pattern, so this stands out.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #12-Personality Experiment #045**

 **Wklv lv wkh nhb wr wklv pbvwhub.**

* * *

Before I can question myself about the meaning of the last bullet, I go out of the Hospital. This is not where I should be for this investigation. Once Takayuki feels better, I should ask him a lot of things. He still knows a lot more than he lets on.

Though there is one thing that haunts my mind other than the recent deaths of Kyoto and Naoko...Minato and Mitsuru are still missing? Where can those two be? I get Minato, but Mitsuru is another story. It makes no sense, especially considering her character.

I then run my way back to the old building. Although having more information about Personality Experiment #045 can possibly help this case, there is no time to search the library for a clue that Monokuma could have put in to mess with us. More time should be spent on finding whoever killed Kyoto and Naoko. Whoever they are, no matter their reason, I will make them pay.

* * *

Reaching the old building, the first person I make contact with is Akemi. I sigh at his presence. He is all alone and seems to be trying to find clues around the outside of the building.

"Akemi."

"Ayano." Akemi turns to face me once I make my presence clear. The both of us have a stare down.

"Aw, the two of you make up already! Seeing you like this is so cliche," Hotaru comments, popping out of nowhere like her usual self. She then disappears back into the building.

"I don't see how you could help, Akemi. I'm going to investigate on my own."

"Fine then, I will do the same thing!" Akemi goes back to what he was doing before. Considering he has been less than helpful in trials before, even with his talent and obviously big brain, I do not expect much from the fruits of his labor.

"Will you two stop acting like children? I can feel the pettiness from inside here! We have a murder to solve, you know." Hotaru comes back out again. It is weird to see her actually get annoyed at us. Her lowered brows tell me everything about what is going on inside her head.

"Then I'm going to go far away from Akemi. Far, far away." That is when I decided to go back into the forest. Finding clues for Kyoto's murder might be harder but I am most likely the only one searching the entire forest itself. Hopefully, I will not trigger any more traps.

* * *

I quickly find out that the forest has nothing for me to find. If somebody is going to find anything here, it would either be Takara or Minato. Though Takara is busy making sure people know where Kyoto is, while Minato is still nowhere to be found.

"Ayano!" Out of nowhere, I notice Minato come out. They are cover with bruises but no blood. Minato has certainly seen better days.

"M-Minato." I do not deny that I feel relief upon learning Minato is okay. They might be the person I relate to the most and the least. Minato is the one who understands my lost of Kyoto the most, after all, considering their feelings for Akita. It is weird to say you might become friends with somebody whose love interest was killed by your boyfriend.

"What's going on!? I heard guns and everything! And those announcements!" Minato begins to panic. I try to claim them down a little by gently placing one of my hands on their shoulder.

"Can't you check your handbook?" I ask them. Minato stares at me for a second before answering.

"Somebody stole my handbook," they answer me. Even though they are somewhat panicked, I do not believe Minato gets the full picture of what is going on here. They seem to be in their own little world that is ready to break once again. "What's going on?"

"Stole your handbook? Well, um...Naoko and...Kyoto are dead," I explain. "Hayato, Takayuki, Yasu, and Satoshi were all attacked. I guess the attacker got you too, huh?...Wait, did you see their face!?" I know I should not get excited, but having this lead makes me want to jump for joy. Then again, not even Hayato or Satoshi could see their face.

"No. Um, I got trapped right over there. Finally got myself out." Minato points to a tree. There is a broken piece of some sort of fabric tied onto it while the rest of the fabric is on the ground. Wait, fabric is not the right word. It is a net but it does not look professional in the least. "...It just broke."

"It's like some sort of badly made net," I comment. Whoever did this must be the same person who killed Kyoto. This bastard will pay for their badly made traps. They are clearly amateur yet people still keep falling for them. It would take a lot of convincing of the mind for somebody like Kyoto to even go near anything suspicious, let alone the forest in the middle of the night.

"We have to get back to the others, especially to tell them that you are alright. I know the way." To make sure Minato does not get lost again somehow, I hold onto their hand. We then make our way out of the forest together. It is good luck that I did not need to go that far. Just another thing now bothers me: why would the culprit go out of their way to steal Minato's handbook? It must have fallen out of their pocket while they were trapped in that net.

* * *

Finding myself out of the forest again, I travel with Minato to go to the old building. It would be a good idea to drop them off there, much better than leaving them in the forest again.

"Oh, Ayano, is back? How's my sweet, sweet Yuki~?" I see that Satoshi and Hayato have been permitted to go outside the Hospital.

"I think you saw her after me Satoshi," I answer. It is somewhat good to see that Satoshi has gone back to his old ways. Hayato is also the same Hayato. Both of their suits, however, are now completely ruined with no hope of repair.

"Aw, I hope she's alright! I can't get enough of her beautiful face!"

"Ueda-san...I did not expect to see you here. Are you injured like us?" Hayato asks with the same face he always has.

"Yes."

"Oh, may I ask you a favor? Can one of you show me their handbook?" Satoshi is the one who follows through with my request. It seems like Hayato had the desire to do it as well but was beaten to the punch.

"Now, if you do not mind me, I am going to start investigating more." Hayato then goes into the old building. Minato and I, being in the same situation, decide to look through the bullets together, but not before I ask something. Minato takes this time to catch up in the mystery.

"Satoshi, why were you and Yasu in that building in the first place?"

"Um...you remember...the secret thing. Well, Yasu wanted to talk to me about it so we went near the graves to not be disturbed. However, we heard the gunshot and hurried over to where we thought it was. I couldn't stand the feeling of somebody like my precious Yuki being hurt! And, then, you know, it happened." I hear a familiar beep, which means I must be getting somewhere.

"Okay." With that out of the way, I begin to examine the bullets. Please have something that clearly points to Kyoto's killer. That is wishful thinking but having an easier mystery would be lovely right now.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #13-Takayuki's Account**

 **Takayuki Anno and Naoko Kawabata decided to meet together alone to discuss a mystery they were unraveling. Naoko Kawabata had learned more details due to the help of Kyoto Kamui, who wanted to tell Ayano Nishiki the next day.**

 **However, Takayuki Anno arrives early and has somebody drug him from behind using a massive amount of drugs. The next thing he knew is that he was handcuffed although he has no hands, and Naoko Kawabata was dead in front of him.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #14-The Second Trap**

 **Minato Ueda was found in the forest in a second trap. It is some sort of badly made net. Because of its poor quality, it snaps, letting Minato free.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #15-Missing Handbook**

 **Whoever set up the trap Minato was trapped in took their handbook. It fell out of their pocket and the culprit took it off of the ground. This does not go against school regulations.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #16-Satoshi's Account**

 **Satoshi Nakajima and YasuMatsuhita were also having a conversation near the graves when the gunshots went off. They went by themselves to find out who was responsible.**

* * *

Something definitely seems off here. I do not believe Monokuma is using us like in the first trial, but he might be messing with the facts like in the second trial. Looking over everything now I can already tell this is going to be a complicated trial.

"Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...still have no idea! Must look for more clues for my darling Yuki! C'mon, Minato!" Satoshi exclaims. He grabs onto Minato and then hurries both of them inside the building. I sigh when I notice I am all alone again.

"Why must we keep running into each other?" Then I realize that Akemi is here as well. He must have been staying quiet during the whole conversation. His amount of stealth surprises me.

"Um...I am going to check on the people in the Hospital. Bye." That said, I leave the area once again. Who says the most important clues are close to the bodies anyway? Checking on Takayuki might give me new evidence. And everything is better than staying with Akemi. A part of me wishes he is Kyoto's killer but somehow I doubt that is the case. What a shame. Kyoto could still be here with Akemi dead instead and the world would be better off.

* * *

Seeing Mirabilis still working on the graves, now working on Naoko's, I decided to go up to her for a quick conversation. It is good to check everybody to see whether or not they have a new piece of evidence. And I will do anything to find who did this to Kyoto.

"Hello, Mirabilis, do you have anything to add to the investigation?" I question. Seeing me, Mirabilis stops digging Naoko's whole and looks up to me. She smiles.

"Nope, but I'm sure you guys got it covered! I shall be cheering for you all as a magical girl!" Mirabilis bows before returning back to what she was doing before. Seeing her hard work makes me smile yet my eyes lay on Kazuhiko's grave. There is still a deep hole inside of my heart.

"You truly are." My smile grows bigger. Mirabilis begins to blush but quickly returns back to normal. Her eyes, however, have a certain sadness in them that does not strike me as odd considering somebody she was close to just died as well. I could only imagine the pain of digging Kazuhiko or Kyoto's graves by myself. "Are you sure you want to do it alone?"

"I'm fine! It's part of my duty to do this! I shouldn't have been slacking off in the first place!" Mirabilis's tears are watery, but I know I am getting nowhere with her. It is best to figure out who caused Mirabilis to feel this way so I can help her feel better. Revenge is sometimes the best medicine, even if Mirabilis would never admit to something like that.

"Okay, if you say so," I say before heading off to finish my original objective. It would be helpful for there to be poison again for more of Mirabilis's assistance, but the killer must have learned from the last case. Poison is not the ideal weapon with this group of people. They must have remembered the hard time we were having in the first case and decided something more along those lines.

* * *

Now back in the Hospital, I see that Takayuki is alright but is resting on the cot. Kira and Yasu are both in the same situation. The only one with their eyes open is Kira. It might be helpful to ask for her opinion considering she did try to kill someone before.

"Nishiki-san, I can report that Anno-kun will feel better before the trial starts. I requested him to take a nap to regain all of his strength so he followed through. May I ask, however, why you are back here? Do you need my assistance on something?" Miyuki wonders. I then notice for the first time that Namita is also in the room but she was surprisingly quiet. Those two seem to spend a lot of time with each other.

"Oh, Ayano, I'm helping Miyuki! That's why I'm here!" Namita explains herself. She too must have just noticed me.

"Kira, may I ask you something?"

"Whatever," Kira responds. She is definitely a more broken girl now that I am spending more time with her. If her eyes were not covered in bandages, I would guess that they would look dead. "Just don't call me short, okay?"

"Hm, fine," I smile. Kira still has a sense of humor. A different one but one nevertheless. She is still in there but it will take her a long time to come out like I was after the ending of Kazuhiko's trial. "What do you think about this whole case?"

"Honestly, I've no idea. I'm pretty useless." I seem to have put Kira in a bad mood. That is not good, and she has no leads to Kyoto's killer. Oh, wait!

"What did Mitsuru do while she was here?" I continue on with my questioning. Mitsuru is still nowhere to be found. I hope that she is in a situation like Minato, but one cannot be too careful in this game.

"I told her I was hungry so she must have gone to get me something." That is a little something. There is a beep going around the room so it might be important information. Only if there was some other way to get more information. Maybe I should examine the crime scenes yet again to make sure I or any of the others have missed anything. Monokuma might give us the answers but we cannot depend on that demonic teddy bear. His answers only create more questions. And you're powerless to do anything. Kyoto deserves better than that. Honestly, Akita, Shinichi, Cassius, Naoko...and Kazuhiko deserve better than that.

"Um, why hasn't she come back yet?" Namita asks.

"I've no idea," Kira replies. There is definitely something fishy going on.

"I will go look for her. Namita and Ayano, you should return your focus to the investigation." Miyuki has her sword out immediately. I remember her having some sort of connection to Mitsuru but that is still a mystery to me.

"No, you're not going by yourself." Namita stares Miyuki intently in her eyes. The smaller of the two gives in, allowing Namita to come join her. But they do have a more dangerous task ahead than what I am trying to do.

"And I'll look over the Hospital~" Monokuma pops out of nowhere. "C'mon, I won't do anything. The killer isn't stupid enough to attack when they have already killed the maximum amount of people. Except if they are that idiot bartender guy."

"I'll be taking my leave." Not wanting to see Monokuma again, I hurry out of that room before Namita and Miyuki. Being anywhere near that bear makes my blood boil.

* * *

I make my way back to the old building. Although Naoko's body is certainly the more gruesome of the two, I will happily spend more time with it. Maybe the incident with Monokuma putting Kazuhiko's dead body makes me scared of him doing the same to Kyoto's.

In the room again, I see that Satoshi, Hayato, and Minato are the ones examining this room. They pay me no mind when I walk up to Naoko's body. I take a deep breath and start looking around. Takayuki might have done so before, but, since Naoko was someone close to him, and not to mention an almost naked girl that he most certainly had a crush on (Do you really think you can hide that from me?), he might not have looked in the more indecent areas. I remember him doing the same to Akita. Being a girl close to Takayuki seems like a death sentence.

"..." Making sure none of the boys or Minato are watching, I examine the areas of Naoko's body hidden underneath her underneath. The whole experience makes even someone like me want to vomit. I am lucky that Naoko's corpse is still fairly early in the decay cycle. "I'm sorry Naoko."

There is something that strikes me as odd, however. Naoko's clothes can be seen torn into pieces onto the floor but I do not remember seeing anything remotely like that for Kyoto. I must return back there once I feel ready for it and find out the truth about all of this.

I am disappointed to figure out that there is nothing. My legs feel so shaky that I fall. All that time and effort was wasted on something that did not even matter. This might be a good time to be somewhere that is not consumed with an overwhelming oppressive atmosphere.

* * *

Not wanting to be in the same room as where I accidentally caused Takayuki to trigger his action, I instead opt to go into the room right next to it. It is exactly the same but yet completely different. My gut has a strange feeling about this room.

Then I see something in the corner of the room, badly hidden by a blanket that was lazily thrown on top of it. The killer, however, might not have expected anybody to come into this room, but shouldn't one of the people checking the rooms notice this clearly suspicious pile? The pile that has handbooks. This must be where the missing ones have gone and why we were tricked into thinking everybody was in this building. They still work by the virtue that I see them all glow up and then beep at once, most likely because of my discovery.

"I have to tell the others!"

I then feel something press against my back. It feels cold. Then there is a deep pain erupting in my shoulder as I notice blood begin to spill out of it. Worse of all, though, I see that my action has been triggered...And then there is black.

* * *

 **Dun dun dun. Chapter three in general should be the chapter called 'The Fans Go Crazy.' Because, oh boy, I'm already imagining the reviews.**

 **Sorry this took forever. Personal reasons. Guess who is ill? ME. Puhuhuhu. I'm way too stubborn to get something like illness to stop me from writing. And the same old family issues, but I got family issues all my life y'all.**

 **And, yes, the next DiOS chapter is almost done as well. Writer's block again. DiOS, in general, will probably update less than FoD since this is the main project, but, once I finish chapter three and begin the first big edit of this story, DiOS will update a lot more (yes, FoD will still update while I edit the previous chapters, just not as often).**

 **Reviews~**

 **mayurie-I'm a sadist. And here's more of it! Please stop raising the death flags, there are only oh so many characters left. I need to make more Extras of Despair chapters. But oh my God, one thing I will say is that other than being gagged, the killer just chopped out Naoko's tongue. Let all these children rest in peace. R.I.P our precious Hufflepuff child.**

 **ObieSenpai-Thanks! :D I love Kyoto so much but poor boy was too much of a cinnamon roll to last. Don't be a cinnamon roll, bad things happen. Well, Hideyoshi has because Hideyoshi is what we say is a creep. The killer goes to extremes for their OTP to become canon. Thanks so much. ^.^**

 **AnonChan1-Kira cannot share because Monokuma is a dick. Even in the Neo World Program, Monokuma will be a dick. Mitsuru is still missing. Poor Takara throughout this story, poor any character. I am a bitch. ;) I like pulling on your heart strings. Ayano just goes through so much shit. Feed me with your TEARS. Akemi is more complex than Ayano takes him for. Monokuma now gives the students the files! This whole island could be described as a torture cell. FUCK FEED ME WITH YOUR TEARS!**

 **(Guys, I think I'm gonna break AnonChan1 again)**

 **ShadedLyht-Yes, feed me with your despair! Congrats! I will give you a hint, at least one of these is getting close to the truth. Now here's more suffering!**

 **TheRoseShadow21-INDEED IT WAS**

 **Scissor-Snipper-I kill all your best bois. Thanks. ^.^ Takayuki and Minato are both in bad conditions but, hey, they're not dead. Yes, that's totally the truth behind this case.**

 **LostOne'sWeeping-Oh hey, Rachelle.**

 **SanityRequiem-Oh hey, me.**

 **mayurie-Yes, there's two of them. Run for the hills! RUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN! RUN FOR BUNNY ISLAND!**

 **cassiusfan-Guys, I think I broke cassiusfan again. I feed on your SUFFERINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!**

 **BIBOTOT-Yes, all the evil laughter! Especially since you're behind and I can openly evilly laugh about the events of this chapter! Puhuhuhu. Fall into despair like cassiusfan. Am I the only one who finds centipedes kinda cute? Then again, I'm the person who finds spiders cute, and then people look at me weird. Yasu wants to go to bunny island, kid. Akita knows more than she lets on in her narration, like Ayano did.**

 **coolanonreviewer-Oh dear lord, chapter one. Guys, don't tell this anon what happens to Akita. She's perfectly fine. Perfectly fine. Oh my God, it is attack of the anons again. You have a good question guest reviewer. I honestly have no idea.**


	36. Investigation 3-2

**Investigation 3-2: Answers Bring More Questions**

* * *

 _Wake up, sillyhead. I can't believe you almost got us killed again...again...again._

Will you please shut up? I would like my beauty sleep.

 _You already know the answer to that. Now get your ass up._

That is certainly annoying. Hideyoshi does bring up a bring, however, I do get injuries a lot. If I was an idiot without medical knowledge, there would be no doubt that I would be dead. It surprises me that none of my wounds are affected either. Kaneshiro must really not another of his precious little 'friends' dead.

"Anno-kun, you should sleep more! You're not fully recovered from your wounds!" Half expecting Miyuki, I see that it is, however, Monokuma that hovers above me. Knowing that he can change his voice might be useful but not right now. He truly is a bastard.

"Shut up, Monokuma." It is annoying enough to have that traitor Hideyoshi in my head, I really do not need this bear ruining my beauty sleep. The more I get, the sharper my brain will be. Then I can find the fucker that killed Naoko and rip his throat out. I might get executed but then again people say I have a problem with being impulsive. Bullshit, they just don't take action and wait until everything's fucked up.

"Ah, Yuki, that would be no fun-" Hearing Akita and Naoko's voices mixed together feels like a stab in the gut. Hideyoshi is happy about that.

"Stop messing with Takayuki, Monokuma." Kira has enough with Monokuma's bullshit. She may be an idiot but she's a smart idiot.

"If you say so! Just thought I would tell you about your action now having a deadly amount of poison!" Monokuma then disappears in a voice I do not recognize but somehow it feels nostalgic. I am waiting for Hideyoshi to brag like a child that he knows and that I should be able to answer it due to my talent. That's bullshit. I may be the Ultimate Private Investigator, but I'm still human, no matter what Kotori said. Fuck Kotori.

I doubt that the poison in this action will actually kill me. Kaneshiro likes messing with people like that. I am not like Shinichi, I am a lot bigger than that poor bastard. Then again I'm a monster so comparing myself to anybody here other than Kaneshiro and the other victims of Kotori is something that should not be done. This body of mine is cursed but it is my body.

 _You know as well as I do that's bullshit._

Akita...she did not take being in this situation well. She must not have known about the experiments done on her. Kotori must have wanted to screw with me more to make me the only one with memories. I know that the other victim is here and still alive, but I cannot figure out who it is. Goddammit, I'm so useless!

This is no time for self-pity. Hideyoshi and Kaneshiro will not allow me to rest, so I have to stop being useless and find out who killed Naoko!...Naoko...and Kyoto is there too. But Naoko.

 _Every person you love ends up dead._

Shut up.

I make my way out of the cot. It feels great since, like the bed, the cot feels like a rock. Kaneshiro is rich, he can do better than this. Junko Enoshima herself would think that his treatment of us souls is cruel. And fuck Junko Enoshima. Kaneshiro and his crew of despair wannabes can suck it.

"Making our way through! We have a damsel in distress here!" Satoshi exclaims. Hayato and Minato come from behind him, with the both of them carrying the unconscious form of Ayano. She too has her action triggered. Damn, I thought I was the only one stupid enough to do that. Though I can tell that she was also attacked but in a way that is strangely nonfatal. Maybe the killer remembered the body limit but still wanted a victim so made it so that the action could potentially kill her.

Ayano Nishiki...what secrets do you have? I highly suspect she's actually a Nishiki due to the utter lack of family resemblance (and, of course, I don't believe the bullshit that she looks like her great-aunt or something). She knows more than she lets on. After all, I highly doubt she learned about Kotori's secret project by living with her, so it must have been done some other way. What secrets are you hiding Ayano? And do you know anything about that craziness surrounding Kazuhiko? Who am I kidding? Of course, she knows, she's lived it. Just who the Hell is this Kindra-

"I am sorry, I shall make my way through!" Miyuki then comes bursting in through the door with Namita. The amount of time those two spend with each other makes me know that something is up. "I shall apply the procedure. Anno-kun, may I request that you go look over Kawabata-chan?"

I nod my head in response. Normally, I would help, but it is kinda hard to do anything with no hands. Hideyoshi has made some rather...interesting comments about the lack of a right one. It is his fault they're gone. Sure, part of the reason might be to get rid of the bracelets, but there's no way I'm letting a serial killer forced into my head kill people using my own hands. The Committee would normally just give me new ones but now I have to exist without them.

Making my way out of the room, I see that fool Mirabilis is working on the graves. Why is she doing that right now? Couldn't she wait until after the investigation? This would make her a prime suspect if she wasn't such an idiot.

"Takayuki Anno..." She notices me but does not make a move. I am surprised she doesn't try to do that purification shit once again. There could be a chance she could change her mind so I make my way out of there.

Naoko...I will find your killer. I found Akita's. And this time I will allow Monokuma to allow us to solve this mystery. Even if it kills me. Kill me again and again, Monokuma, but I'll never give into this damn game or despair!

* * *

Looking over Naoko's body once again, I notice that I'm the only person in this room. I have to be real careful or otherwise, I'm screwed like Ayano. She better survive since I have too many questions to ask her.

Hideyoshi...This is like his memo except there are no staples in this school. I'm eternally grateful for that. The strange thing, though, is that Hideyoshi only kills women that are in the late teens, early adult age range. None of the victims add up to that. Naoko is too young, while Kyoto is male. This is a copycat killer if I ever saw one. Just who here knows about Hideyoshi and would actually be willing to do this? A real monster.

Naoko...Akita...Father, you were not right about me, all I am truly good at is failing others.

"Oh hey, somebody's here." Akemi and Hotaru enter through the door. Both of them are dirty as if they were looking for clues in the dirt. Hotaru better not be an idiot again and swim in that damn pool for evidence. We do not know what's in there. All we know, because we're not dumbasses, is that it's nothing good. Mitsu-cho better learn that lesson too because I won't let the love of Akita's life go off killing herself. I owe that to Mitsu-cho...

I owe her everything for what she did during that fateful March third. How did Ayano figure out about that date too?

"Hello, idiots."

"He speaks," Akemi chimes in. He might be a brat but he is one of the smarter people here, even though he doesn't flaunt it. That's smart, though, since intelligence paints a target on your back. Just look at the events that have already transpired.

 _That means you're screwed._

I would be a lot less screwed if you actually gave me answers for once, Hideyoshi. What caused you to be a damn monster?

I never expect an answer. Solving a mystery is never that easy. Except if you're dealing with an idiot. If Satoshi killed somebody, it would only take me seconds to find out the truth. Whoever did this is much smarter. And they clearly know what they're doing.

"Aw, save us, Ultimate Detective, save all of us damsels in distress!" Hotaru cries out. She has not changed that much. I remember that she faked being dead when we first meet her, but only Akita was dumb enough to fall for that trick.

"He's the Ultimate Private Investigator, Hotaru."

"Same thing." She puffs out her cheeks and crosses her arms much like a child. But then a grin appears on her face, so I am sure that she is purposefully hamming it up for Akemi. That boy has a habit of taking things way too seriously.

"..." I sigh. I would normally be able to take care of myself perfectly fine in these types of situations (after all, my job is dangerous, especially since people on the streets are asses to people who join the Committee), but I'm kinda lacking my hands right now. Living through this will make me more like Akita with her strangely robotic hands.

Then again, people call me a heartless bastard for helping the Committee. They don't care that I accept cases from everyone who has enough money (I have to get money somehow). Being in one of the most powerful teams in the Committee does not help matters much. We are all people who somehow succumbed to the promises of the Committee here since that's the only damn way to get into Hope's Peak. Even rebels such as Shinichi bow down to the powerful force of the Irvings. Standing up to this regime is as foolish as submitting to them.

"Bye." I know I need to examine Kyoto's body to find the fucker that is responsible for all of this. Not seeing his body for myself would cause me to be at too much of a disadvantage.

* * *

At the edge of the forest, I see that Takara is waiting to guide anybody willing to look at this crime scene through the dense forest. His talent is finally useful. Only if he could find some more evidence, but the evidence seems to never be treasure. Damn these specific talents.

I would never say it aloud but there is a great dread inside me, which Hideyoshi loves to be a brat over. Takara and I are the only ones from our group left alive. There's no doubt that the mastermind is targeting us. And targeting us is actually a pretty damn good idea for the culprits. It's no coincidence that the ones able to freely talk have been the victims three times in a role. If I could open my mouth, there is a good chance I'll be dead. So that's annoying.

"Any leads?" Takara mouths to me. I shake my head. Personally, I find having a lead this early in a case would just bind your vision, so only noobies who have no idea what they're doing do that.

It actually feels good to have Takara close to me. Out of all the people alive, besides Mitsu-cho since I'm cursed to work with her (and there was not a single day that Akita would not stop gushing about her), Takara is the one that is...least annoying.

 _Just admit your friends already, dumbass. You didn't admit that about Shinichi and look what happened to that traitor._

Takara smiles at me. It sucks that everybody, mostly Namita, keeps stealing his notebook, he actually has some good ideas. While the two of us would hang out with Kyoto, Shinichi, and Naoko, we would usually let him have it. Kyoto would sometimes steal it to fully diagram our plan of action. He also consumed way too much caffeine when he was alive. I love my coffee, but it was insanity! Even when I have to pull two all-nighters in a roll I don't consume that much!

Since Takara is not much for conversation, I decide to pull out my handbook. It is hard with no hands for reasons even a toddler would be able to understand. Luckily I have been practicing. Balancing it behind the two stumps of my hands, I use my face to get the correct tabs open. I look fucking ridiculous but it must be done. This costume is not helping matters.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #17-Kira's Account**

 **During the time of the attacks, Kira Iwata and Mitsuru Banda were alone in the Hospital. Mitsuru Banda went to go get Kira Iwata food but has not been seen since.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #18-Hidden Stash of Handbooks**

 **In one of the rooms in the old building, there is a pile of poorly hidden handbooks. It consisted of ones for Mitsuru Banda, Hayato Akimoto, Minato Ueda, Satoshi Nakajima, Kyoto Kamui, Takayuki Anno, and Yasu Matsuhita.**

 **Monokuma gave all of them spare handbooks before the investigation started, as to not 'mess' with evidence.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #19-New Attack Victim**

 **Ayano Nishiki was attacked by an unknown party. She was stabbed in the shoulder and had her action forcefully activated. Whoever did so did not intend to become the killer themselves.**

 **Because of fast assistance, Ayano Nishiki was able to survive the attack.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #20-The Weapons**

 **Miyuki Kobyashi reports that there are no weapons missing from the time she checked on them before.**

 **The weapons are all over the place, most likely caused by the earthquake.**

* * *

New handbook? I don't remember that. Monokuma must still have been his usual bastard self and gave us new ones while we were out. Goddamn bear. Even when he is not screwing with us, he's screwing with us.

 _Bastard? You're one to talk._

Seeing that I am inside myself, Takara gently places his hand on my shoulder. Both of us stare at each other but Takara moves his hand away. That was totally not a gay moment.

 _I ship it._

Shut up.

"We're almost there," he continues to mouth to me.

"Hold it!" Monokuma then appears in front of us. Goddammit, I really don't want to see his face again. Monokuma is the one who caused all of this. He was stupid enough to get somebody he liked killed too. He can never be Junko Enoshima. The mastermind is clearly trying awfully to emulate one of Junko's many personalities.

"..." We both do not give him the reaction he wants. We're both smart enough to not give into Monokuma. I'm not stupid enough to kill for Monokuma's motives. It is like wishing for something from a genie, just because you know you'll get your wish, there's no guarantee that it won't be twisted in some way.

"I can't believe we have to switch the point of view _again_. At least this one ain't dead. Yuki-chan, you're...something of a hairstyle is the closest to an ahoge around here. Get out of that ridiculous outfit, we need people to take this trial seriously." But did you not give me this outfit for a trial? I could question Monokuma's logic all day, but I'll get nowhere with a despair like him.

"..."

"Will you two say something!?"

"..." I point to the action that is placed around my neck. Monokuma really is an idiot. Sure, Takara can talk, but he...actually, I have no idea why he won't talk. I'm not the type of person to butt into somebody's business when it has nothing to do with a case. That's called being an asshole.

"Fine!" Monokuma throws my old clothes. Sure, they smell and look like shit, but it is better than whatever this thing is. I may not believe in an afterlife, but, if there was, Akita would be laughing her ass off looking at me right now. He jumps into the bush head first and gets stuck. After waving his legs a little, he disappears. Why is he doing a comedy routine during a time like this?

Takara waits for me while I undress and put on my old clothes. God, they feel like shit. But they always feel like shit. It is good to have my coat back. It surprises me that Monokuma didn't burn my clothes or something useless like that. To make me feel despair or some crap.

* * *

We make our way through the forest where I spot the remains of an obvious trap. Whoever fell for this is a special type of moron. Kyoto is smarter than that, so why is he dead? Goddammit.

Takara waves to me and starts going his way back. I find a part of me is hoping that he does not get attacked for being in the forest all by himself. That isn't like me, isn't it?

Being careful, I make my way down the hole. There is only one person down there, Tsukiko Oda. I cannot understand how she, Miyuki, and Namita can handle all of these crazies the way they do. And I remember Mei not shutting up about the band she manages, First Light. It was so goddamn annoying.

"Takayuki? How is everyone else?" Tsukiko is like a stereotypical mom, always caring for everybody in the group, especially those younger and smaller. Seeing all of this death must be hard on her. Well, no shit, it is hard for everyone. Even the mastermind. That's how he gets hard after all.

I cannot answer her so I just make my way over. There is no need for any awkward conversation that I can easily avoid.

Kyoto's body may look like Naoko's on the surface. It is clear that the slow death was an accident and it was supposed to not be like this. There is no pain on his face while Naoko was slowly tortured to death that she would rather fall into the depths of insanity than cling to hope. There's something not right here. Where are Kyoto's clothes anyway? And why is there a mix of blood? Finding the culprit would be so much easier if we could do the proper procedure.

 _Of course, whoever did this doesn't know what they're doing. Stop trying to copy me try-hards._

There is one thing that is bothering me, however: Where is Mitsu-cho? Akita would kill me for not making her beloved my first priority. Naoko is my first priority. Damn Hideyoshi for not giving me the information I need.

"Takayuki!" Satoshi grabs onto my wrist but cannot get a good grip. He rather grabs onto my sleeve which works much better. Seeing Satoshi this serious actually gives me mood whiplash. I cock my hand to the side as Satoshi guides me to the exit.

I mouth "where are you taking me" but Satoshi does not know how to lip read. Satoshi must have found something so I decide not to put up a fight. This might be the break that we were looking for in this case. There's always that single piece of seemingly unimportant evidence that screws the culprit over. Oops, I forgot about that, or some stupid shit like that. So many times I have found that to be the case.

* * *

Satoshi drags me to the upper level of the library. This is definitely not related to the case. Why was I such an idiot to trust _Satoshi_ to help with things? He is literally the butt monkey of this universe.

"Leaving."

"Wait, Takayuki! Look!" Like a little child wanting to be noticed, Satoshi starts waving his arms around. He sighs as he walks toward one of the bookcases. Then, to my surprise, it opens up to reveal a door behind it. Damn, Satoshi was actually useful for something.

"Oh."

"My precious Yuki told me where to find this!" Satoshi exclaims. I don't even have to use my talent to know that's bullshit. I stare at him, making him clearly uncomfortable. "I concede! I found it!"

It confuses me, however, that Satoshi decided to show me and right now. Monokuma might figure out we found this. Wait, Satoshi is the one that found it first, Monokuma clearly knows about us having this knowledge. The only reason I can think of for that wannabe psycho to not kill or punish us for this is that he wants us to discover it. This is not like the door in the secret passageway.

The both of us walk into this room. It is like a room that a creep would have. The aura is something that reminds me of Hideyoshi, now we just need clown motifs and dead bodies everywhere.

 _Excuse me, I'm not like that. I may be a clown, but I'm not a child._

Yeah, Hideyoshi, I remember you as a child, you were way smarter then. Why the Hell did you betray us? Forget it, I'm dwelling on memories that don't matter again. My father would be disappointed with all three of us.

I take one of the books on the bookcase and flip to one of the pages. There is a strange liquid on it that I don't want to even think about. I've seen enough crime scenes to know what this is.

 _Dear Diary...or whatever the fuck you call this nowadays,_

 _...Gosh, why does Kaneshiro wants us to keep diaries all the sudden? He was like...here, diary and you better write in it! What a pain in the ass. Why do Despairs like us need these kinds of things? Isn't this what hope-filled idiots are supposed to do? I'm a ringleader for God's sake, I just want to have fun, call the shots and all of that bullshit! This is boring!_

 _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! This is so fucking boring! Kill me already! Stab me twenty-one times and beat me senseless with a baseball bat! God, who would be stupid enough to do that? Maybe that fucking idiot Yanagi or whatever. What was his first name again? Kazu...Kazu...Kazuhiko! Yep, Kazuhiko Yanagi! He has done it before. Wait, didn't his last name change or something because of our second lord Kotori? Whatever._

 _I mean, don't do that but please do. Lady Junko says that the greatest despair is one's death but it has to be rewarded. Like starting a Killing Game or some stupid shit like that. But only Kaneshiro has the power to even think about doing that. Kaneshiro...how much I fucking hate Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro._

 _HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE **HATE** **HATE**_

 _...Hate...No, that's not right. How can my stupid brain even think about hating our lord and savior? The one that will show the world salvation through the Dangan Ronpa project! No, hate isn't the right word. It is love! Love makes the whole world go round! All hail our lord and savior, Kaneshiro Kazuma!_

 _LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE **LOVE** **LOVE**_

This is definitely Akita but why is she a despair? This must be related to Personality Experiment #045. Of course, Hideyoshi would know, but, no, he must act like a child and not tell me anything, even though both of our lives are on the line. We might be the same person now but I will not accept that.

The basis of Personality Experiment #045 is abuse. Kotori's real purpose was to give the subjects Dissociative Identity Disorder through less than savory means. She would then manipulate their alters into giving her the results she wants to impress her bosses. Kaneshiro happily helped with his brainwashing techniques. One of the things she wanted to do was give teenagers this disorder to spite the psychologists of the olden times that were too busy arguing whether or not this disorder exist to see that the world was ending. They had what you would call priorities. Who cares about the world when I have my research? Fuck those guys.

For the psychologists that were decent human beings, it was hard to get research due to the rarity of the disorder. Children are more likely to develop DID, but teenagers and adults can develop it on rare occasions. Of course, fewer people believe them than the small number of people who believe the children. Society sucks.

Moral of the story, Kotori Hiraoka deserved to die.

 _If you think that one more time, I swear to God, I will make you witness March third in your dreams again._

"Does this help the case?" Satoshi asks. His eyes are sparkling like a little child. I shake my head. "Dammit!"

A thought then pops up in my head. Each shelf seems to be a different person so...

 _Don't read my diary, asshole._

Then you shouldn't have written one.

Taking the first one out of its place, Satoshi watches me in anticipation. I flick the page to find...

Nothing.

I flip all of the pages to see that there is nothing.

I take another book to find there was nothing. Then another, and another...now this is what I would truly call a waste of time. There is no time to look through all of them and this has nothing to do with the case. Naoko would not like to hear that I had failed her due to focusing on empty diaries.

 _See, I told you not to read them. You really should listen to me more. Without me, you're just another useless nobody-_

"Leaving," I say again. Satoshi attempts to get me again but I make it out of his grasp just in time. This would be a good time to check the Hospital to see how most of the other students are doing. Well, we're in horrible conditions, but let's see whether or not they're less horrible.

* * *

It is less chaotic in the Hospital than we left it. Namita and Miyuki are looking over to three injured, sharing the same cot. Am I the only one who finds this behavior extremely suspicious?

Anyway, I see that the three people bed-ridden are all asleep. Kira must have fallen asleep after I left. I would hate that feeling of being confined to a bed, unable to do anything but stare at a boring ceiling that may or may not fall and kill us.

"Anno-kun, why are you back so early?" Miyuki asks.

"Well, the time limit must be nearly over. Monokuma seems to be giving us extra time due to...um...you know." Namita does raise a good point. This case required a lot more walking back and forth than the rest of them. It is really annoying. I much prefer it when this amount of walking is not needed.

I tilt my head towards the direction of Ayano. Asking her how the Hell she knows all these things would be really useful. And she, like me, has personal involvement in this case. I have Naoko, she has Kyoto. The killer really chose the wrong person to mess with. After all, Kotori turned both of us into freaks of nature.

"Oh, um, Monokuma said she wouldn't be waking up until the trial is over. Said something about having some other health reason why she can't wake up. Doing tests and stuff."

"...That sucks." There goes my plan. Ayano could be helpful during trials, so it would suck to have another person that is not entirely insane be taken out of commission. Whoever this knows what they're doing sometimes but fails helplessly during others. Sounds like a smart first-time killer.

"Anno-kun, Nakahashi-chan, we should go to the old building before the trial starts," Miyuki suggests. The three of us then make our way out of there. Miyuki is clearly disappointed about leaving the injured behind, but she must want to add something to the investigation.

 _You know as well as I do that something is going to go horribly wrong._

Hideyoshi...please...just shut your trap.

* * *

The three of us make it out of the building to see that Mirabilis is still working on her little art project. Doesn't she realize that she's wasting precious time by working on something that doesn't really matter in this place? Monokuma will probably tear them all down to make us all feel despair.

"Hey, Mirabilis, do you want to come with the three of us?"

"I'm almost done with my duties..." Mirabilis is not paying attention to us. She truly is an idiot but with that wand, she is dangerous. I do not want to know the side effects of getting hit with that thing in my current condition. Having a concussion in this game is the last thing I want.

"Well, um, Satoshi is still inside that building. I guess you two can take care of yourselves."

* * *

Now in the room where Yasu and Satoshi were shot, and most of the others drugged, I find that there is nothing but the entrance to the trial grounds and a new, fresh coat of red paint.

"Oh, hello, kids, do you wanna go to the trial room early?" Monokuma questions us. He comes from behind us, but only Namita is scared. She starts hugging onto Miyuki for comfort.

"Monokuma, why would you let us do that? There must be a motive for you." Miyuki is being forward. I would not want to be the poor bastard she is addressing whenever she does this. Her red eyes remind me of edgy anime characters that have them shine whenever shit is about to go down.

"Why? I have no interior motive? Wait, why was that a question? Oh well, I just don't question Requiem at this point. She makes so many damn mistakes, she better start working on that rewrite-"

"Huh, what are you talking about?"

"Nothing, nothing, only the readers will understand. Now voila!" Monokuma tries to snap his paws (something he does way too many times and is getting on my nerves at this point) and the door opens. Only an idiot would not get a bad feeling about this.

Looking at each other, the three of us take a gulp. This can only be something really, really horrible. The mastermind really loves screwing with us. And this childish attitude of his makes me sick to my stomach.

 _You got nothing else to do. Follow Monokuma. Right now._

Hideyoshi, a piece of shit that he is, has a point. Miyuki is the first one to go, while Namita is in the middle. I take the end as Monokuma closes the door behind us. It is too late to turn back from our horrible decisions.

* * *

In the trial room, the first thing I notice is the trial grounds. The strangest thing is that there are three new podiums in the middle. I know what that means, for I'm no idiot. One of them has blood dripping onto it from the ceiling...Well, it's getting on everything actually, but I am trying to be poetic here.

* * *

On the ceiling, I see different parts of a woman in the chains. Every one of her limbs is wrapped around in a different chain. Her arms, legs, torso, and head are all clearly separated from each other. There is a clear hole in the middle of her torso as well. Like...Naoko...I could see that her eyes are wide open and full of despair. She, however, has no gag over her mouth. And, of course, she was stripped down to her underwear. There is no doubt that whoever killed her enjoyed driving her to the darkest depths of her mind...whoever did this truly was a monster.

Sorry, Akita, I've failed you once again. Mitsu-cho is dead.

* * *

 **Dun dun dun. Surprise, surprise, we get Takayuki Anno narration! And so many answers but more questions. Because I love screwing with you guys.**

 **Thank you so much, dashunterman, for sending in Mitsu-cho. ;) Okay, Mitsuru Banda. It was a blast writing with her, but all good things must come to an end.**

 **None of the deaths in this fanfic are pretty. No instant death for all of your precious children.**

 **Oh yeah, this updated fast. Like seriously I'm just on a writing spree right now! Here's a lot of new content for the Committee Saga! :D**

 **Reviews~**

 **mayurie-The killer is still overkill. Takayuki is gonna destroy them too. Stop killing the love interests dammit! Poor Ayano cannot have her revenge. No good things can happen to her. Well, I've got a good idea of who the killer is. ;) Thanks. That's my job, to make all of you suffer. I'm way too stubborn to let anything bring me down.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Don't worry, I forget everything too. Thanks. Well, Mitsu-cho ended up dying. Goddammit, Mitsu-cho. They do all deserve better. Typos are part of the charm of the first draft. Thank you. :D**

 **AnonChan1-Triple murder. Everything went wrong. Takayuki was just in normal cuffs. And he's purposefully not giving the audience Naoko's chest size since he's a...gentleman? Akemi: The Ultimate Ass. Well, here's more Takayuki! Inside his brain! I love me some Gravity Falls. Minato is glad they didn't end up like Mitsu-cho. Everything is foreshadowing? Foreshadowing. Ya, foreshadowing. ;) Nobody is doing well. Mitsu-cho, I don't remember food being in the trial room. Well, we found her. HHHHMMMMMMMMMMMM. I AM. Dammit, Mitsu-cho, you got yourself killed! Oh, you will one day. One day.**

 **mayurie-No thank you to everything in this story.**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Yes, I am, how did you know? This is bad for my heart too. Thanks for pointing that out, I will fix that in the rewrite (because why edit when you can write more stuff you have to edit later?).**

 **BIBOTOT-Oh, still not caught up. ;) I await your reaction to...well, everything. Akita certainly is...something. I love my insane daughters. Don't tell Mirabilis that, she'll probably purify you (and now I'm gonna ship this crack ship). Oh, Kyoto will be useful later...considering he's dead. Dammit, Kyoto, why?! Oh, don't worry, only three people are dead. Satoshi has his moments. He may be an idiot but he's a badass idiot.**

 **SanityRequiem-Oh, look, me. Also I have an AO3 account now so this story will be put up on there once I finish editing it. Since, you know, AO3 is like the Fanfiction that's taken more seriously.**

 **LostOne'sWeeping-We're just summoning Rachelle everywhere in this chapter. Yes, they'll react in a very calm and collected way this chapter since nothing bad happens. Yes, you're my apprentice, Rachelle. I shall teach you all of my evil ways.**


	37. Trial 3-1

**Trial 3-1: My Love, Strangle Them Lightly With Ropes From the Heavens**

* * *

"A body has been discovered in the trial grounds. Too bad it is past investigation time. Get your asses here right this instant! There will be updates Truth Bullets!" Monokuma announces over the speakers. It must be a prerecorded message. Damn that bear, he planned on us on not finding Mitsu-cho. Just how the fuck did the killer get her inside her and also get her body up there? Fucked up as it is, I believe the mastermind is involved...again.

Wanting to know more about who killed Mitsu-cho, I commit the long process of getting my handbook out. Then I realize that there is still time to look over the place before everybody arrives. I never thought I would say this, but thank God for Minato's uncanny ability to get lost.

There is no way to check the body itself, but I remember that Monokuma loves updating his poor excuse of evidence during the trial. If I, or somebody else, somehow found their way up there, there is a chance that there is an important piece of evidence. For now, we have to deal with only having a couple minutes at most to investigate the crime scene.

 _Hurry up, you slowpoke, you ain't got all day._

This is not like Hideyoshi, but this is no time to think about that. Mitsu-cho could be what people would kindly refer to as a bitch, but there's still that lingering pain in my heart. But this is a normal human reaction, I have known her for years. It would be...weird to wake up one day and not fear that an upset sukeban will try to kill you...again. Don't ask.

The first thing I notice is the torn remains of Mitsu-cho's uniform on the ground. It strikes me as odd that there is only one big hole in the middle of her torso shaped like some sort of bullet, the exact opposite of Naoko's. This killer...something doesn't add up here.

First, Mitsu-cho is definitely somebody that Hideyoshi would kill, but I know he has tried multiple times before the whole Personality Experiment #045 due to them being in rival gangs. It's fucking stupid to join a gang, much more to start one like Mitsu-cho. Hideyoshi dies sometime before the experiment, but I cannot for the life in me find out how. The Committee is clearly hiding something. So how did he create that video for Akita? That video...shut up, mind, don't think about that.

It is clear that Mitsu-cho was cut up post-mortem. Her blood must be dried up by now, but, now that I look up somewhere that isn't her body, it seems like the culprit wanted to make an art experiment and put buckets of red paint up there tinted in such an angle that they would slowly dip out. All I can think is how weird all of this is. These murders seem to have everything but nothing to do with each other.

Seeing that Namita and Miyuki are using their brain cells, I take out my handbook once more to see the new updates and to have an overview of the case at hand...

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #1-Monokuma Files 3, 4, 5**

 _ **The victim is Naoko Kawabata.** **The body was discovered in the old building.** **The estimated time of death is 2:45 AM.** **Naoko's cause of death is suffocation.** **Before death, Naoko was tortured to the brink of despair. She has twenty-one stab wounds all over her arms, legs, and other parts of her body. Her neck is almost completely destroyed due to having an extreme amount of force applied to it a multitude of times.**_

 _ **The victim is Kyoto Kamui.** **The body was discovered in the forest.** **The estimated time of death is 8:34 AM.** **Kyoto's cause of death was internal bleeding due to a gunshot wound.** **He was shot in the stomach. Due to the killer not doing it correctly, this caused Kyoto's death to be more drawn out than most stomach gunshot wound victims.**_

 _ **The victim is Mitsuru Banda. The body was discovered in the trial grounds. Mitsuru's cause of death is internal bleeding. First, she was shot in the stomach, but, due to the killer not doing it correctly, she was left alive. Her actual cause of death is beheading. All of the other body parts were removed post-mortem.**_

 **Truth Bullet #2-Bullet Casings**

 _ **In the forest, there are bullets that are hidden in the bushes that were discovered by Ayano Nishiki, Tsukiko Oda, and Takara Miyagi.**_

 **Truth Bullet #3-Torture Room**

 _ **Naoko Kawabata and another potential victim, Takayuki Anno, were both found in a room that was turned into one for torture. Takayuki was handcuffed to one of the branches near the wall while Naoko was forced onto the table.**_

 **Truth Bullet #4-Forest Trap**

 _ **Inside the forest, there is a trap. Ayano Nishiki fell into it while she was investigating.**_ _ **The trap was hidden underneath leaves. It is one of the caves on this island. The cave acts as a hole that is about eight feet tall. Escaping alone is near impossible but it can be done with more than one person or some rope.**_

 **Truth Bullet #5-Mixed Blood**

 _ **Blood was found on the grounds of the cave. It is a mix of dry and wet blood. Some of the blood belongs to Kyoto, while the rest of it belongs to his killer.**_

 **Truth Bullet #6-Bloody Hair Tie**

 _ **There is Naoko's hair tie in an area that otherwise has no blood. It is strangely far away from the body.**_

 **Truth Bullet #7-Despair**

 _ **Somehow Naoko Kawabata fell into despair while she was dying. Kyoto Kamui, however, did not.**_

 **Truth Bullet #8-Earthquake Positions**

 _ **There were earthquakes that transpired in the middle of the night.**_ _ **Ayano Nishiki, Rosalina Folium, Tsukiko Oda, Namita Nakahashi, Miyuki Kobyashi, Hotaru Amemori, Akemi Nakatani, Mitsuru Banda, Kira Iwata, and Takara Miyagi were inside the main building.**_ _ **Seven people consisting of Takayuki Anno, Minato Ueda, Naoko Kawabata, Kyoto Kamui, Hayato Akimoto, Satoshi Nakajima, and Yasu Matsuhita were somewhere else in the forest.**_ _ **Mitsuru stayed behind with Kira Iwata while the others in the main building left to go to the old building, which was caused by Hayato Akimoto.**_ _ **During this time, Naoko Kawabata and Takayuki Anno were both unconscious in the torture room. Yasu Matsuhita and Satoshi went to a private room to chat. Kyoto Kamui and Minato Ueda were the only ones in the forest at that moment.**_

 **Truth Bullet #9-The Injured**

 _ **Naoko Kawabata and Takayuki Anno were both knocked unconscious following a private discussion of theirs. Takayuki Anno was given more of the drug to make the effects last longer.** **Hayato Akimoto was stabbed by somebody before trying to find other people for help.** **Satoshi Nakajima and Yasu Matsuhita were attacked by the same person. One of them was shot while the other stabbed.**_

 **Truth Bullet #10-Gunshots**

 _ **During the night, three gunshots were heard.**_

 **Truth Bullet #11-Hideyoshi Yamazaki**

 _ **Takayuki Anno notes that the murders follow the memo of serial killer, Hideyoshi Yamazaki (except for now debatably Mitsuru Banda).**_ _ **The memo is simple. Strip a person down to their underwear and give them an ironic, brutal death. Most serial killers do not have a pattern, so this stands out.**_

 **Truth Bullet #12-Personality Experiment #045**

 _ **Wklv lv wkh nhb wr wklv pbvwhub.**_

 **Truth Bullet #13-Takayuki's Account**

 _ **Takayuki Anno and Naoko Kawabata decided to meet together alone to discuss a mystery they were unraveling. Naoko Kawabata had learned more details due to the help of Kyoto Kamui, who wanted to tell Ayano Nishiki the next day.** **However, Takayuki Anno arrives early and has somebody drug him from behind using a massive amount of drugs. The next thing he knew is that he was handcuffed although he has no hands, and Naoko Kawabata was dead in front of him.**_

 **Truth Bullet #14-The Second Trap**

 _ **Minato Ueda was found in the forest in a second trap. It is some sort of badly made net. Because of its poor quality, it snaps, letting Minato free.**_

 **Truth Bullet #15-Missing Handbook**

 _ ** **Whoever set up the trap Minato was trapped in took their handbook. It fell out of their pocket and the culprit took it off the ground. This does not go against school regulations.****_

 ** **Truth Bullet #16-Satoshi's Account****

 ** _ **Satoshi Nakajima and Yasu Matsuhita were also having a conversation near the graves when the gunshots went off. They went by themselves to find out who was responsible.**_**

 **Truth Bullet #17-Kira's Account**

 _ **During the time of the attacks, Kira Iwata and Mitsuru Banda were alone in the Hospital. Mitsuru Banda went to go get Kira Iwata food but has not been seen since.**_

 **Truth Bullet #18-Hidden Stash of Handbooks**

 _ **In one of the rooms in the old building, there is a pile of poorly hidden handbooks. It consisted of ones for Mitsuru Banda, Hayato Akimoto, Minato Ueda, Satoshi Nakajima, Kyoto Kamui, Takayuki Anno, and Yasu Matsuhita.**_ _ **Monokuma gave all of them spare handbooks before the investigation started, as to not 'mess' with evidence.**_

 **Truth Bullet #19-New Attack Victim**

 _ **Ayano Nishiki was attacked by an unknown party. She was stabbed in the shoulder and had her action forcefully activated. Whoever did so did not intend to become the killer themselves.**_ _ **Because of fast assistance, Ayano Nishiki was able to survive the attack.**_

 **Truth Bullet #20-The Weapons**

 _ **Miyuki Kobyashi reports that there are no weapons missing from the time she checked on them before.**_ _ **The weapons are all over the place, most likely caused by the earthquake.**_

 **Truth Bullet #21-State of Mitsuru's Body**

 ** _After being beheaded, somebody removed all of Mitsuru Banda's main body parts. They were all found in the trial grounds in the chains. Her head, torso, arms, and legs all have different chains dedicated to them._**

 **Truth Bullet #22-Mitsuru's Uniform**

 _ **Different from the other two victims, Mitsuru Banda's uniform has been found and has only sustained one massive change: a massive hole in the center.**_

 **Truth Bullet #23-Buckets of Paint**

 _ **On the chains with Mitsuru Banda's body parts, there are buckets of pain. They are set so they will slowly drip and create the illusion of fresh blood. This is clear because Mitsuru Banda's blood dried up when her classmates found her, but the paint was still dripping.**_

* * *

"Alright, I'm ready for the case!" Namita exclaims. She tries to light up the atmosphere of the room, but let's just say that Miyuki and I aren't exactly known to be the most...happy of people.

 _No shit, Sherlock._

"Excuse us, princesses, are we interrupting anything?" Akemi asks. I see the duo of him and Hotaru are the first ones to arrive in the courtroom. They look up at Mitsu-cho's body and look sick.

"Um, I don't want to be a party pooper, but are we gonna to do a trial with...you know?" Hotaru questions. Miyuki and I nod our heads, which causes Hotaru to sigh. I do not blame the little psycho in training for once, for I did not want to see Mitsu-cho like that. Seeing her body like that makes me feel so angry. First Naoko, then Kyoto, and finally Mitsuru! What the fuck.

The second group of people to come in is Tsukiko, Takara, and Hayato. Sometime during the investigation, Hayato must have ventured into the forest. I don't trust a salesman like him as far as I can throw him. Akimoto isn't exactly the cleanest name in my area of expertise.

"This is overboard for a motive like this," Hayato comments. He is by far the least stricken of the three. Takara, on the other hand, is resisting his urge to vomit. He may be a calming presence, but Takara is what I would nicely call...sheltered.

"U-um, am I l-late?" Minato is next. It is surprising to see them actually on time for something. There are only two late birds left, Satoshi and Mirabilis. Although I do notice that Minato threw up in the corner and Tsukiko is the one helping them. She really is like the mom most of us never had. Sure, most of our moms are probably alive, but they're likely shit.

I couldn't say anything about Shinichi's mother because of this damn action but also my promise to the Saviors of Humanity. Those naive fuckers gotta be grateful that I owe Hanako a flavor or they'll all be dead by now. Also Nicole but she's long dead by now.

Shinichi's piece of shit mother is what would be politely be called a drunk whore. And his little brother, Hisan...I don't want to know what has happened to that toddler...

Because, if what Monokuma said about showing the Despair Video to the Saviors is true...shit, fuck! Now I definitely don't want to know what happened to Hisan.

 _But aren't ya a little bit-_

"Alright, your savior is here!" Mirabilis announces. She jumps up and down the stairs as well as she could with Satoshi following her. Once she reaches the bottom, the magical girl wannabe goes into a corner like Minato and begins to throw up. Tsukiko helps her as well.

"...What?" Satoshi quietly mumbles right next to me.

"Now, trial positions children! Yuki-chan, you were promoted to the protagonist, so just go to your podium. It will be less lonely." Monokuma appears again in a king costume and sits in his chair like a spoiled child. I guess they've been acting that way since the very beginning.

* * *

In the air, it feels weird to be standing on one of these podiums and not have Monokuma treat me like a slave. Namita is the only person on my side as Ayano is still in the Hospital. Thank God I get to be surrounded by semi-normal people.

 **Class Trial: All Rise!**

"Welcome to the trial of Naoko Kawabata, Kyoto Kamui, and Mitsuru Banda. You kids know the drill by now, start the trial! Puhuhuhu!"

"But-"

"For the last time, wannabe magical girl! YES! The killer has to be executed, not you, get over it!"

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence: Battle Arena Preparation**

"The first topic at hand should be the _number of killers_ there are," Tsukiko notes. "Look at the rules, a person is only allowed to kill up to two people. Also, if there are two killers, only the first one gets punished."

"Um, what if one of them was an _accident_?" Satoshi asks.

"I don't think somebody would _brutalize a body like this after an accident_ , idiot," Akemi rebuts, being rude as usual. I'm not one to talk but still.

"But are there _two or three_ killers? Is there any way to figure out this early?" Tsukiko is trying her hardest to keep the conversation to track. She might still feel a little guilt at pointing her finger at Namita last time. It's not a thing to really fuse about but she's way too caring for her own good.

"...Um, we have to discuss _something else first_." Namita looks to me and I nod my head. This is too early to discuss something like this.

"That seems like a good plan, Nakahashi-san. Do you have any ideas?" Hayato asks. A drip of paint falls onto his head and he does not react. The pain does the same thing to Mirabilis, causing her to jump.

"Time to break the argument again!" Satoshi takes a deep breath. " _Naoko isn't dead_."

"No, that's wrong!" Miyuki points out. She may not want to admit it, but a part of her must feel relieved whenever she does something like that to Satoshi. And I already know she feels like shit purely based on the horrible face she is making. "The evidence is the third Monokuma File, which officially declares her as deceased!"

 **Non-Stop Debate Stop: Time to Plan Out Avenues of Discussion!**

"Hmmm...we need a place to begin this discussion. We haven't dealt with three deaths before," Namita notes. She is putting her hair up and down in a ponytail, which is honestly pretty distracting. I wish I had one of those to manage how wild my hair has gone through this messed up game.

"Um, how about...the motive?" Minato asks. They actually have a good idea. How can such an innocence motive turn out murders such as these? Even more, things don't add up here. We're definitely not gonna let the culprit get away with this bullshit.

"How dare they mess up something that's part of my creed!? Selfishness! They deserve to be forgiven, but it would be harder than usual-"

"Forgiven? Mirabilis, how nuts are you?" Akemi scolds her like a child. He crosses his arm as he leans towards her way. Mirabilis takes out her wand of doom in advance. I'm really, really grateful I'm not right next to her. The mastermind finally did something right.

"Nakatani-san, it is not right to chastise others for their beliefs. Accept everyone for who they are." Hayato is being strangely outspoken about his beliefs. I am keeping my eye on him. There is something bothering me about how he ran to the others for help.

"Ah, so you're one of those people. You are a salesman after all." Hotaru is acting strangely as well but that's a compliment. Her strange is strangely normal.

"Get back on track!" Takara tries to send his words out but nobody pays attention. The both of us make eye contact and I smile. I slam my stub of a hand, then do my best to point to Takara's words.

"If you do not mind, I have a possible course of discussion we can all take." Miyuki looks at every single one of us and there are no objections.

"Time for the debate once again~" It seems Monokuma only did this to torture us some more. Son of a bitch. There are so little people here, but we're all still acting like children and getting sidetracked.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"May I propose that we discuss _the murder weapon_?" Miyuki inquires. "The weapon has always been an important part of solving these cases, but something strikes me as odd, _none of the weapons from the cafeteria were missing._ "

"Clearly, _the gunshots we heard_ killed Kyoto and Mitsuru, with Yasu being wounded!" Namita shouts. There is something wrong with her statement though. Would it really be possible for Mitsuru to be killed in that time area? I would debunk it but, once again, I'm useless.

"No, that's wrong!" Takara comes in for the save. Maybe I'm rubbing off some of my detective skills on the kid. He was smart before but not really the detective type, but, to notice something like that, he must've really grown.

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

I see that Takara is quickly typing out his answer as the others watch him in anticipation. Namita seems a little bummed out that she was wrong, yet is quickly distracted as the paint almost hits her. Even now she seems to care somewhat about how she looks...in a forest of people that look like absolute dog shit.

"Mitsuru was in the Hospital with Kira. Nobody else could have been there with her."

"That makes sense, so is it safe to assume that Naoko was the one who died first?" Tsukiko asks.

Still, it makes no sense. The only gunshot that matches with the evidence is the one which crippled Yasu. Kyoto wasn't killed until much later, and Naoko had no evidence of gun wounds. Mitsuru was in the other building, and Kira's testimony implies she was currently alive at the time. So what were the other two gunshots?

"Although it is somewhat clear Naoko died first, we should not assume the gunshots heard caused the murder," Hayato says. For once, I agree with the salesman. May his soul find its proper place in Hell.

"But is there anything around Naoko that could be the weapon? And how did the killer get ahold of handcuffs, jackasses-"

"I'm already sick of the number of bad words this trial, Akemi!"

"Hmmm...this is getting interesting!" Hotaru comments as a whole lot of paint fall directly onto her head. She closes her mouth and eyes seconds before the paint can enter them and give her a real hard time. Almost a bad of a time Hotaru gives us.

"I'm so confused." Satoshi is a lost cause. His eyes dart back and forth, trying to keep track of the conversations around him. The clogs in his tiny, little brain are trying to piece everything together. "...Please take me back to something dealing with alcohol..."

"No, no more alcohol! Only bad things happen when there's alcohol!" Mirabilis tries to get Satoshi, but she cannot reach him. Takara must be praying not to piss her off, while Hotaru does not care.

Taking full advantage of this chaos, I mouth Takara something. Monokuma is an idiot and doesn't notice me. He nods his head in agreement. I see that Tsukiko, Namita, and Miyuki are doing their regular business, but the loss of Kyoto and Naoko...and Mitsu-cho somewhat since she would certainly make things interesting...could be felt in the room. Their stuttering words of truth will be missed. I rather take that other than whatever is happening now. But, then again, they didn't have a dead body right on top of them.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"Earthquake positions," Takara types as quick as he can.

"Oh, the earthquake! I was traveling for some of them, but then I got stuck in a trap," Minato says. It is information we already know, but at least it is related to the topic at hand. Sometimes you just don't know with these idiots. They could find a way to discuss pancakes in these if they really wanted to.

"We already know all of these," Akemi sighs. "We're wasting our time."

"Akemi, we don't know where everybody was," Namita corrects. " _Hayato's position is still unaccounted for_."

"Are you trying to accuse me of murder this early in the trial? I was also _summoned by Kamui-san_ , sorry for the lack of understanding." Hayato is still calm and is not changing from his original personality. Somehow that makes him more suspicious.

"Monokuma is trying to distract us with his bullets again!" Mirabilis, although she is a naive child, has a point. It is never the obvious answer, isn't it? Goddammit, I really wanted to send a damn salesman to his death.

 _Well, if that ain't dark._

Shut up.

"Nope, these are all honest-"

"Like the last trial was a fair trial," Akemi interrupts. Monokuma scoffs at Akemi's grin. It is like Akemi is asking for himself to get killed by Monokuma one day.

"Alright, we need to be seriously back on topic. There must be something else off about the positions," Tsukiko says. Looking over the bullets again, I find an inconsistency in them.

"Oh! Weren't Satoshi and Yasu both _by the graves_? And it says in their positions that they're _in the old building_. Sure, they traveled there, but...once again...these bullets don't give the full story." If there was a wall nearby me, I would've punched it. Monokuma is having way too much fun messing with how we view information. How am I supposed to do my job with basically false evidence? That demonic bear would never admit it, yet that is what these jokes of bullets are.

"Yea! That's right!" Even Satoshi is getting the hint. "But everybody is still _accounted for_ , right?"

"I will humbly object to that statement, Nakajima-san," Hayato disagrees. It's rare to see him participate in this trial so much. Maybe the fact that there are only nine people in this debate room (excluding the dead body) is getting to him.

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"If we cannot trust Monokuma again, then nobody has a true alibi but people that were truly together," Hayato notes. Doesn't he know that saying this makes him incredibly suspicious?

"Um...wouldn't that mean...something?" I should really just ignore Satoshi. Period.

"That would mean that they only people that can be trusted are the people that were in the main building during the earthquake," Miyuki says. "Akimoto-san, are you implying what you think you are implying?" Miyuki stares at Hayato, which causes him to nod his head.

"So that would leave Takayuki, Hayato, and Satoshi? Hmmm, already lowering down our list of suspects, huh? Are you sure that's wise?" Hotaru acts like a cat playing with a mouse before she eats it.

"Yeah, doesn't this seem like this line of reasoning is what the killer wants?" Akemi and Hotaru are becoming a team not be messed with. And I guess Satoshi is their third wheel.

"No, it's what Monokuma wants! He's the killer!" Mirabilis might seem to be pulling at straws, but then she was actually useful the last trial. She was also the one who probably came up with the accomplice theory first...and that pisses me off. Why is she either the smartest or dumbest person in the world?

"I will want to discuss, Monokuma. Can you kindly start the next Non-Stop Debate?"

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"Now, I will point out one thing. Who has gun experience in this room? The culprit may have had fired incorrectly, but they would still need _basic knowledge of guns_ to shot the thing in the first place and hit the target."

"Um, but the only person I could think of is _Miyuki, and she has an alibi_ ," Namita adds. It does stand to reason that Miyuki would have that knowledge, but the only other person I can think of is...dammit. That's me. If anybody says me, I'll strangle them with these stubs. They think I can shot a gun? Then I would be able to strangle them with my imaginary fingers.

"Wouldn't _a policeman like Takayuki have experience_?" Satoshi asks. There's so much wrong with the sentence.

"Sorry, but doesn't Takayuki have no hands?" Minato is even surprised by Satoshi's stupidity. How did somebody like Satoshi find that secret room before anybody else?

"But what if somebody was taught by Anno-san to handle a gun properly?" Hayato brings up a very stupid point. Does he think that I would really pull a Satoshi and trust somebody in here with that information? No. Just no.

"That would be stupid," I comment. I roll my eyes at Hayato, but he does not react to them. Sure, I would much rather flip him off, but people seem to forget about my lack of limbs! Except for Minato. Minato is now part of the group of people I can actually stand.

"Or maybe somebody hijacked Takayuki's mind and then erased his memories afterward! Dun dun dun-"

"Mirabilis, please stop talking about your stupid _Ultimate Brainwasher theory_." Akemi already looks done with this trial. To be honest, the only reason I'm seriously paying attention is to have some sweet revenge of whoever killed these people.

"But how did the killer get a gun? Shouldn't they be all _in the cafeteria_?" Hotaru brings up. She, however, gets easily debunked by the next person who talks...

"There would be a time frame that the killer could have gotten the weapon," Miyuki points out. "It would be before I took inventory. There were people in the cafeteria the whole time, but, if a person was sneaky enough, they could have gotten past their guards. That means anybody could have taken it. Sorry for not taking inventory sooner, I was too busy caring for Iwata-san."

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"The people in the cafeteria at the time were...Akemi, Hotaru, Ayano, Yasu, Mitsuru, and Satoshi. Did anybody else come or go?"

"I didn't, I was too lost." Minato frowned. Akita would not like to see them this sad. Then again, she wouldn't want to see her beloved in literal pieces of the ceiling either. It's a strange kind of mercy that Akita didn't live long enough for this. Instead of experiencing the full force of the cruelty of this game, she was taken from us from her own impulsive actions. Only if I helped her...Forget it, she would've refused.

"Oh, Miyuki and I didn't go until we went with Ayano for inventory," Namita remarks. That leaves the three of them have no time to get the weapon for Kyoto or Mitsu-cho's murders.

"Yep, other than that, everybody else went sometime," Hotaru says. "Well, except Hayato but that's not important."

"It would be important if the killer picked up the weapon while everybody was too focused on Monokuma. Nobody has an alibi." Hayato is just digging more and more into his own grave.

"Literally that means only Minato of all people has an alibi." Akemi is right. Other than the injured, since the rules say that the Blackened cannot miss a trial, Minato is the only one off the hook. Damn. That means only eight people now can be suspects.

"But seriously who has gun training? If somebody truly had no experience, they would've done something like blown their hand off. Also, they would have to be small enough to leave the bullet casings behind." All of us stare at Satoshi. Did he say something...actually smart?

"As a master of a great many types of weapon arts, I can clarify that this would happen. Somebody would have to know what they are doing."

 **Free For All: Gun Edition!**

"The killer would have to be far enough to allow Mitsu-cho and Kamui-san to not be allowed to protect themselves," Miyuki theorizes. "And the gun would have to be powerful enough to be able to deliver fatal wounds. Though the killer's blood was found where Kamui-san was killed, I highly doubt it was because Kamui-san injured the culprit."

"Did the killer injure themselves to look like they were attacked?" Mirabilis questions. A drop of the paint falls onto Mirabilis's dress, so she tries to wipe it off. Then she tries to reach the bucket with her wand for...some reason.

"Ah, that would make sense. Why suspect them if they're injured? And there are people here that fit that bill." Hotaru switches her attention between Hayato, Minato, Satoshi, and I.

"I would like to theorize that the killer injured themselves as well," Akemi states. "They're probably one of those bastard Despairs after all, looking at the state they left Naoko and Mitsuru." A True Despair? That makes sense. It would be all too easy to sneak their way into the academy considering Kaneshiro and Hideyoshi of all people were considered Ultimates, and they're worship objects in that cult-like gang.

The True Despairs: a cult and gang put into one. It's a horrible thing. Like the person who thought that consuming tide pods was a good idea.

 **Free For All: End!**

"So, if I'm hearing you correctly, you're putting it out there that the suspects currently are Hayato, Minato, Takayuki, and Satoshi?" Takara types. It is also good to see that Takara is having more of a presence in these. Sure, it paints a target, but it's good to have at least one person making sense in here.

"And Minato couldn't get the weapon so that erases them from the picture," Tsukiko adds-on. "So the names of Hayato, Takayuki, and Satoshi come up again. We should go through the murders one by one to see who could've really done it."

"Yeah, and that would make us get us less off track." Namita smiles. The three moms of the group clearly have something planned again.

"Since it is clear that Naoko-chan was killed first, we should discuss the others to not allow Monokuma to stop this trial beforehand," Miyuki says. It is the first time I hear Miyuki refer to Naoko like that. "Monokuma only wants us to solve one case, but he does not want us to die."

"First will be the murder of Kyoto Kamui, the Ultimate Strategist, and the second body found!"

 _Let's see how you'll react to this._

* * *

 **Oh my God, this story has 50 likes and 60 follows. When did this happen!? Thank you guys so much. I seriously never thought this story would get this popular and we're almost to 18,000 views as well. :O**

 **Also, I can't stop listening to Ready As I'll Ever Be from the Tangled TV series. Oh my God, Jeremy Jordan's voice is goals.**

 **Reviews~**

 **AnonChan1-Nothing good happens in this story. :P Takayuki is like...yeah. Ayano is like I'm not gonna end up like Akita. Father is Takayuki's Father. Hotaru did play dead. Takayuki is rude tho. Nothing good happens to these Takas. Takayuki knows he's hilarious. Its better than Leia cosplay. Kyoto, Kyoto. THE MOM SQUAD! Yasu is ok. Don't worry, Takayuki is staying. Always listen to your bad feelings during these stories, they're right. Indeed, a triple murder! I will make you break, don't worry. I did it to mayurie.  
**

 **mayurie-See, broken. YYYYYYYYEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Yep, three of them. Lovely. I don't follow dem rules. Takayuki is here to stay. Everything will only make sense at the end. Here's a somewhat speedy update. Thanks. ^.^**

 **Scissor-Snipper-They certainly do. ;) It is canon that she is one. Hideyoshi thinks its pretty cozy in a head. Takayuki certainly still has a teenager side to him even though he'll never admit it. Poor Mitsuru. Mitsuru and Naoko did not die in fun ways. Best bois and waifus get targeted. They were all Hufflepuff, even Mitsuru, so they had to die. I think all the cast is like that too (even Hotaru is like...this is interesting but not in a good way). They're like...what the Hell? It is irony that the most selfish motive has the most selfless murder (Kazuhiko and/or Kira based on your interpretation) while the most selfless motive has the more selfish murder.**

 **dashunterman-Sorry, dude (is that alright to say? I'm from Cali, we call everybody dude here! E.V.E.R.Y.B.O.D.Y.). Thanks. RIP Mitsu-cho.**


	38. Trial 3-2

**Trial 3-2: The Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions**

* * *

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"Kamui-san's scene has _the most evidence_ even though it might not seem like it at first," Miyuki notes. "It was set with a trap and had a mix of Kamui-san's blood and the killer's on the ground. His clothes are completely gone and some bullets were hidden in a bush not too far away."

"Oh! Also, I was trapped! There were _multiple of them_ ," Minato adds-on. After this trial, we have to be careful, as there might be traps that are not yet triggered in the forest. I, for one, do not look forward to being stuck in one of them.

"Huh, but why did Kyoto get killed?" Namita does have a point. There's no motive to target Kyoto over somebody else. Kyoto might have been smart, but he wasn't threatening. Especially because he would get on my nerves once a girl was involved. At all. That wasn't Naoko. But especially if it was Ayano.

"...What if it was _random_?" Satoshi asks. Although it may seem that way at a glance, there's clearly something else going on here. I make eye contact with Takara and begin mouthing him my theory as secretly as possible. Monokuma is truly an idiot for not noticing us.

"Wrong!"

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"No, that doesn't make sense. Look at the earthquake positions. Why would Kyoto be out there in the first place?" I smile at Takara. Good to know that somebody has brain cells in this courtroom.

"Uuuuummmmmmm...That's a good question," Minato responds.

"It could be that he heard the gunshots like Yasu and Satoshi and went to investigate." Although Akemi's word does make a little bit of sense, for people that knew Kyoto, like Takara and I, it was clearly not the right answer. Kyoto would not want to go to the source of a bullet sound all alone. He was not stupid and had an ouch of survival instincts.

"Akemi, you know nothing about Kyoto. He wouldn't do that. There would have to be a reason." It shocks me that Hotaru is the one that speaks out. Hotaru literally didn't spend any personal time with him. How could she possibly know something like that? Is she better at reading people than I thought?

"Wow, Hotaru, you're good at reading people-"

"Nope! Anyway, let's talk about something else. Like...hhmmmm...why Kyoto went?" Now, this is rare. Hotaru is actually taking charge of the situation and acting responsibly. Who are you and what did you do to Hotaru?

"Kaneshiro Kazuma...that was one of the things Kyoto told Ayano before he died," Tsukiko tells us. She looks over to Takara, who nods his head.

"Kaneshiro Kazuma!?" Mirabilis looks surprised to hear that name. As a matter of fact, I probably do as well, since I do not have what you would call the healthiest relationship with Kaneshiro. Satoshi, Akemi, and Hotaru also stop in their tracks. All the others, Tsukiko, Takara, Miyuki, Namita, Hayato, and Minato, try to analyze us.

"How the fuck did he know who Kaneshiro is?" Akemi questions, noticeably agitated.

"That son of a bitch," I murmur underneath my breath. Just as I thought, that brainwashing creep was involved in this game. No wonder the mastermind knew the date March third. Kaneshiro is Hideyoshi's side bitch.

 _Don't address him like that._

"...No..." Hotaru's face becomes sterner and fitting of her outward appearance.

"If you do not mind my asking, who is this Kaneshiro Kazuma? I have heard his name from Mitsu-cho and other clients of mine before." Miyuki, only if you knew more.

"Yea, Akita mentioned him a couple times," Minato adds-on.

Akita...Akita. Why the fuck did you mention him to Minato? I get that they're your best friend whose totally crushing on you, but, not only is that classified information, Minato is too naive to truly delve into the world that we dogs of the Committee live in. Hell, why is Kaneshiro part of this game?! You know what, all of the crazies from the Committee are involved! Hideyoshi: check, Kaneshiro: check, Kotori: might be dead but still check, Kirigiri: check. See, all the crazies! How did any of these people get jobs, let alone function in society? All you need is some of our parents and we're all in this together!

Seriously, fuck my mother. Fuck Naoko's father. Fuck Shinichi's mother. Fuck a lot of piece of shit parents. Apparently living through the end of the world doesn't make you any less of an asshole. But, especially, fuck Monokuma.

"We're talking about the mystery-"

I can't stand Monokuma anymore! Can't talk about this, can't talk about that. I'm so fucking sick of Monokuma's bullshit. I wish the mastermind would reveal themselves so I could punch that son of a bitch in the face over and over again.

"Monokuma, can you shut the fuck up? This is part of the mystery!" I shout out. For the second time this day, I hear my action around my neck go off. Poison gets injected into my neck as I scream out in pain. This is definitely a bigger dose than before. "Dammit."

"Well, look at that, Takayuki's good as dead! The day's going perfectly great!" Monokuma lashes out. Right now he's acting exactly like a spoiled child that's used to getting everything he wants. What a load of horse shit.

"I'm not gonna die like this!" There is already pain flowing through my body but mostly because of the remaining after effects of having needles shoved into my neck forcefully. I try to yank the necklace off, forgetting for a moment that my hands are gone.

 _You're a real idiot, you know?_

"Come down, Takayuki!" Mirabilis exclaims. Her words fall on deaf ears.

"Don't care about me! Finish this trial so I can go to the Hospital! Quickly!" I command. But, considering how I can actually speak, things will go quicker than they did before. It feels wonderful, to tell the truth. Sure, there's a chance of death, but the freedom is too good of a taste to truly think about the consequences. I'm glad I'm not like Shinichi, small and with a child's body.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"Kyoto must have gone to the forest _because he was summoned there_. But why would he go there, and, more importantly, alone?" Takara asks.

"Naoko said that she wanted to talk to me about something that Kyoto and she found out. And that they would say the same thing to Ayano later," I reply. I was such an idiot. Only if I wasn't taken out, there would be a chance that Naoko would be alive! Dammit, I truly am useless.

"The killer must have been somebody else in that forest. After all, one of the gunshots must've been when Kyoto was shot." Tsukiko has a point. If that is true, though, it would only be Minato and Hayato. Minato is out of the picture so...dammit, I knew that salesman couldn't be trusted.

"Aw, so Hayato~ I thought solving your kill would be more interesting. And we figured it out in, like, thirty minutes."

"Hm? You seem it is so certain that it was me-"

" _It was you_ ," I interrupt him. He stares at me but there is no sense of defeat in his eyes. Instead, it seems like they are sparkling like everything is going to plan. That damn salesman is insane.

"Guys, we need to calm down. It could be that _Hayato was framed_."

"No, I give up. _I killed Kyoto Kamui_ ," Hayato says.

"Wait...what?!" Everybody, instead Hayato, shouts at once. We all cannot believe what we are hearing. Hayato Akimoto just admitted that he killed Kyoto Kamui. What in the world is going on?

"This certainly is not what I thought would happen," Hotaru comments, just as confused as the rest of the students here. Hayato looks at Satoshi, who sighs. Guess we are getting an explanation.

" _Mitsuru is alive._ " Now that is just mean Satoshi, with her body literally above us. Most of my classmates are used to her. The only one who cares anymore is Namita, who is trying her hardest not to be hit with the paint.

"That statement is factually wrong!" Hayato exclaims. Of course, he has to do everything in an overly formal matter.

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"There is no reason to hide it, I killed Kyoto Kamui." Hayato is strangely nonchalant about the fact that he literally just killed a person. He is really lucky Ayano isn't here, or she would beat the shit out of him.

"H-Hayato?" Tsukiko is shocked. Maybe because she spent so much time outside his door, or at least that is what the others have told me. Apparently, she was trying to get him into a plan of hers or something stupid like that.

"But...why?" Takara cries out, using his actual voice. Some of the other people stare at him, not knowing he could talk. There's a thing called selective mutism people. Don't ask about it because that's Takara own damn business. "Why!?"

"Oh, the drama! I now suddenly love this trial." Monokuma's dreadful laughter fills the room. Everybody is silent as Hayato composes himself. The only sound is the bear's laugh and the sound of paints dropping onto the floor. Drip, drip, drip.

"Because of the motive-"

"Dammit, you and Cassius are way too similar, you know that!?" Akemi yells at him. "Yea, I thought you wouldn't kill someone because Cassius just died, but _nooooo_ you had to be an idiot as well! I may not have liked Kyoto that much, but even I thought his death was not deserved, you bastard!"

"...I would like it if nobody else interrupted my confession." This reminds me too much of when Kira confessed. And that was damn hard to deal with already.

"Students, be good now and let this stick in the mud put his heart on his sleeve finally."

"I do not ask to be forgiven, but I ask you to hear me out-"

"I'll always forgive! No matter what you do, because everything is that bear's fault!" Mirabilis does not retreat once she feels the cold, hard stare of Monokuma on her. Although, afterward, it turns into a twisted grin.

"Mirabilis, calm, all of us want to learn Hayato's motive," Tsukiko says. Mirabilis then backs down but is now having a staring contest with Monokuma. How can a person be so forgiving? These murders are brutal yet Mirabilis is still forgiving the culprit. She would probably forgive Hideyoshi as well if she knew he is inside me. What a fool.

Hayato takes a deep breath before continuing his confession. He looks over where the execution room is, but then returns his gaze to the middle of the room. He fixes a piece of his hair before continuing.

"I...killed Kyoto Kamui. My motive is what Monokuma gave to us pure and simple but there were...complications. I never expected that somebody else would give into the motive, or mess with the scene of the crime," Hayato explains. His persona of a plain man is breaking down until somebody more human, more fragile. Fool, no Ultimate is truly a man next door. We're a bunch of weirdos who are really good at one thing.

"Messed with the crime scene?" I question. Don't tell me Kaneshiro played around with Kyoto to take us off Hayato's trail. Wait, knowing his track record, that's exactly it. "...It's Kaneshiro. He must be the mastermind of this game."

"...Alright, you might want to talk about that later though, since Hayato is trying to explain some very important plot elements! So pay attention!" Monokuma is not upset about his true name being revealed. This is weird. Even Satoshi would think this is weird.

"I wanted to be found out, so I was inspired by Ludenberg-san's murder in the first game. Injure myself and convince the others I was attacked. Though...um...Turns out not using the gun correctly dislocated my shoulder, so I just stabbed it." That must mean that even though Hayato has been taught how to use a gun, he must not have done it before. This is his first kill, at least with a gun.

"...Why? A dislocated shoulder would be enough," Miyuki asks. Akemi glares at Hayato while crossing his arms. It is clear the two of them aren't going to get along any time soon.

"It would have been too easy to hide and put back into place. My goal was to be caught easily. Then I would use my talent to convince you all to allow me to stay here and have you vote somebody else. Then somebody would finally be out of this Hellhole...Cassius would've wanted Kira out..." Hayato used their first names...What in the world truly is going on here?

"No, Cassius would've wanted all of us to stay alive! Stop feeling sorry for yourself! Oh no, my best friend got murdered. Deal with it. Other people have gone through a lot worse. Hell, Ayano watched her boyfriend and best friend die right before her very own eyes, and you don't see her killing anybody!" Akemi's emotions are way too out of control. Satoshi tries to stop him but is too late. The distressed little boy jumped to Cassius, and then Shinichi's podiums, before finally reaching Hayato and punching the shit out of him. Takara reaches him before Akemi can do serious damage.

"Wow, this is certainly something! Come on, Mirabilis, this situation needs a girl's touch!" Mirabilis and Hotaru go over to the already overpacked podium. They do their best to separate the three boys from each other. Everybody, besides Mirabilis, then return to their own podiums.

For a couple of minutes, the class is allowed time to breathe by Monokuma. Now he is being patient, what is wrong with this bear? The last trial he would not shut up about finding the killer and a lot of other shit. Perhaps it is because there's so few of us left and one of the killers have already been revealed? Or does he want us to emotionally recover, only to be broken by another revelation?

 _This is Monokuma we're talking about, the answer should be clear. Or else you're just as stupid as that Satoshi dude._

There is something wrong with Hideyoshi using a word like dude. He never uses dude. Barely anybody uses that word anymore, it is slowly dying out. People are way too formal nowadays.

"...I never set up any of those traps or anything," Hayato continued on with his confession. "This is truly a lot like Cassius's case. I wanted to kill Kyoto in a quick way, but I only caused him suffering! All the books in the library said that a bullet wound to a stomach is fatal except in rare situations!" He pounds onto his podium before crying out in pain. That was probably not the smartest decision with a dislocated shoulder.

Seeing that reminds me of my own pain. We need to hurry. I feel my muscles start to tighten, especially around my neck. The poison is going to do a number on my system if this drags on for too long.

"I wanted to get caught so I purposefully made more evidence, like leaving the bullet casings somewhere that people can easily find. That is the truth about my involvement in Kamui-san's murder...and I truly do not know who did all the rest. The only other thing I had on my person was a rope to get out of there."

"So...if I got this straight..."

* * *

 _You, Hayato Akimoto, summoned your victim, Kyoto Kamui, into the forest using some sort of plan, most likely information. While Monokuma was explaining the motive to all of us, you grabbed a loaded gun, taking advantage of the distraction Monokuma created. Your plan would officially start at night since Tsukiko was outside your door, trying to get you to join her during the day._

 _When you were sure that most of us were asleep, you went to the forest, with or without Kyoto with you. Most likely with Kyoto since he would have to know where you were taking him or he'll be lost. The way you did that was probably knocking on his door and then leading him out with promises to know more about the game at hand._

 _Now in your spot, where you must have picked before time, you lead Kyoto. Although you probably did not plan on committing murder, as a damn salesman, you feel like you have to have everything prepared before time. Kyoto could not see clearly in the darkness, but I theorize that you must spend a lot of time in the darkness, considering you're an_ Akimoto.

 _Then there was the earthquake. Your original plan was to probably place Kyoto inside the cave after he died, but Kyoto must have fell inside it. Seeing this was your opportunity, you shot Kyoto in the stomach. Considering you're a novice at gun handling, and probably do not have that good of an aim, you had to go down the cave yourself. You had rope ready just in case since you planned on going in the cave afterward anyway. That is when you shot Kyoto point blank, who probably could not protect himself since he was already injured by the fall._

 _In a state of panic, since this was your first kill and there were earthquakes happening, and being in a cave isn't the smartest place to be during one, you used to rope with you to escape without checking whether or not Kyoto had truly died. The initial shot must have knocked Kyoto out cold, but he woke up, probably because of the mastermind, and then stayed awake until his inevitable demise. Kyoto must have thought that you didn't want to be caught, but still wanted to save someone, so he did not reveal your name to Ayano, Tsukiko, or Takara. Before leaving, however, you stabbed yourself in your already injured shoulder to add more evidence._

 _You then created some evidence that would lead towards you. For example, you left some bullet casings in a bush so people would continue down the path and find Kyoto's body. If your classmates had a hard time finding the body, you would've probably lead them to it yourself, right Hayato?_

 _Then you took an idea from a previous Killing Game. You came to the others in the main building, injured, probably to lead them to the forest. Though this might have changed once you heard another gunshot. Then everybody else wanted to go to the old building, but that did not put your plan in any jeopardy._

 _After all, Hayato Akimoto, the Ultimate Salesman, wasn't your objective to create an easily solved, quick murder?_

* * *

"I am truly sorry I wasted a life on such a reckless plan, I do not ask for forgiveness-"

"Shut up! I'll forgive you!" Mirabilis then hugs Hayato. Not expecting it, Hayato yelps at first, but then relax in her arms. Thank God she didn't decide to randomly hit him with her magical stick of doom and gloom. Truly Mirabilis should hang out with Hayato and Kira more after this.

"Besides, Hayato, you're not the one whose gonna get punished. Its a fact that Kyoto didn't die first," Namita says. The girls are being so supportive. Probably because the only one that wouldn't have his back is Ayano. I don't want to be the one who breaks the news to her.

"Ow!" I shout out. This poison is getting worse. Hurry, hurry, hurry.

 _I kinda like it._

Shut up.

"Hayato, I hate to break it to you, but you gotta be the person who decides to next topic. Takayuki isn't looking too hot." Hotaru places her hand on her hip as she assesses the situation around her.

 **Free For All: Start!**

"The next thing we should discuss is whether or not Kawabata-san or Banda-san were killed by the same person or not," Hayato says, still in the embrace of Mirabilis. Though, after this, Mirabilis stops, probably realizing that this is no longer the time. She then returns to her normal podium. Now only if she realized when it was time to stop on other subjects.

"Yes, do you see how similar their murders are? And then their murderer messed with Kyoto to make it seem like they killed him as well," Namita suggests. It may not be farfetched, but I highly doubt that is the truth.

"But I highly doubt somebody would have the time to do all of that." Miyuki seems to agree with me. That's a good sign.

"You seem to forget that we were knocked out for awhile. Monokuma never told us how long, so it could've been enough time to stage everything," Hotaru points out. That is actually a good point. Whatever happened when the most of us were knocked out?

 _I know._

How do you know?

Silence. Predictable, Hideyoshi must be trying to screw with me again. This is no time to do so. If we don't get out of this situation as soon as possible, there's no telling what would happen. I really don't want to die the same way Shinichi did. The worse thing is that it would have to take hours for me considering my body type. Why did I have to get that growth spurt before the game?

"That doesn't mean anything without the proper evidence!" Akemi exclaims. He is still noticeably pissed off, but at least he's not jumping everywhere just to punch a guy like before.

 **Free For All: End!**

"I'm excited! We didn't have this last trial, but, oh boy, is this fun!

"What are you going to force us to do this time?" Tsukiko questions. Her usually stoic face has a mix of all different kinds of emotions. This trial is already putting people through the wringer and it has only basically started.

"Remember, this is when we go to a Debate Scrum? This time there will only be two topics." As the memories of the first trial begin flowing back into our minds, the scene on our handbooks changes. There's a choice to either go with Miyuki or Namita. It is obvious I chose Miyuki.

"Before that, Monokuma, I have a simple question." Hayato's voice causes everybody to pay attention to him. "We will be discussing all the cases so far, correct?"

"Yes, why you ask? You dumb or something? Wait, of course, you're dumb, you were into that Cassius blah blah blah's ass," Monokuma asks. Wait, what? Is nobody going to question this?...Okay...

"Just checking in." When Monokuma looks away, I see that Hayato is grinning. Now, what is that damn salesman planning? He's only making himself look less and less trustworthy.

 **Votes In: Debate Scrum Start**

The podiums reassemble themselves to a position where the two different sides are facing each other. To fill up space, the podiums of the dead students also are brought along. It makes me feel sick that Monokuma is still treating the dead like this. On one side, there's Namita, Hotaru, Minato, Mirabilis, and Akemi. The other has Miyuki, myself, Takara, Hayato, Satoshi, and Tsukiko.

"Well, the murders are both set up in a similar way, so, by that logic, that means they must have to be done by the same person!" Namita starts off her team. I could tell that there's emotional intensity between Namita and Miyuki.

"There are things different about them, such as murder weapons. Somebody could have created the scene to look like the other so we would think it was done by the same person."

"But the wounds are similar, and the killer could have used different weapons to throw us off," Hotaru counterclaims Miyuki.

"At the same time, a different killer could've stumbled onto another body and fashioned their kill off of that. There's also the fact that one fits Hideyoshi Yamazaki's killing method and the other does not." I sigh. Knowing Hideyoshi, he's probably gonna be a smartass about this.

 _Aw, it's nice to know that you care._

Who knew? I was right. What a shocker.

"How are you so certain Hideyoshi is a part of this!?" Minato questions with their voice shaking slightly. They must be thinking back to the first trial and Akita. Don't blame them.

"He's apart of the Truth Bullets, and, even though we cannot always trust them, that means he's certainly part of the case!"

"Takara, even if he's part of the case, two different people might've copied his style! It's as simple as that!" Mirabilis is sterner than she usually is. It is creating whiplash to see somebody like her act this way.

"Then, let me ask you this, is it possible that somebody messed with their crime scenes as well? If they had the time and willpower to...mess with mine, then wouldn't that mean they could have done it for the others?"

"And where's the evidence for that? There's for sure nothing you can find?" Akemi asks Hayato.

"The thing that proves that the murders were done by two different people is..." Satoshi says. "...The alibis!" Poor Tsukiko is not given the chance to voice any of her opinions about the matter.

"This is our answers!" I, along with Miyuki, Takara, Hayato, Satoshi, and Tsukiko, exclaim.

 **Scrum Debate End!**

"Huh, the alibis? How does that prove anything?" Namita asks. She really should listen to her other two friends more often.

"Well, um, think about it, how could the same person have the same time?..." Satoshi looks around, being awkward as he can be. "Most people, um, were put to, um, sleep by Monokuma. Takayuki, um, cannot do any of the murder setups if he tried, so that, um, puts him out of the equation."

"So you're suggesting that Mitsuru was killed when most of us were asleep?" Tsukiko questions. "...And you're also...also implying that Naoko was already dead when we entered the old building, right?"

"Huh? What are you thinking, Tsukiko?" Hotaru asks, clearly intrigued.

"Look at Naoko's time of death, it would be about the time that we entered the old building. And, even with that duct tape over her mouth, I highly doubt that would silence everything. It is quiet in this forest and easier to hear. There would be muffled screams and banging due to her attempts to escape." Tsukiko makes a good point. Only if I woke up sooner...then I could've not been so useless.

"Who was awake when all of you were asleep?" Minato inquires. "I mean, there was me, but I was kinda stuck in a net."

"Um, wasn't everybody in that room...let's see, myself, Tsukiko, Miyuki, Hayato, Akemi, Ayano, Mirabilis, Hotaru, and Takara. Takayuki was knocked out by Naoko's killer, while Yasu and Satoshi were out cold due to being attacked," Namita states.

"Dammit! Mitsuru has an alibi for Naoko's death, and Naoko was already dead for Mitsuru's! Don't tell me Kira could've done it because she can't even get out of bed!" Akemi really needs to have better control of his emotions.

 _Yeah, if he did, he would be less of a base-breaking character._

A what? You know what, I'm not gonna question it. It's probably some stupid reference or something.

"It was Monokuma who killed Mitsuru!" Mirabilis shouts out. Monokuma, tired of hearing Mirabilis say this, rolls his eyes. He is suddenly uninterested with the current events of the trial.

"Monokuma, why are you so..." Pain. Pain. Pain. Okay, Takayuki, breath, you can do this. What are you saying? You're a failure, you can't do this. Goddammit, this isn't the time of self-hatred. "...Uninterested?"

"All I got was a punch in the face when that stick in the mud revealed he killed Kyoto. Come on, I need more drama! More angst! Do I have to do some reveal shit...because I'll have to reveal some shit. I'm gonna reveal all your secrets!...Well, if you killed someone. Or if I just feel like it."

"You piece of-"

"Shut up, Satoshi, whatever your nickname is. Nobody cares about you. At least, alive. Only if Ayano was here. Puhuhuhu. Things would be interesting, but, nnnnoooo, somebody had to attack her! Goddammit, students, I thought I taught you better than this!"

"Um, Satoshi? What's happening to you? You're...different..." Namita starts to play with her hair ties, but one of them falls off, causing her to stop. It falls onto the ground below.

"Different? What's different?" As I predicted, Satoshi is horrible at lying. He isn't even backed into some kind of corner.

"Nakajima-kun, can I ask you a question that was plaguing me from the start of this game? How is it that you knew Yamazaki-san!?" Miyuki asks. Wait, Satoshi knew Akita? He and I introduced ourselves after his introduction with Akita, but was there always an important fact tied into that? I guess Miyuki was with them when it happened.

"There's also a lot more information that's...suspicious-"

"You knew where the library was!" Mirabilis exclaims, accidentally cutting off Hotaru. She starts to apologize Hotaru, but Hotaru does not care.

"..."

"Oh, now that I think about it, you were awake before anybody else in the Hospital," I add-on. "Satoshi Nakajima, who are you really, and what the Hell was your role in Mitsuru's murder!?"

* * *

 **Yea, shorter chapter but packed full of information. I didn't want it to be information overload, so I ended it there.**

 **So, yea, Hayato killed Kyoto. And then somebody ruined everybody's day by messing up with the crime scene. And Satoshi is...Satoshi. ;)**

 **Now I'll be doing a new thing! Yea! I'm gonna start advertising SYOCs that are having trouble getting characters in this story. Of course, these are still open, and I talked with their creators to make sure they are. I just want more SYOCs to succeed and not crash and burn before they even truly start.**

 **The first one is one started by the creator of Shinichi: The hazel-eyed bookworm. It is called Danganronpa: Into the Woods. So check it out and send in more characters~**

 **I'll continue doing this if you guys like it. So, without futher to do, the reviews!**

 **(Also, holy shit, this has gotten even more popular since the last update. More than ten more favorites and follows. HOLY SHIT THANK YOU SO MUCH!)**

 **Reviews~**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Well, Satoshi certainly did something. Satoshi has done some things. Takayuki has a...less than stellar relationship with other Akimotos. Not in this universe. Hideyoshi is having too much fun knowing the plot. Well, I don't know whose counting incorrectly...because this is me...and so many mistakes. XD Praise the eventual rewrite. I need to do so, even though I'm pretty sure Mitsuru isn't an actual Hufflepuff. She would invade their house to look at all the cute peeps.**

 **AnonChan1-I'm not saying anything. Its a long story so I thought a new point of view would be refreshing. I, for sure, would not have fun during this trial. Takayuki is like THANK THE GOD I DON'T BELIEVE IN! Mirabilis believes in everybody. Well, Hayato wanted it to be very obvious (he learned from Celestia alright). Takara is shit of everybody's bullshit. Satoshi is sad. D: Not his alcohol! Well, well, well, let's see what happens. Ayano is still out of it. MOM SQUAD!**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-PUHUHUHU, I AM MADNESS! That's my embodiment. Mitu-bites are the best bites. Thanks, I love wrecking people. Still have to do it with YellowtheWriter. That's one of my goals now: to make Yellow cry. XD All the emotional trauma. All of these kids are gonna need serious therapy after surviving this game. ETSUKO, WE NEED YOU!**

 **LostOne'sWeeping-Oh, I think I know what event you're talking about. ;) ;) ;) Yes, become more like me my young apprentice!**

 **ShadedLyht-Here's more! Good luck on your finals. Don't worry! :) Mitsuru, goddammit, whhhhhyyyyyy? Wait, I did that. She got in there by means that will be explained. Yea, I got a lot of Gravity Falls fans reading this. That makes me happy. ^.^ Hayato being suspicious is all according to plan. Sadly, that has been debunked. Well, here's next time!**

 **dashunterman-JUSTICE! Yea! :D**

 **SanityRequiem-Oh look, be scared.**

 **CommanderofInsanity-Rin's back! :D :D :D Cassius is a fucking idiot, but he's our idiot. I am a monster. This chapter is just destroying poor Rin. Oh, so many updates since you read SoS. :P A lot of these characters are idiots. Mochi is the mastermind tho. Well, um, here's Satoshi. *throws cookies* Everybody thought the poor victims had something to do with this, but turns out they don't. You have permission to freak out. AAAHHHHH!**

 **coolanonreviewer-Oh dear, still on chapter 11 and already getting broken. Poor, poor anon reviewer is gonna go through Hell.**


	39. Trial 3-3

**Trial 3-3: Welcome to the Mind Fuck**

* * *

"Huh, whatever are you talking about?" Satoshi laughs nervously. Bingo. I knew that Satoshi cannot keep secrets even if his life depended on it.

"Yea, yea, time to get to the fun part!" Monokuma roles his eyes at the blonde. Satoshi sighs. Alright, now it's time for Hayato to bring up Satoshi, and for another one of these cases to be solved.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"I would like to discuss the events of _Yamazaki-san's death_ -"

"Wait, what?" Monokuma interrupts Hayato, confused. We are all confused. What is Hayato thinking? Does he want to get himself killed? You can only discuss the event of Akita's trial with his permission! And in the middle of a triple murder is kinda not the ideal time.

 _What's going on here?_

"You're gonna be executed-"

"I _had your permission_ , headmaster. If I recall, I ask whether or not we should discuss all the cases so far, and you _gave your consent_. And the case of Akita Yamazaki did happen so it _follows the rules_!" Hayato takes charge. Did...did Hayato just outsmart Monokuma? And not to mention the rest of the class. Goddamn, the salesman actually knows what he's doing.

"..." Monokuma glares at the all of us but does nothing. Hayato stares at him with an emotion I cannot fully comprehend. "...Alright, this might prove interesting."

"And, if we think about it, _Satoshi has to have some connection with Akita_. What do you know?" Namita is on board with Hayato's plan. By the look of things, the main trio of ladies seems to think the same way.

"Uuuuummmmm..."

"So Hayato thinks these _two cases have something to do with each other._ But what exactly?" Akemi thinks aloud. He has his hand on his chin and looks deep in thought. The boy really is trying to solve this.

"Wait...don't tell me!" Hotaru's eyes light up. It is as if she just realized something. Why does Hotaru seem to always be one step ahead of all of us? I swear, it's like she's hiding something. Then again it's Hotaru, of course, she's hiding something.

"What did you figure out, Hotaru?" I question her.

"..."

"Don't spoil this, Hotaru, let the big kids handle this," Monokuma laughs. Just like the last trial, the chains from the ceiling imprison Hotaru. This time she's even less pleased due to the obvious circumstance. "I swear that's the last time I'm gonna do that... _for this trial_." Hotaru flips Monokuma off.

Though I am questioning Monokuma's childish behavior, as always, what intrigues me more is Hotaru. How much about what's going on does she truly know? I know for certain that she has a lot more information than all of us, and claims otherwise would be bullshit.

 _You truly don't remember her. How tragic, I thought those apartments meant something more to you._

"You know, as your friendly headmaster, I shall give you bastard students a gift for solving one of the murders correctly. Tada!" At that moment, we notice something appear on the handbooks in front of us...the first case Truth Bullets. He truly is going all through with this.

"What are you planning, Monokuma? You wouldn't do this except if you got something out of it," Akemi asks. The bastard bear does not answer him. Everybody else, including me, is too focused on reviewing the first case.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #1-Monokuma File #1**

 ** _Victim: Akita Yamazaki: Ultimate Ringleader, Chiyo Jinya: Ultimate Mediator, Sae Emiya: Ultimate *Spoiler*_**

 ** _The victim is Akita Yamazaki, along with Chiyo Jinya and Sae Emiya._** ** _The body was discovered on the outside patio, where one of the entrances of Hope's Peak Academy: Suicide Forest Branch is._** ** _The estimated time of death is believed to be around 5:30 PM._** ** _There are eighteen mysterious stab wounds that only pierce the skin and nothing more. Three wounds, on the eye, the wrist, and the heart are deeper. There is blunt force trauma applied to the back of the head_**

 **Truth Bullet #2-Knife/head wounds**

 _ **There are in total twenty-one knife wounds. Eighteen are fairly light, barely breaking the skin, while the others, the wrist, the heart, and the eye are deep.**_ _ **The head wounds, on the other hand, are both deep and could cause serious damage to the system.**_ ** _These wounds prove that the death is intentional and not accidental._**

 **Truth Bullet #3-Akita's closed eyes**

 ** _Akita's eyes have been closed by the killer. One of her eyes is stabbed and cannot be examined any further due to not being able to be opened._**

 **Truth Bullet #4-Akita's smile**

 ** _Akita is smiling even though her death hints that she was tortured beforehand. Perhaps she knew the killer personally?_**

 **Truth Bullet #5-Time of wounds**

 ** _The first of the wounds, the one on the wrist, is most likely self-inflicted. All of the others are made during the same time and do not seem to be due to self-harm._**

 **Truth Bullet #6-Bloodied blanket**

 ** _Under the patio, there is a bloodied blanket that was hidden underneath some plants. It has the blood of the victim, Akita Yamazaki, on it._**

 **Truth Bullet #7-Baseball bat in closet**

 _ **There is a baseball bat hidden in the closet that is covered with blood that is the victim's, Akita Yamazaki.**_

 **Truth Bullet #8-Miyuki's account**

 _ **During the time of the murder, Miyuki was with Minato trying to find a way up to the upper library floor. Mitsuru joined them around 5:40 PM. Tsukiko, Namita, Yasu, Shinichi, Takara, Ayano, Kyoto, and Hotaru were also there around the time of the murder but left. Kazuhiko, Satoshi, Kira, and Akemi joined up during sometime as well, yet the exact time is unknown.**_

 **Truth Bullet #9-Blood all over the patio**

 _ **Besides the blood near the body, Akita Yamazaki's blood can be found all over the patio. Was there a struggle?**_

 **Truth Bullet #10-Bloodied stick**

 ** _Hidden in some of the bushes near the edge of the forest, there is a stick covered with the victim's blood. What could this mean?_**

 **Truth Bullet #11-Akemi's account**

 ** _Akemi, Kira, Satoshi, and Kazuhiko were in a group before the murder. They were in the cafeteria, looking for Naoko, who went missing during that time._**

 **Truth Bullet #12-Blood trail in forest**

 ** _The victim's blood can be found in the forest, making a barely noticeable trail. One of the endpoints is a tree, where one of the lower, weaker branches have been snapped off._**

 **Truth Bullet #13-Traces of blood in the garden**

 ** _Once again (seriously, how much blood do you have Akita?), small traces of the victim's blood has been found in the garden. This is the earliest of all the blood stains and the hardest to find._**

 **Truth Bullet #14-Knife in the kitchen**

 _ **One of the knives from the kitchen is missing. It can be presumed that this is the same knife that is currently in Akita's heart.**_

 **Truth Bullet #15-Naoko's account**

 ** _Before Akita was murdered, Naoko and she talked with each other. Naoko notes that Akita was acting strangely, as her wrist was already bleeding and there was a knife in the hallway._**

 **Truth Bullet #16-Killer's hostage video**

 _ **The killer's motive is a video of a younger Akita Yamazaki. She is truly the Ultimate Ringleader.**_

 **Truth Bullet #17-Victim's hostage video**

 ** _Akita's motive is of her cousin, Hideyoshi Yamazaki, who happens to be the Ultimate Clown._**

 **Truth Bullet #18-Secret passageway**

 ** _There is a secret passageway that goes from the pool to the alcohol cellar. Another door can be found inside, but it can only be opened with a key code. The key code can only be given to a person by the mastermind._**

* * *

This is the un-updated version, but it is better than nothing. Monokuma really loves fucking with us, doesn't he? Then again, I think most of us don't even realize the debate is still going on.

"Hmmmm...so it's certain Kazuhiko killed her, right? Maybe _he was possessed by Monokuma's AI_!" Mirabilis exclaims. I cannot tell whether or not she's serious.

"That's wrong!" Minato cries out. Seeing them break an argument is certainly a surprise. I didn't know they had it inside them. Apparently, they do.

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"Ummm...I didn't use a Truth Bullet. How...?

"I allowed it since it was so stupid! This isn't the Neo World Program, I ain't gonna do that shit!" Monokuma is fuming. Neo World Program? What does the Neo World Program of all things have anything to do with Monokuma? I remember that the Committee took it from the Despairs, but that's about it.

"How about we skip to the point and you show us the video you promised?" Tsukiko is having none of Monokuma's bullshit. There's one word I can use to describe her right now: mad.

"Nah, you can solve it now, I believe in all of you. Will Sugar Kane reveal what he knows, or stay silent to protect his dear old secret? Because...he knows everything that went down on that fateful day." Monokuma stares at Satoshi, who is visibly sweating bullets.

"You know, why don't you tell us?" Tsukiko pleads with him. Surprising me, the girl goes onto her knees facing his direction and begins to bow on her podium. None of us know truly what to say.

"..."

"Do you think I would truly make it that easy? But, before I explain Sugar Kane's situation...please make way for another guest!" The whole room then goes up in a puff of smoke. All of us cough before it slowly fades away. Then, surprising us all...

"What?" Ayano asks as she looks all over the trial room. She looks more like shit than before and has clearly seen better days. Somehow being passed out caused her to have more bags under her eyes.

"Ayano!?" Satoshi looks so stressed out. If he could flew, the coward probably would have done so by now. He is not in the right state of mind.

"Oh, Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan, how nice of you to join us. We need to catch you up. Um, that stick in the mud outsmarted me, and now we're discussing Bitch-chan and your boy toy..." Monokuma pauses for a second. "And, oh yeah, Hayato killed Kyoto."

"You piece of shit!" Before Ayano can charge Hayato, I hold her down. How can somebody that used to be so monotone be this emotional? God, it's like she's on her period or something. Dealing with Akita's period was the closest to dying I have ever come to...every month...

Now that I think about it: how do girls deal with their periods in here?

 _They shove a stick up their ass._

Because I was stuck in my train of thought, I didn't realize that Ayano had easily escaped from my hold. I seem to keep forgetting that doing all of these things is much harder without hands. Miyuki, however, becomes MVP and easily holds Ayano back.

"Calm!" Takara shouts out. Ayano stops trying to get to Hayato, but, if looks could kill, Hayato would be dead a billion times over.

"Don't worry, Ayano, I already beat the shit out of him." Akemi crosses his arms once again. If those two start liking each other over their hatred of Hayato, then that would make things more interesting.

"Now to add up to drama! Pay attention...Izumi-chan and Atsuto-chan. If you reveal your secrets, I'll spill my guts about the events of the first trial. And, yes, that includes what you did to Mitsu-cho." Monokuma's red eyes create a new atmosphere in the room, along with the pain in my neck. I only have a couple more hours before I get into serious trouble.

"No...no...no...I did nothing wrong! It's all Ayano Kirigiri's fault!" Satoshi screams out. Monokuma laughs as a new button is in front of him. The demented bear presses down on it and Satoshi's stand moves to the center of the arena.

 **Panic Time Action: Start!**

"There's no evidence linking me to anything! I swear! I swear! I swear!" Satoshi is not listening to any sort of reason. I have no idea what this game is, but I'm just going to hope that somebody else does since Monokuma is still an asshole.

"Nakajima-san, calm down. This is only proving our point," Miyuki pleads. Even with how annoying he acts around her, Miyuki must truly care about other people to even have a spot in her heart for him.

"What point!? That I'm a killer! I didn't do that! It makes me sick!" He points at Mitsuru's chopped up body. Ayano finally realizes what's up there, and she tries to hold her throw-up. Miyuki tries to help her, considering they're still sharing a stand.

"If somebody did the same thing to do as me, just tell us. The mastermind has shown that they do not care about their own rules except when they benefit them-"

"Shut up, Hayato! You're nothing but a killer! I promised to be for hope...to spread smiles...and this..." Satoshi's head falls down for a second, and, when it rises back up, there are tears streaming down his cheeks. "What evidence can possibly point me towards everything!?"

 _You're not up for this, you idiot._

Oh no, the pain. Shit! I can't hold him back anymore! Hideyoshi, if you even think about doing anything, I'll take back control no matter the costs and commit suicide by jumping off of this podium.

" _You're the only one awake to murder Mitsuru!_ " Hideyoshi points out. Satoshi turns his face towards me as if he has realized something.

 **Panic Time Action: End!**

"..." Satoshi and Ayano exchange glances. They clearly don't know anything about each other, but they've been hiding something from all of us. I'm sure others judge them by their glares. Unlike all of them, except for whoever is the final experiment project, I understand, considering I'm literally being possessed by the dead cousin, who happens to be a serial killer clown, of my formal partner. It's like something out of fiction.

"I accept, Monokuma!" Ayano and Satoshi agree at the same time. Satoshi's podium returns to its regular station.

"My true name is..." Ayano takes a deep breath. "... **Ayano Kamukura**."

* * *

 **Ultimate Hacker**

 **Ayano Kamukura**

* * *

Kamukura? Ayano is a Kamukura? What does that even mean? Of course, Hideyoshi would know, but I cannot hear his thoughts anymore. It happens every damn time he takes control of my body while I'm still awake.

"Kamukura?" Minato asks, their voice shaking. The whole trial room is silent, trying to soak everything in. We know, however, this is only the start. Monokuma is planning something. Sick bastard.

"Kamukura?" Satoshi then smiles with tears rolling down his eyes. "You're Izuru's kid, right? He missed you-"

"How do you know father? And what do you mean missed?" Ayano asks. The both of them are highly emotional. Even at this distraction, I could tell that Ayano's whole body was shaking. Her eyes are beginning to water but she tries to hold them back.

"No, what does all of this mean? Kamukura helped destroy the world!" Akemi breaks the moment between Satoshi and Ayano. Miyuki gives him a stare as if saying this scene is only for the two of them to share.

"The name's... **Atsuto Togami** , the **Ultimate**... **Unlucky Student**."

* * *

 **Ultimate Unlucky Student**

 **Atsuto Togami**

* * *

"Um, what the fuck?" Akemi voices out what all of us are thinking. I'm pretty damn sure that everybody is confused. Except Ayano. Why the Hell does Ayano seem to know everything?

"I'm just so glad that somebody else is alive!" Satoshi...or Atsuto rushes through all the podiums to reach Ayano. Shocking Ayano, he hugs her before completely breaking down. Miyuki moves from her own stand to leave the two of them alone.

"Alive? W-what do you mean?"

"Sorry, to interpret this touching moment, but everybody else is dead. Let's just say Bitch-chan had a little too much fun. Only the two of you are left," Monokuma explains. Wait, everybody is dead? What does that mean? And how the fuck is Atsuto related to Byakuya Togami? The same Byakuya that was a total creep and messed with Chihiro Fujisaki's crime scene?

"D-dead?!" Ayano then joins in with Sa-Atsuto-whatever the fuck I call him. The both of them sit down as they cry into each other. It is shocking to see people that really didn't talk that much share this much of an intimate moment. There has to be some history that I'm not getting here. And, now that I think about it, why the Hell is Satoshi a different Ultimate? I highly doubt anybody currently attending Hope's Peak has that talent.

"Um, I hate to break the moment, but what does all of this mean?" Namita questions. She's completely lost. Every second she can, she is messing around with her ponytails. Everything has not settled into her mind yet.

"I'm lost," Mirabilis admits without pretending to know what she is talking about. To be honest, though, if I had less information like my classmates, I would've stopped trying to understand minutes ago.

"Weren't we promised to have information about Banda-san from Nakajima-san?" Hayato inquires. He, for the first time, sounds unsure of himself. Everybody has had enough information for the day.

"Hmmm...kids, why did you think Assface murdered Mitsu-cho?" Monokuma is having too much fun. Just like Kazuhiko, Monokuma is being lazy and telling us who the Blackened is. Does this truly mean that only Naoko's death matters to him?

"Let's think about this from Atsuto's point of view, why would you killed Mitsu-cho?" Hideyoshi inquires, doing his best to act as a decent excuse for a human being. "Yasu and himself were just attacked, as that's what we have gathered from the evidence presented in this trial."

"Did...did he think that Mitsuru attacked him and Yasu?" Tsukiko replies. She is trying to get her bearings together. Thinking about the implications of Ayano and Atsuto's true names is something to be dealt with later. We still need to find everything out, or I'm deader than dead.

"Binjo! It's the new version of bingo! Ahem, as the true mastermind of everything, let me narrate everything..." Monokuma isn't even hiding it anymore. This case really has nothing to do with the outcome of the case, and I can just tell he wants us to hurry our asses up to discuss Naoko. Something about him just shouts that he's playing us as fools.

* * *

 _The 'killer' of Mitsuru Banda happened to overhear a very important conversation I was having with her in the cafeteria. It's not like I'm gonna give him a Forbidden Action to keep him from revealing certain information. And let's just say I got bored and showed her a very special video. Kira told Atsuto before she passed out that she still desired food and wondered where Mitsuru was._

 _Atsuto, although, is an idiot with bad luck that likes alcohol and women too much. He gets there after I make my daring escape, with Mitsuru being the only one there. The two of them were the only people awake beside me at the time, so there was nobody else to hear them. Let's just say that Mitsuru didn't expect Atsuto to be there. And Atsuto, being the bastard that he is, and thinking about his darling Yumiko, shoots Mitsuru._

 _In a state of panic, Atsuto books it. His bad luck follows him everywhere though, and Mitsuru happens to fall on something. A sword. And, bam, there goes her head. Then I return back to the scene and do some tampering. Blood got everything but there's still the wonder of covering it up really well so Miyuki cannot find out by observing it real quick. Cutting up her body to pieces and messing with you guys was too much fun. You really should've learned by now that I'm the only person that can go inside the trial room._

 _Then, to just mess with you since I love giving my students presents, I made myself a little art project. Everything was me, sorry about that. Hayato and Satoshi...wait, Atsuto really should've done a better job at murdering their targets. Because the only one I really give a shit about is the killer of Naoko Kawabata. Really, this never happened before, I added that rule for formality._

 _Back on topic...the one who caused the death of Mitsuru Banda, the Ultimate Sukeban, is Satoshi Nakajima, the Ultimate Bartender. Or should I say, Atsuto Togami, the Ultimate Unlucky Student?_

* * *

"Monokuma, how is this any way fair?" Hayato inquires. For the first time, he looks like he is completely caught off-guard. He is truly regretting his decision to outsmart Monokuma. Was that Monokuma's goal all along? That bastard. Destroying the main targets, while getting rid of loose ends he finds annoying just to mess with us. Junko Enoshima would've never stood for this.

"All's fair in love and war, right Hayato?" Monokuma then suddenly bursts out his jetpack. He goes to Hayato and is directly right behind him. Hayato tries to move away, but he is not fast enough. Salesmen aren't exactly known for their speed. "You know what, for me to spill the beans for Kazuhiko, I'm gonna ask you something personal. I feel like that's fair-"

"You son of a bitch!" Tsukiko interrupts him. Namita and Miyuki look towards her, their faces full of worry for their friend. This isn't like Tsukiko. She's letting Monokuma get to her like he did to Ayano, Sato-Atsuto-whatever, and Hayato.

"So many curse words!" Mirabilis says as if she's trying to add something to a conversation she cannot follow. At least people like Takara are smart enough to stay quiet, but then I realize I just said that about somebody with selective mutism. I'm an ass.

"Would you like me to tell them Cassius's secret?"

"What?" Hayato does not realize that Monokuma is using him as a puppet. Please, Hayato, don't accept. I see what he's doing because he's truly a psychopath. Well, sure, psychopath is not a real psychology term, but, if it was, Monokuma would be it. Whoever is controlling him must have some form of Antisocial Personality Disorder.

Anyway, he's trying to give us an easy way out, but making sure he's breaking our mental states while doing so. Monokuma is trying to drag us into despair by giving us what we want. Son of a bitch.

"...Yes..." Goddammit, Hayato, I thought you were smarter than that.

"You should know it, considering hmmmm...you're very _strong..._ um... _friendship_ with him-"

"Stop messing with him, Monokuma!" Mirabilis cries out. Monokuma does not pay attention to her basically voiceless pleads.

"But the amoral stick in the mud worked for Cassius's illegal smuggling ring," Monokuma explains. "Did you really think that piece of shit was truly the Ultimate Jeweler? No, he's...let's see if I got this right because you would know Hayato...the Ultimate **Smuggler**. His parents paid so much money to have it changed on all the documents but that doesn't even matter now. Not even that idiot knew what he true talent was, how sad."

* * *

 **Cassius Jacobson**

 **Ultimate Smuggler**

* * *

You're telling me that Kira all this time was right about being the Ultimate Jeweler? I guess being somehow related to the headmaster pays in some ways, and not so much part of a noble bloodline. That's the truth about today: noble blood doesn't matter. The only thing that truly matters is climbing up the ladder of the Committee in any of their branches. Because they're corrupt as shit. Are we sure this isn't 1984? Big Brother is watching.

"Congrats, Hayato, now your friends will know the truth. Pay attention, Ayano, I'm about to give you information about your boy toy!" Monokuma causes Ayano to break away from whatever I call Satoshi now. Both their eyes are severely red and puffy.

"Get on with it, Monokuma."

"Well, Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan, I got to ask another question. Yuki, get back in control, and answer this question: which one was the Akita you knew? Akita Yamazaki, Chiyo Jinya, or Sae Emiya?" Monokuma is now trying to get into my head. Too bad, Hideyoshi beat you to it.

"Control?" Takara signs. Damn, Monokuma, are you trying to get me caught? Probably.

I feel Hideyoshi giving me control, but I feel like he's mad at something that isn't me. Why would a despair be mad at another one? Don't tell me Hideyoshi finally decided to have morals.

"..." I have to think about it. What would help me answer this question?

 _It's obvious. She was literally screaming her true name during that drunk incident. Please never do that again. I don't want to pretend to be like a koala bear again or something, or I'll kill you._

"She's Akita!" Minato replies. Monokuma rolls his eyes. "Akita Yamazaki...Ultimate Med...R-ringleader...but still Akita Yamazaki...right?"

Wait, the real Akita had metal fingers, but the one here has metal fingers. No matter what, all the versions of her are dead, so how did the others meet their end? This isn't the time to think about that. The thing is, during the drunk incident, the one who had control was...

"Sae Emiya: The Ultimate Experiment Subject. Is her talent relating to her being a part of Personality Experiment #045?" I answer. Confetti suddenly comes out of everywhere, and I try my best to clean it off my coat.

"Binjo...oh my god, that's stupid, but I gotta do it! So binjo! That's right! You never knew the real Akita...well, except for like Ayano, Takayuki, Mitsuru, Kazuhiko...whatever, most of you don't!"

"S-Sae?" Minato is the next one to be broken by Monokuma. That was too easy, they weren't even the main focus.

"Give us the answers now-"

"Please, Tsukiko calm down-"

"Let her have this, Namita," Akemi interrupts. Why is Akemi allowing this to happen? You know what, I'm not even going to try to understand what he's thinking. He's the Ultimate Chess Player, he must have a semblance of common sense somewhere hidden in his brain.

"Now, if I have no more interruptions, I'll present you the truth-"

"How can we be so sure about that?" Mirabilis interrupts. "You've done nothing but lie to us this entire time!" She gets out her stick and tries to throw it at Monokuma. It misses and falls onto the ground below. Mirabilis doesn't care as she throws some petals at Monokuma.

"Okay, because Sailor Wannabe couldn't trust her beloved headmaster, you gotta figure its out yourself!" Monokuma exclaims. Everybody glares at Mirabilis, but Mirabilis truly doesn't care.

"I'll never do what you want, Monokuma! I'll rather die than follow any of your orders!"

"Calm," Takara cries out. Of course, like usual, nobody listens to him. He then looks down at the floor, his focus solely on the wand. Bits of the decoration have broken off but it is still in good condition. That wand just won't go away.

"We can do that." Ayano tries to hold her anger in but still bites her lip and cannot look at Mirabilis. Mirabilis looks like she is about to say something but holds it back.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"Oh, um," Minato thinks about what to say. They are still repairing from the mind fuck. Seriously, Satoshi, what the Hell? "We talk about...um...something like...um...what was Kazuhiko's motive?"

"Didn't he say that he thought _Akita was the mastermind_?" Tsukiko says. She is trying so hard to act like she is fine, probably to be an example or something for the others, but I can tell. She may be a good actress but I deal with better ones everyday.

"Yes, he did, but why would he think such a thing? Something had to _tip him off_ in the first place, as the murder was _a lot more premeditated_ than all the others that have occurred," Hayato tells everybody. Akemi and Ayano stare at him, and Satoshi...or Atsuto (goddammit, I don't care, I'm calling him Satoshi) places his hand on Ayano's shoulder. Or the closest to Ayano's shoulder that he can because of her height.

"Hayato, both of us are killers ourselves, we can think this out. _Men_ really have a bad habit of killing others in this game-"

"Well, technically, Kira was the killer last time, but you guys really screwed up when trying to escape me." Did Monokuma tell us the truth? That actually isn't surprising. Can't even break that statement.

"We're getting off topic, but the killers should have the spotlight. What do bastards like you think about Kazuhiko? Killers truly are all scum." Well, there goes Akemi's relationship with Kira.

"Killers are not...that word, Nakatani-san. They are humans that have made mistakes," Miyuki tries to correct him with her own idealogy. Let him think whatever he wants to think guys, that's his own personal philosophy.

"Nakatani-"

"Oh, didn't Kazuhiko say he meet _Sae during that whole drunk mess_ ," Satoshi interrupts Hayato. Now that I think about it, Kazuhiko, Mitsuru, and Hotaru are the only ones that have admitted to meeting Sae. Sae, I wonder if you remembered the experiments, I wonder if you could tell what was happening.

 _I remember what Kazuhiko said vaguely. Something like she begged him to help her escape from Akiza and Aki taking over he mind or something. She was scared._

Wow, Hideyoshi, now you decide to be helpful. Is it because Akita was one of your despair buddies and you want some sort of messed up justice for her? Well, this trial will be true justice for Akita, Mitsuru, and Naoko.

"Are you saying he was planning her murder way back then!?" Ayano cries out. " _There's no evidence_!"

"That's right, he wasn't planning murder then, but Hiraoka-san must have _started to suspect her_. I believe that the reason why was because of _Yamazaki-san's presense in his own motive video_." Hayato clearly has regret in his eyes. Is he relating to Kazuhiko right now? Makes sense, both of them were dumb enough to fall into the mastermind's plan.

This isn't the time. My neck and other muscles are already starting to feel stiff. The poison is doing a number to my system already.

"Are we sure that _the person is the motive video is Akita_?!"

"Minato, look at the Truth Bullets! It clearly states it's Akita Yamazaki! You idiot! Let's finish this mystery so we can actually focus on Naoko!" Akemi shouts out. He does have a point about Naoko, however. Isn't this supposed to be mainly her trial?

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"Wait, doesn't it say that it's the ringleader gal? Won't that mean that this isn't the person we knew?" Namita questions. I actually completely agree with Namita. She comes up with good ideas when she isn't completely off the mark.

"That's my old bud alright. Too bad Kaneshiro got to her," Satoshi comments. Okay, now I want to know the story with that. Considering Kaneshiro is a brainwasher, it can't be good.

"Kaneshiro? Why does that name keep coming up!?" Minato asks.

"...Hm, with that out of the way, I remember something. We were wondering how Kazuhiko got into the secret room? I got in by sneaking in after the mastermind. He could've easily done the same thing." Ayano is not paying attention to Minato. I don't want to be anywhere close to her, considering she goes ballistic whenever Kazuhiko is involved with something.

"Um, but what prompted him to do all of this-"

"I know! I know! I know! I'm gonna play the video!" Monokuma is way too excited. But didn't he want us to figure this out ourselves? I can't figure out his impulsive behavior at all. Is it because us discussing it will give us a better chance of discovering him? That may also be the reason why he told us about Satoshi as well. Goddammit, this mastermind can be best described in one word: coward.

 _Don't call him a coward. It's called winning unlike Junko Enoshima. We shall win this for her!_

But didn't she want to die? Wouldn't letting things run their course and then dying honor her memory better? You know what, I should stop trying to understand how people in despair think. It's predictable garbage. Predictable in the way that it's unpredictable and useless to decipher.

Then the screens surrounding us light up with another video. Monokuma really loves showing us videos for this case, doesn't he?

* * *

 _Naoko runs into the storage closest. Her breaths are heavy and unorganized. The next thing I see is Akita coming down the hallway with a knife in her hands. Something is very, very wrong with how she looks. Like she's a completely different person._

 _Then Kazuhiko peeks his head out from the cafeteria. Akita doesn't seem to notice him, but he certainly sees her. She is focusing on something else, like all of the other students. Nobody was probably with him at the time._

 _She then starts to cut from her own wrist, and Kazuhiko closes the kitchen doors. The fate of Akita Yamazaki was sealed right then and there._

 _"...What...?" Akita is back to her normal self. Once she realizes what is going on, she drops the knife in her hands._

* * *

The video then ends.

"..." Ayano and Minato both stare at it with empty eyes.

"Do you want me to reveal everything else? I'm sure it'll drag you in even more despair!" Yep, Monokuma is for sure only doing this for his own personal gain. But what else is he trying to do?

"We won't-"

"Yes!" Akemi interrupts Mirabilis. Everybody sure loves talking over each other during these trials. Mirabilis only looks at everybody else with a great amount of worry in her eyes. She must've realized what I have: that this is a trap. Why is Mirabilis the only one thinking rationally right now?

* * *

 _This the the truth of the case of Akita Yamazaki with the murderer being Kazuhiko Hiraoka._

 _Kazuhiko, after all the suspicious shit surrounding Akita with him, decides that she must be the mastermind. He knew about all of Kotori's experiments. So, even if she wasn't the mastermind, killing her would be mercy in his mind._

 _He was going for the gym to find a possible weapon until he found that somebody was opening the secret door. Kazuhiko was way too curious for his own good, and thought the person who opened it was a traitor or some kind. Instead of finding a person, he found weapons. And his trusty baseball bats. He loved bats way too much._

 _After Akita finished her conversation with Naoko, Kazuhiko attacked her. Too bad that didn't kill her. Another personality was what came out and played along with his fantasy of her being the mastermind. She then decided to help him kill her just so she can mess up the game herself. Wrapping herself in a blanket, she ran to the patio, with Kazuhiko chasing after her._

 _Kazuhiko did not notice that the knife and sharp stick that Akita had with her. Before he could hit her with his baseball bat again, Akita started stabbing her. This clearly disturbed Kazuhiko. He did not know what to do about the clearly insane girl in front of him._

 _Then, getting his original idea back in his mind, and knowing there is no turning back right then, Kazuhiko hit Akita. The moment the bat hit her head, Akita died. All the blood lost and head force trauma, her body gave out._

 _He originally did nothing to the crime scene since he thought the mastermind was out of the picture. It's never that simple, kids. I came to him and told him that the game is still happening. Letting him do nothing to the crime would make everything way too boring. Kazuhiko figured out that I was the mastermind and was about to kill me too. Too bad I did a little...convincing...and that caused Kazuhiko to shut up and follow my rules._

 _First he hid the blanket, stick, and baseball bat while nobody would be able to see him. Then he closed Akita's eyes and placed the knife in her heart which would be assumed to be the murder weapon._

 _This is the truth of Kazuhiko Hiraoka's murder of Akita Yamazaki! He truly was a fool._

* * *

"Um, that is..." Namita does not know what to think. She focuses on Tsukiko, who is not taking this well.

"The trial has to continue on! We've to figure out who killed Naoko!" Tsukiko says. She has not been broken by Monokuma, however. She glares at the bear. Never get Tsukiko mad, got it.

"Then that will be the next topic." Miyuki is serious as well. She points her sword at Monokuma, as if she's trying to be an idiot and taunt him. Does she want Monokuma to truly try to make us all fall into despair?

"Finally," Akemi sighs.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"The murder that the murderer will be executed for is Naoko Kawabata. Thank God. They were true bastards," Akemi states. "The first thing to discuss is her cause of death. _No weapons were found there_ , correct?"

"It's a _stick_ again!" Mirabilis says. I roll my eyes at her response. If another person close to me gets stabbed with a stick of all things again, especially by themselves, I'm gonna go crazy.

"Actually it's a knife!" Monokuma laughs. "It truly has nothing to do with this case. It's not a stick again, that would be stupid! The killer just returned it. None of you really bothered to check the kitchen again."

"Can you please shut up, Monokuma?" Ayano asks him.

"So the weapon isn't important here, _it's the cause_ ," Miyuki notes. "And that would be suffocation, most likely because of her neck injuries. Did the killer _stab her to delve her into despair_ and decided to finally _kill her slowly with suffocation_?"

"That's clearly not with the knife, right?" Minato tries to add onto the conversation.

"Must be with the _killer's hands_. _That removes Anno-kun_ ," Hayato says. If that's the case, then I wonder why the killer would frame me. Literally I'm the only person here without hands.

"Who could've done it then?" Satoshi asks. Unlike with Mitsuru, everybody could've done it considering the theory that she died before everybody passed out. This will be harder to find out.

 _I highly doubt it. If that happens, the both of us are dead. That is something I don't want to happen. Only if I wasn't stuck in here._

Hideyoshi, stop changing your mind about death every couple of days. It gives me a headache. Don't despairs want to die?

"Nobody really has an _alibi_. All of us were either _sleeping or in the old building_." Tsukiko places one of her hands on the chin. She must be onto something, so I'll wait for what she has to say.

"So how are we gonna find out who did it then?" Takara questions. That's a good question. There are clear hints surrounding the crime scene, but which one will point to the bastard who offed Naoko?

" _There's no evidence_ -"

"Hey, that's blatantly wrong!" Namita shouts. I notice that even she does not care about the paint anymore as another dip falls onto her jacket. Everybody is in their serious mood, including Hotaru. Although she, like last trial, is also trying to cover up herself but failing. Maybe that's why Satoshi is so silent. Even with his secret revealed, Satoshi is a pervert.

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"I mean, look at the bullets, one of them has to have the key to this mystery somewhere!" Namita blushes. She may fulfill a leader-type role but, for some reason, she's flustered.

"Which one though?" Hayato is scrolling through the bullets. With the bullets from the first trial added, it is harder to look through everything. Is that also the true reason why Monokuma gave us them even though he planned to reveal the murder from the beginning? Bastard.

"..." Everybody is deep in thought. Monokuma is clearly getting bored with the couple seconds of silence. That only makes me wish for this moment to last longer. Imagine a trial where everybody stayed silent until Monokuma freaked out. That would be amazing.

"I know!" Ayano is the first one to speak out. "It's..."

* * *

 **Haha, I'm a sadist with these cliffhangers.**

 **This chapter is certainly something. I don't know whether I hate or love it but whatever.**

 **Oh, it's almost my birthday. ^.^ It's May 24th...I probably said that before but whatever again. Just saying. Turning nineteen. I can't believe I'm actually older than everybody except Kazuhiko, but he's dead.**

 **Since people liked my rec, I have another one. Saving dying SYOCs one step at a time. The next one is Foresaken Lullaby SYOC by LoveLoveShippingLoveLove. Don't worry, she extended the deadline.**

 **Now reviews~**

 **dashunterman-Your gal got Kaneshiro'd. And Satoshi was like OH SHIT. Kaneshiro showed her something very special. Akita and Mitsuru can be despair gals in the afterlife. Bond over their shared history of dying because of Kaneshiro.**

 **AnonChan1-Hayato was smart with how he didn't care about all of the evidence. Peeps are now gonna ignore the forest. Oh, I know who got the order. ;) Akita vented to Minato all the time so Minato knows a lot more than a lot characters realize. Takayuki has a bad habit of almost dying each chapter. You bet your ass that Ayano is gonna have a serious conversation with her after all of this is done. Hayato is the love child of Peko and Celestia (the AU of these two being his parents is now in my head and the insanity of it). Um, Monokuma did chain Hotaru again. Satoshi did a too good of a job of protecting your child. MOM SQUAD!**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Yet another mistake that will be fixed later because I'm lazy. Hayato will destroy your theories. Satoshi is like...hey, Hayato, we both got screwed over in this chapter by Monokuma, wanna be friends? This chapter three will cause...emotions. Something huge is indeed coming. I'm excited. Because...um...Satoshi isn't Satoshi. And Kazuhiko is explained...somewhat.**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-And she would be friends with Hotaru. Yes, keep that vodka handy because I know how all of this ends. Even at the end of this chapter. Well, Satoshi did. Kaneshiro is indeed doing that. He's having way too much fun watching these kids destroy themselves. Takayuki is the protagonist though. Here's more SYOCs! Of course you're another writer! :D I'm truly madness!**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Here's more emotions! You betcha there's gonna be more! Well, he's Atsuto Togami, and he's really unlucky (really he is, I'm surprised no one had pointed out how unlucky Satoshi is). Parents are complicated in this series. At least they're not Kotori. Thanks. :) Spread the love for this genre of fanfiction!**

 **Rose Guest Version (no clever joke here, I can't think of one)-She would make everything better by making things 100000000000000000000x times worse.**

 **SanityRequiem-Oh, look, I agree with myself.**

 **Tobi-as-a-guest-Stay in space, Etsuko! It's cooler up there and you get more times inbetween updates, which means more time alive!**

 **CommanderOfInsanity-Goddammit, Rin, I'm running out of cookies. XD Stop predicting the plot. :P :P :P *here's all the cookies* I think you know me too well, so I'm gonna break my own tropes. *rewrites the outline* Puhuhuhuhu.**

 **coolanonreviewer-I can't tell whether or not this is a joke or not. :P But I sure love breaking people like this is the first chapter of the story. Just wait for everything else.**

 **SanityRequiem-Oh, hey, look, it's me again. I'm the 400th review. That's my gift to myself.**


	40. Trial 3-4

**Trial 3-4:** **Les Misérables**

* * *

"It's..." Ayano takes a deep breath before speaking. She really isn't well enough to be standing in this trial considering she was both stabbed and poisoned, but I'm one to talk. "Takayuki's account."

"My account?" I ask her. What is Ayano going on about? What does my account reveal about the killer?

 _If you stopped to think about it seriously for two seconds, you've figured it out already. You're in denial. All the evidence points to one person._

"Takayuki. It says that you had somebody drug you from behind," Ayano says. Her eyes are dead focused on me. Wait...what...is she accusing me of...doing that to Naoko? That doesn't make any sense!

"Um, Ayano, he has no hands," Satoshi reminds her. Yes! I actually agree with Satoshi! He's the one that's making the most amount of sense. Why is this trial making me agree with Satoshi of all people?

"Yes, but who says he could have not used his feet?" Miyuki, I thought your arguments are supposed to make sense. How in God's name am I supposed to stab someone with my feet? The only person I could possibly imagine doing that is Hotaru, and she clearly didn't do it.

"I guess that could happen." Goddammit, Mirabilis. For one time in your short life, just use your head! Don't do stupid shit for once! That's all I want!

"Are you implying what you think you're implying?" I question them. I cannot believe that this bullshit is actually happening. If Naoko, Kyoto, and Shinichi were here, they wouldn't do this. Okay, Takara, he would support me, right?

"Yes," Takara comments. The weight in my heart is unbearable. This makes no sense, right? I couldn't have killed Naoko...except if...Hideyoshi, what the fuck did you do this time? I know you tried to kill her before, but what the fuck?

 _Oops._

Shit.

"Oh, I...I've been found out...whatever can I do? Oops...I accidentally admitted everything..." Sure, I'm not the best liar in the world at times like these, but I'm better than somebody. Actually I don't know if I'm better than anyone.

 _What are you doing?_

Hideyoshi, you literally just admitted to murder using my body.

 _Your body? Don't make me laugh._

"Does anybody else find this really suspicious?" Akemi raises his eyebrow. Maybe acting this way was not the best course of action. Acting this suspicious makes me look like I'm not suspicious.

"I do." Even Minato is finding it in their heart to be suspicious of another human being. If this was the start of the game, Akita would probably comfort them, and then share that suspicion anyway. Akita, I still miss that freak.

"Say I've something to try!" Monokuma exclaims. I then realize he's right behind me. Goddammit, I wasn't paying attention to him. He has something that scares me in his paws: Mirabilis's wand.

"Hey, give that back!" Mirabilis comes running through the podiums at the top speed that she can. Many times I notice she almost falls down but that does not stop the young girl. Though she is too far away to make it to me on time...

The wand is dropped onto the ground once again by Monokuma. Mirabilis attempts to grab it but then returns her focus back on me. She's way too dumb for her own good.

I could feel something hard hit the back of my head. Adding onto the massive amount of pain I'm already in, I feel myself fall onto the ground, eyes barely open. Mirabilis then makes it to me, but cannot reach Monokuma due to him flying away. She grabs onto me and that's when I realize how warm she is. I may hate her guts, but I cannot deny that she's a good person. Something that I'm not. In my own personal opinion, I'm the scum of the world.

"Get away from me, Mirabilis! _Now_!" I try to push her off but I can barely stay awake. Pretty sure the others are discussing something, or me who knows, else, yet my ears cannot make out what they're saying.

"I'm not leaving you! This is all my fault!" She has tears in her eyes. Stupid girl. Wasn't she supposed to hate me or something? This is what she wanted to do for so long, so why is she so scared? Is it because Monokuma did it? Actually, yea, that's probably the reason.

"Don't be an idiot. This is all Kotori's fault, you know that, right Mirabilis? Or should I say...nevermind."

"..." Mirabilis surprises me by giving me a hug. Guess I'm the new member of murderers that she gives hugs too club. I really don't deserve it but it feels nice. She might smell and feel awful, yet everybody here is like that.

 _If you develop a crush on her too, I swear to God-_

"But, seriously, run."

"Nope!" For the love of...Mirabilis, can you just listen to people once in your life? I literally don't know how much longer I can hold onto myself. The only thing stopping Hideyoshi is my annoyance of you. Actually keep doing that then.

 _This is taking too long._

Then I see darkness. Is this how death feels like? Well, no, duh, this is more of a 'I must scream' moment. I knew this was inevitable one day, yet I didn't want it to happen this early on. Like maybe happen when I wasn't in the middle of a Killing Game where other people can die. Naoko already died because of my uselessness, I don't want anybody else to either.

God, I really am a failure, aren't I? I failed Father, Akita, Kazuhiko, Shinichi, Cassius, Naoko, Kyoto, and Mitsuru. So many people dead just because I'm a piece of garbage that can't do anything right. This is all my fault, not Mirabilis's. The only person who deserves the blame is me for allowing Hideyoshi to kill Naoko.

Darkness...it wraps around me like a blanket of nothingness enveloping my body. Its cold but hot at the same time. Everything is a paradox yet it makes more sense than the damn reality we live in. A reality ruled by the Committee.

But, if I had to ask one question, what was Kotori really trying to do with Personality Experiment #045? There's clearly more to it than meets the eye. Guess that's a mystery that I'll have to lend over to the others. That's stupid.

* * *

 _I wake up in what seems like a circus. This is really weird. Sure, I've seen this before, but I could never really make sense of any of it. Circuses always had this strange atmosphere which always freaks me out. Don't know why Akita and Hideyoshi love these death traps so much._

 _"Finally something that isn't boring," somebody sighs. A woman that looks strangely like Ayano with black hair and red eyes is in the audience. Her legs and arms are crossed, and her stare tells me she isn't somebody that would just like to have a pleasant chat._

 _"Who are you?"_

 _"Izumi," she answers. "Don't mind me, I'm truly not that important. I just have something to tell the audience before this goes to shit." Izumi gets out of her seat and has a overwhelmingly commanding aura. She doesn't seem trustworthy (in fact whoever trusts her should be considered an idiot), yet a part of me wants to hear what she has to say. Something about this bitch makes it seem like she knows a lot more about everything than everybody else in the forest._

 _I could ask her other questions but other things take priority. Like why the Hell does she look so much like Ayano? Of course, I've a feeling that this conversation isn't gonna last long._

 _"Don't. Trust. Kindra." The girl then disappears in a puff of smoke. Well, I don't know what to do with that information. What is she talking about with the audience though? And didn't Kazuhiko mention Kindra a long, long time ago? Please no more characters, the plot is overwhelming enough as it is._

 _"Oh, Takayuki, did you try to escape me?" I feel Hideyoshi behind me. He is holding onto me like a creep. He is hugging tight and I could feel his heavy breathing on my neck. "I'm gonna finally drive you into despair! You won't escape this time!"_

 _"Hideyoshi, fuck off." This situation is really bad. Hideyoshi is way, way too close to comfort, and I know what he did to Akita. Considering the state of Naoko's body, I won't be surprised if he did the same to her. Son of a bitch._

 _"You still have such a mouth, Takayuki-"_

 _"Hey, at least I don't change my mind and personality every ten seconds. And I'm not an incestious freak!"_

 _"That wasn't me!" Hideyoshi then lets go of me. I then turn to face the little bastard child to see him weeping. Too late to feel bad for all that you've done. There's a line and you've crossed it years ago._

 _"Get over yourself."_

 _"Well, fine, fine, fine. Atsuto knows the truth, doesn't he? Yeah, yeah, yeah...Time to drive you into despair just like everybody else you cared about! Akita, Mitsuru, Naoko, everybody falls into despair. Even me." Well, he's back to his despair persona. Don't want to know what's going on in his head. Don't want to know what's happening to my body right now. "Time to switch the protagonist again!"_

 _Hideyoshi then snaps his fingers._

 _"Sweet dreams." Shit._

* * *

"Um, what's happening with Takayuki?" Namita asks. Analyzing the situation, Takayuki seems to be knocked out. What's happening to him? He's not usually like this, so why now of all times?

"Ayano?" Atsuto is still with me. I remember when he was a baby. Sure, we did not meet with each other much in my childhood, but I was closer to him than Kirigiri. Kirigiri, oh Kirigiri.

"It seems like the trial is paused when our main suspect is out cold. So, I ask you this Atsuto as a friend, what happened to everyone else? What did Monokuma mean?" I question him. It will end badly, but I still need the answers. My father is still alive, right? Nobody can kill the Ultimate Hope, Izuru Kamukura, right?

"The conversation doesn't end here folks!" Monokuma just ruined everything. Is an answer about my father really too much to ask? Oh well, I shall get the answer later, after I smash Hayato's face in.

"But he isn't up yet-"

"Sailor Wannabe, just keep an eye on him or something. I promise nothing bad will happen." Monokuma is clearly lying. Just what is he lying about? What's truly happening here? Only if Kazuhiko was here and wasn't selfless.

"We will never give into your despair, Monokuma!" Tsukiko shouts. She is being a lot more irrational than she usually is? Can somebody catch me up some more on what's happening? I was kinda just sleeping into I was dropped into this trial. And everything still hurts. Pretty sure that I'm not completely healed from being attacked.

"If you want us to discuss something, then how about who attacked me?" I inquire. Monokuma goes right into my face. He is too close to comfort so I back away a little. Atsuto makes sure I don't accidentally fall out the podium.

"Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan, not that. I get to decide-"

"Monokuma, I'm pretty sure it was my turn," Namita interrupts him. She has had enough with him. Her eyes are not even focused on him, but on Takayuki. Being right next to him makes it hard to stare. There are four of us really close by just in case something happens. Something inside me is yelling to get away from here. It is my gut, yet I was never one to really pay that much attention to it.

"We really have no say. You're no better than the bastards at the Committee." Akemi. I don't know how to think about him anymore. Maybe I should try getting to know him before? I need to thank him for punching Hayato's face in.

"At least the Committee follows its own twisted rules, you just do what you want, Monokuma," Hayato says. Even though I really do not want to think about him this moment, he makes a good point. I may hate the Committee but there's still a logic to their madness. A logic this Monokuma does not have.

"You are not a person who follows the sword's path of justice. Justice may be blind, but it is perfectly see how wrong you are." Miyuki once again points her sword in Monokuma's direction. She then coughs, forcing her sword to be put away.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, I truly don't care-"

"We care!" Minato is the next to interrupt him. Monokuma was not expecting that.

"I know I said interrupting me was allowed in the trials, but this is just rude! Manners need to be taught!" Monokuma then flies over to Tsukiko. She does her best to try to dodge him, though she does fail. The bear does whisper something in her ear. Tsukiko then is silenced. What in the world did Monokuma do?

"What did you do to Oda-san?" Hayato yells out. It is weird to see somebody who used to be so monotone have all different kinds of emotions in his voice. Is that how people felt about me?

"Oh, Hayato, sweetheart, nothing. Compared to you, she's lucky." Monokuma is about to do the same thing to Hayato until something else catches our attention. Mirabilis is being choked and held over the ledge of a podium by none other than Takayuki.

"Kill me for what I did to Naoko, and she'll be free." Takayuki's voice is strange. It is more feminine yet sinister. Something about the way he speaks sends a shiver up my spine.

"What are you doing!?" Namita tries to reach for Takayuki, but Monokuma moves his stand to the middle. None of us can reach him now except for Mirabilis and Monokuma. Mirabilis's eyes are focused solely on Takayuki. What in the world has happened to Takayuki?

"..." Takara cannot believe what he's seeing. It's like he wants to say something but just can't.

"This trial has been going on too long anyway. I was starting to get bored." Monokuma, without asking our consent, whips up the voting screen. What? Not again! We still haven't finished Naoko's trial! There are too many things that do not make sense that need to be clarified!

"I thought we were going to discuss every-"

"Hayato, that only matters with the trial still going. It isn't anymore. Don't worry, my precious bastard students, you can discuss this one in your free time!" Monokuma, after making that annoucement, goes up to Hayato and whispers something in his ear as well.

"Yes! Finally! I get what's rightfully mine! Death! Puhuhuhuhuhu!" Takayuki begins to chillingly laugh. His eyes begin to swirl into something not recognizable. All I know is that this is no longer the Takayuki that all of us knew.

I see that Atsuto has returned to his own stand to participate in the voting. Everybody is now back in their usual seats except for Mirabilis. Even Hotaru is let down from the ceiling, though she seems shaken by the fact she just sent the last hour or so hanging out with a corpse. Seeing that, I press onto Takayuki's face. Mirabilis's safety is more important than following Monokuma's motive. For all we know, Monokuma might not even keep his promise, or find a way to mess with his very own words.

"N-no...don't!" Mirabilis cries out. It is too late as she watches the screens light up with a new image in horror.

 _ **Takayuki Anno - Votes: 10**_

 _ **Abstain - Vote: 1**_

 _ **Congrats on finding the Blackened, kids!**_

"Maybe you should've listened to Sailor Wannabe!" Monokuma laughs as well. That is when I realize we accidentally let Mirabilis abstain on the vote. Whatever that means, it must not be good. What did we do?

"Well, better keep my promise, be free!" Takayuki then lets go of Mirabilis. She is about to fall onto the floor but she grabs onto the podium at the last second. Sweat starts to fall down her face.

"Hold on, Mirabilis!" Minato cheers on. Takayuki tries to step onto her fingers but she moves just in time. She does not calm down once the podiums start to be lowered down. Her hands almost slip multiple times but she continues to correct herself.

Then the podiums make their way to the bottom once again. All of us leave, with multiple questions swarming in our minds. What the Hell just happened during that entire trial?

"That's right, kids, the third Blackened who killed Naoko Kawbata was indeed Takayuki Anno!" Monokuma is having too much fun with this. It is clear that he has had the entire situation under control this entire time. What is Monokuma doing with this entire game?

"What the Hell is happening-"

"Don't worry, Akemi, let the important characters talk. Everything will make sense in the last trial. We still have a long time till that!"

"Monokuma, what's going on-"

"That's Hideyoshi Yamazaki." Atsuto did not mean to interrupt Namita, so he begins to blush. Though that is the most important thing. How does Atsuto know that? And what does this mean?

"Yes, that's right." Mirabilis is oddly serious. Probably because we screwed her over is some way that I do not want to know. Seeing her break her magical girl persona is beyond uncomfortable. This is the trial where people just break their characters, isn't it? It's like that way for me as well.

"H-Hideyoshi...?" Minato is not sure what to think. They glare at Takayuki...or should I say Hideyoshi.

"What does this mean?" Tsukiko asks. She's back once again. Monokuma looks like he is about to explode and not in the way that we want.

"I'm Hideyoshi Yamazaki, Ultimate Clown. That's what it means." Hideyoshi's eyes are back to normal. He carries himself differently than Takayuki. His posture is a lot more relaxed even though he's about to die.

"Personality Experiment #045. Akita and Takayuki. Whose the other one?" Hotaru questions. Her voice is a lot more subdued than it usually is. She seems drawn in by Hideyoshi but keeps her distance.

"I won't spoil the fun, Hotaru. If you truly take a second to think about it, everything should make sense." Hideyoshi ignores as and walks toward Monokuma. Monokuma does not pay attention to him. "I'm already for my execution, Monokuma. Let's get this over with before they find out everything."

"Not so fast, Yoshi-" Before he could finish his sentence, the robot is destroyed by Mirabilis's wand. All of us stare at her, dumbfounded. What is she thinking? Does she want to die!?

"Listen up! As the second in line for the Committee, I'll not go down without a fight!" Mirabilis shouts. Okay, what the Hell is she talking about? I'm lost. All these reveals in such a short time is bound to make anyone confused.

"Folium-san, what are you going on about?" Miyuki is just as confused. Her sword is not out either. There's so much more we need to figure out to fully get the full picture of the situation. Monokuma is sadly right when he says everything will only truly click together at the end of things. By the look of things, I'm not sure any of us will make it that far.

"You can't give into Monokuma's demands, no matter what happens. Promise me that-" Before Mirabilis could finish whatever she is saying, chains from the ceiling from down to pick her up. Everything else is dropped, including Mitsuru's body and all the paint.

"Gosh, Rosalina, I gave you a simple job and instead you broke three rules! First, you didn't vote. Second, you attacked my fine bode! Third, you didn't mislead the trial like you were supposed to!" Monokuma shouts. Wait, Mirabilis was given the order to mislead the trial? But she didn't point her finger at anyone. No, no, no. Don't tell me! Mirabilis, what's going on inside your mind?

"I'm sorry." That is when I realize that out of the three chains that picked up Mirabilis, one stay with her. The one around her neck. She grabs onto her neck and her legs start to kick. Her wand gets dropped once again. How is that thing still together after all of this abuse?

"Mirabilis!" all of us cry out at once. I make my way to the podium to hack its systems but Hideyoshi kicks me in the stomach. I immediately bend over, gasping for my own breath.

"Nothing will stop Lord Kazuma! Not a single one of you! If anybody kills him, it's me!" Hideyoshi then picks up Mirabilis's wand but then remembers he has no hands. It falls out of his stubs seconds later. Monokuma tries to come up to him but he just kicks the machine to bits. Over and over his foot meets with the metal. "Oh, look, you're just like Naoko."

Not a lot of us are focusing on Hideyoshi, though, as we stare up to Mirabilis. She is still holding on but her face is turning blue. We have to figure out a way to get her out of there. I cannot just lay here doing nothing as my friend is dying again!

"Please, don't die, Mirabilis!" I shout. The logical part of my brain says that this is useless, but I will not give up. There's a chance that Mirabilis will live. We have to find a way to get her out of here! She will not end up like Kazuhiko or Kyoto!

"Hang in there! You can do it!" Minato joins in with me. Miyuki gets out her sword and seems to be trying to figure out a plan to free Mirabilis. Namita places a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"You may be annoying but survive." Even Akemi is joining up with us. All together we are. Besides the people who have spoken, there's Takara, Tsukiko, and Atsuto. Mirabilis gives us the hope of finally defeating Monokuma and this goddamn awful game.

Before we can do anything, a gunshot rings through the room. The next thing we notice is a gunshot that is in Mirabilis's head. Her body goes limp as the chain lets go of her. Her body lands without grace onto the floor. Her eyes are wide open and seem is be asking why.

"...What?"

"And that's how you aim." That's when we noticed that two people were not with us. Hideyoshi was with Hayato, making sure that he has the correct aim. Tears are falling out of Hayato's eyes.

But the goddamn boy just killed two of my friends.

"You son of a bitch!" Not paying attention to my own injuries, I try to run my way towards Hayato. Who cares if he has a gun? That son of a bitch is not going to get out of the trial room without facing my fury.

"Calm down, Ayano!" Atsuto says. He, along with Minato, Miyuki, and Namita, hold me down, but I still try to reach Hayato. I look over to Mirabilis to see that she is still bleeding. Her once colorful eyes are now taken away from her.

"You really should pay more attention." Hideyoshi does not seem to be impressed. He slowly makes his way toward us, but, before he does, Akemi runs to him and punches him in the face. He does not care and then kicks Akemi where it hurts hard. Akemi falls onto the floor as well.

"What?" Miyuki only can stare in horror as the realization sets in, causing everybody else to let go of me. Namita tries to comfort her but her actions are clearly futile. Everybody is mentally exhausted. I'm not even trying to attack Hayato anymore.

"Sorry! Sorry! I'm so sorry!" Hayato's hands begin to shake harshly (damn, I didn't ever think that he would decide to keep the gun that he used to kill Kyoto). Hideyoshi looks over to him, but in the process of doing so, falls onto the floor as well. The poison in his system must be getting to him. I would like to beat him up too if Monokuma wasn't already planning to execute him. Speaking of Monokuma, I cannot find him anywhere, he's probably staying back, relaxing, and eating popcorn while all of us suffer.

"Hayato, calm down!" Namita tries to help the situation. Though her face drops as she notices that Minato has gone missing again. At this point, Monokuma does not care about where they go, just as long as they experience the 'plot' as Monokuma loves calling it.

"Attention, students, we have new information for you to process," a voice comes over the speakers. It is the same mysterious woman voice as the last trial. Who is this bitch? We're in the middle of something important! "All of your loved ones are dead. Bye."

"Huh?" All of us do not know what to do with that information. Is it even trustworthy? Monokuma has the bad habit of lying. If he doesn't give us evidence, then I won't believe it!

"..." Hayato's eyes are dead. The next thing he does is something I did expect...

Is that he pointed the gun towards his own head.

"Calm!" Takara's eyes dilate. This situation is really, really bad. Everybody is trying to calm him down, but I do not think that is working. There's still a gun pointed to his head.

"There! Now you won't be useless anymore!" Hideyoshi smiles. It is downright unnerving to see a smile like that be on what used to be Takayuki's face.

"..."

"Don't listen to him, Hayato! Come on!" Tsukiko pleads with him. "Come on, Cassius wouldn't want you to do this-"

"Cassius would want you to do this! Don't listen to her!" Hideyoshi is too damn creepy, but then again he drove Akita insane as well. Maybe he has a knack of doing that. Shouldn't Hayato, as a salesperson, be smarter than this?

"..." Hayato's eyes start to swirl. I may not like him that much, but this is still hard to watch. Everything has fallen into chaos. What the Hell is happening?! Well, Mirabilis is dead, Hayato is trying to kill himself, and Takayuki is now Hideyoshi and will be executed soon. This is all too much!

"Just listen to me, Hayato!" Tsukiko takes a step forward and Hayato's finger is closer to pulling the trigger.

"Sorry-"

"Will you stop saying sorry for one sec-"

"Akemi, mind yourself! Listen to Tsukiko, Hayato, she's been by your side since the very beginning, remember?" Namita is trying to help as well. She is juggling Hayato, along with everyone else.

Then Tsukiko, with determination in her eyes, runs toward Hayato. He is about to pull the trigger before the pure adrenaline in her system makes her able to grab it from his hands and throw it on the ground. Miyuki then quickly rushes for it with Namita, with Hideyoshi following after them. When Miyuki starts coughing, Namita is the one who finishes before Hideyoshi and points the gun toward him, causing him to stop.

Hayato tries to make his way toward the gun, but then Tsukiko slaps him across the face. With his eyes returning back to normal, he stares into Tsukiko's eyes. They stay that way for awhile.

"Um, can somebody finally clarify what's going on with Takayuki?" Namita asks. "And, you know...Mirabilis...with the whole Committee thing. What does all of this mean? Also, the whole Ayano, Satoshi, Cassius thing." Even though I understand Personality Experiment #045, I've no idea what was going on with Mirabilis. Too bad she's dead now, unable to tell us anything.

"Puhuhuhu, oh, you simple little things. I helped you a lot. I killed an Irving for you." An Irving? Like the Irvings that created the original Committee? What do they have to do with all of this? "That corpse over there was **Rosalina Irving**. Did you really think somebody really would have the last name Folium and be a florist?"

* * *

 **Ultimate Florist**

 **Rosalina Irving**

* * *

"Irving?" There goes my theory that the Committee was all behind this. Why would they kill their heir? And...why, what the fuck, Rosalina, out of all the people here, was the heir to the Committee? I don't know how to think about that. If she survived, would she take control of the Committee and change it for the better? Did we just cause the death of the person who singlehandly could bring about world peace?

I'm so sorry, Mirabilis. Who knew the very essence of justice could be so closely connected to the Committee?

She is taken away from us way too soon like youth, intellect, and wrath. All these personifications dying on after the other with nothing we can do to stop them.

"Um, that only makes me more confused," Namita comments. We are lucky that Minato is not here, I would not want them to see anymore of this insanity. At this point, Minato is the only person who can warm all of our hearts. Everybody is breaking, and, if that happens, Monokuma wins. That is one outcome I cannot allow to happen. I would rather die a thousand times than let Monokuma win this cruel game.

"So Kira would've liked her. Dammit." Akemi spits onto the ground in the direction of Hideyoshi. He then flips him off.

"Well..." Atsuto does not know what to say. Seeing his face again makes me remember the good old days, the smiling faces of the children from the past. Even Izuru smiled every once and a while.

"..." Although Hayato out of his despair state, he still did not look well. Tsukiko is too focused to trying to make him feel better to notice the chaos surrounding the two of them. She does seem to have an ear out but, other than that, nothing.

Miyuki is now with Namita, with her hands on her shoulders. Helps that Namita is practically sitting on the ground. The gun is still focused on Hideyoshi, with Miyuki teaching Namita how to use it properly. Can't have her accidentally killing another person.

"Hey, bring us back, Takayuki, you monster!" Namita fires a warning shot, or what I presumed to be one, at Hideyoshi's feet. He glares at her.

"Puhuhuhu, you don't understand, do you?" Hideyoshi laughs some more. There's tears coming out of his eyes heavily. "None of you really knew the real Takayuki Anno. He committed suicide many years ago! That fake was just an alter created for me!"

"Takayuki...killed himself?" I cannot believe it. If that's true, what happened with the original Akita and Chiyo? What's the true story behind Personality Experiment #045? I'm getting lost in all of this information. I thought the truth about me would be hard to shallow, but this might be much more worse for my classmates.

"Lord Kazuma, I'm getting bored! Let's end everything with a bang!" Hideyoshi yells. Namita tries to shot Hideyoshi, but, before anything happens, she realizes the gun is empty. She then throws it to the side, far away from Hideyoshi.

"Please get rid of this crazy-"

"Shut up, Akemi, the important characters are talking. I've some things to tell you Ayano considering you're the protagonist. The first thing is to trust Kindra Hiraoka."

"Hiraoka?" There are more Hiraokas? Kazuhiko told me to take care of her, or what I presume to be a her, so I don't see why Hideyoshi finds it necessary to tell me to truth her. Maybe he just thought I forgot or something and was reminding me in his own special way.

"Oh, what's the next thing?" Namita is being impatient with him as well. Maybe the ones who know about the project should better explain it later, or else there might be a lot of awkward moments. It would also help us find the third subject. I wonder...did Mirabilis know? Mirabilis, why did you have to die? And for such stupid reasons as well. You should be here, right next to us.

"For the embodiment thing you like doing, I've a suggestion for poor little Shinichi boy."

"How in the world do you know about that?" I question him. That stays in my mind, so what is Hideyoshi going on about? Did he read me so well that he can tell what I'm thinking sometimes?

"My best friend was the real Ultimate Private Investigator, so I know some shit. Anyway, consider...um...death. It's ironic since his nickname was Shi, but none of you knew that, right?" Hideyoshi takes off his lab coat and places it softly over Mirabilis's corpse in a lovely manner. "...I truly am sorry...let's get this show on the road!" What is with his sudden changes in character?

"Well, time to do this!" Monokuma appears again and is about to hit the button to activate the execution. Hideyoshi, however, kicks him out of the seat. Once making sure the Monokuma was destroyed, he himself sat in the seat. The screens then all show the execution room, removing the need to go into the viewing room.

"My classmates, it's time for the moment you've all been waiting for! It is time for our third **_PUNISHMENT TIME!_** "

* * *

 **Sanity Over**

 **Takayuki and Hideyoshi have been found guilty by the court of Monokuma**

 **TIME FOR PUNISHMENT!**

* * *

 **The Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde**

 **Ultimate Private Investigator Takayuki Anno's and Ultimate Clown Hideyoshi Yamazaki's Execution**

* * *

Hideyoshi finds himself stripped down to some kind of wheel (I remember some of them from stories father used to tell me, they are the kinds that knife throwers use). He is in some kind of demented circus. In the middle is him and one of the Monokuma, dressed up as some kind of doctor. Surrounding him are hundreds of other Monokumas that are watching him in glee. Then the wheel begins to spin.

The out of place Monokuma starts throwing needles filled with some kind of mysterious green substance at him. They continue to miss him, as Hideyoshi yawns in boredom. That changes when one of them finally manages to hit him right in his left eye socket. Three more hit him in order, in the arm, leg, and chest. Hideyoshi almost...you know...during this, and I felt tempted to cover Atsuto's eyes.

However, before he can enjoy himself any further, Hideyoshi yells out in pain. The floor falls from underneath him...

Then, still tied to the wheel, Hideyoshi finds himself in a morgue. Bodies of Monokumas are all around him, brutally murdered in various different ways. Hideyoshi then realizes his constraints are free so he gets up. I realize that everything about him seems to be Takayuki. Don't tell me that whatever the Hell was in those needles somehow made Takayuki come back in control!

Then all of the Monokumas suddenly come back to life. They all jump on Takayuki and start to tear away at him. Takayuki slowly but surely makes his way to the only door in the room. The poison is starting to overpower his system as he begins to pant. Honestly, I don't know how to feel right now. I want look away, but, for some reason, my eyes cannot leave the screen.

Making his way to the door, Takayuki only realizes one thing, an elevator that has definitely seen better days. The Monokumas all push him inside the moment right before it falls down. Takayuki gets thrown back and forth in the elevator, but it stops before it could do any serious damage.

He slowly makes it through the elevator door, but collapses the moment he gets through. Takayuki barely notices the same doctor Monokuma coming towards him with a different needle filled with a blue liquid. Trying to crawl away, Takayuki doesn't make it that far before the Monokuma injects the needle into Takayuki's system. The moment he does, Takayuki screams in such a way I can never forget. It is feral and most certainly not human, yet it comes out of his mouth.

His body contorted in ways none of us excepted a human could, even after seeing Shinichi's horrible death. Bones crack and protrude from his skin. Blood sweeps from his newly made wounds.

In his last moments, Takayuki reaches out for something. What? We will never know. Monokuma, as some kind of sick joke, produces a gun and just shoots Takayuki in the head just like Mirabilis.

Even then, Takayuki Anno, the embodiment of duality, did not give into Hideyoshi's despair, instead fading into the nothingness.

* * *

 **Puhuhuhu. The thing is, the culprit themself isn't supposed to be that hard itself, but everything else is. Congrats on those who called the secrets behind Satoshi and Rosalina. You guys deserve a medal.**

 **Thank you YellowtheWriter for sending in Rosalina 'Folium' and CommanderofInsanity for Takayuki Anno. I had a little too much fun with your characters. It's truly sad that both of them are now dead.**

 **To confirm what's on my profile page, yes, I indeed made Satoshi Nakajima...or should I say Atsuto Togami. You can call him whatever you want because that's what the other characters do.**

 **Yep, this chapter is gonna break some of you, I just know it. ;)**

 **Now more SYOCs. Hahahaha, I have these coming out of my ears apparently. I recommend Danganronpa: Mercy by mpjinindustries. Never underestimate my ability to find SYOCs that need characters and love.**

 **Also, this story has almost 20,000 views. Oh my lord. Seriously, how did the story become this popular? This is truly insane so thank you all so much. Three more days until my birthday too. :D**

 **Yea, after the After Trial, it's the rewrite. Wwwwwwwwwwwoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. That's gonna be fun. A lot more DiOS updates will be coming out.**

 **Now reviews since long author notes are usually long~**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Yes. ;) Never trust the anons. You all know whose the next person sent by an anon. ;) ;) ;) Never trust em anons. Monokuma: the Ultimate Ass. Almost drove...four peeps into suicide (let's see...Akita, Ayano, Kira, and Hayato...it really is the Suicide Forest) already. Hotaru is just like nope during the end of the chapter. Nope, nope, nope, not dealing with that. Well, Ayano was originally supposed to be that height, but then I was like MAKE HER TALL and tall she became. You can say that Mitsuru was...unlucky. (stop me now)**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-Don't drink anymore tea during this chapter, it has more mind fucks! Here's more reveals! This is why chapter four is so long, and there's an editing process, to make everybody calm down. Etsuko approves of this chapter for the better study of humanity. Haha, you were right. Never trust me with my protags *Ayano sweats*. Well, here's more work! BWAHAHAHA! No problemo. ;) I'm doing it more now considering, um, Mirabilis is also dead. The magical girl shall be missed.**

 **AnonChan1-Oh boy, this chapter is gonna hurt too. All the name changes! It's always CommanderofInsanity. Stop predicting my plot, Rin. Hotaru didn't have fun. Minato getting character development! Here's more chaos! Yeah, Ayano and Atsuto know each other from their early childhood (Ayano is older than Atsuto so she remembers more). Poor Atsuto, he's been screwed over by Kaneshiro so many times. Yasu is gonna be a big part of the forth chapter so they're gonna wake up. Yep, Cassius was the fake. Poor, poor Hayato. Well, now Rosalina is dead. Kazuhiko needs a hug since he got screwed over too. I would think Akita was the mastermind too in his situation, even though I don't think I would've done the things he did. Turns out that Takayuki wasn't framed because of HIDEYOSHI. Goddammit, Hideyoshi, stop ruining everything.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-In this story, yes, it is. Yep, Satoshi is the love child of Byakuya and Toko (and so many things were then explained). Nope, these are the only two related to the original cast. Well, everybody has their secrets, right Mirabilis? Don't worry, Mochi is the only character whose completely fine. Yasu loves that rabbit so much, that rabbit truly is their hope. Thanks, here's more suffering!**

 **dashunterman-Don't worry, that will be shown later on in the story. I actually explain a lot of shit during the end. Hopefully everything will make sense and be a fun experience. I don't want to experience the V3 ending backlash. Oh dear lord...guys, the V3 ending is actually my fav ending. *gets murdered***


	41. After Trial 3-1

**After Trial 3-1: Requiem of the Damned**

* * *

It happens once again, yet another execution. All of us stand in the middle with our eyes wide. Everything about this trial leaves me confused. What am I supposed to feel? Should I be sad about Takayuki? Mirabilis? Everybody else? I don't know why, but all I can feel is this massive weight in my chest. The weight of nothingness. Am I getting used to watching my friends die horribly?

"No, you can't do this!" Namita suddenly yells out. I look behind me to see that Namita is having a tug of war match with Monokuma. The both of them are holding onto Mirabilis's body.

"Let me help." Tsukiko joins in but Miyuki finds that she is too short. Miyuki then decides to climb up Namita, which she strangely does not mind, to join in on the fight. Afterward, the rest of us felt obliged to put in some effort.

That does not matter, though, as Monokuma summons a whole army of Monokumas to help him. He easily overpowers us, with even Miyuki being weak due to the events of the trial.

"Monokuma...what are you doing with her body?" Hayato questions him. He still looks dead inside. Once I wake up tomorrow, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind. Right now, though, we're all on the same team. My body also feels way too exhausted. All my adrenaline is gone and my injuries are acting up again. Being too reckless might reopen my stab wound which would not be good.

"That's for me to know and you to find out!" Monokuma responds. He disappears with all of his clones with Mirabilis's body. Her blood is still on the ground, leaving a pool behind. Mitsuru's body, however, is left behind. It is strange that we now want the bodies. Guess we're so used to giving them some kind of funeral rites and stripping that away from us is one way to induce some kind of despair.

"Um, let's get this over with." Akemi picks up one end of Mitsuru with everybody else helping him. They do not seem to realize I have stayed behind. Maybe they did, though, and just decided to leave me be. One person, however, comes down the stairs a couple minutes later, Atsuto.

"We have a lot to talk about, Ayano." He sits down on one of the stairs and motions me next to him. I do as he says.

"Everybody's dead." I'm taken off by Atsuto's bluntness. Whoever Satoshi was, it is sure to me that Atsuto was just acting. His eyes are way too sad to be 'Satoshi.'

"Dead-"

"I mean, I don't know what happened to the children abducted by the Committee instead for you! But Ayano Kirigiri killed everybody!" Atsuto shouts out as if he was holding it in for a long time. "I mean...I mean...sure, she didn't kill them directly, but she caused it! She used Hideyoshi and Akita!"

"But Izuru can't be dead, right?" I ask. Dad is the most talented person in the world. Even somebody as talented as Kirigiri cannot hope to kill him. Even Junko Enoshima tried multiple times and failed.

"Yes."

"..." Dad...is dead? Everybody, even the ones that the Committee did not get to yet? How the Hell? I know that they know where the island is, but they were smart enough to move, right? "...How?"

"I don't know what happened at the island. I was the only survivor of the on land Future Foundation. Technically, I'm the only member of the Future Foundation. Ha, I truly am unlucky." Atsuto's face is too earnest for him to be lying. Though, even with that, he doesn't know for sure what happened to dad.

"We just have to hope that the others are alive and just in hiding, right?" I say to him. Instead of feeling despair, I have a newfound sense of hope. My dad can be alive! I bet if he is, he is working on a way to get us all out of here.

"But-"

"Do you know what this means? There's still hope!" I smile. Atsuto is clearly confused about my state of being. He is clearly not the same, but Atsuto did just kill someone else. Doing that does bring down somebody's spirits sometimes.

"You sound like Kazuhiko." Okay, the new 'Satoshi' is officially blunt. He really likes stating his mind, doesn't he?

"I guess, I don't know about that. But even I want to cling to the hope of finally leaving this place, not the nothingness of allowing ourselves to rot here." For once in this game, something is generally making me happy after Kazuhiko's death. My father can really save us. He won't die that easily.

"But, let's be serious now, what did Kirigiri do to Hideyoshi and Akita?" I ask him, changing my tone. Learning more about the original versions of some of our classmates might make us solve this mystery. Even the smallest pieces of evidence can become important later.

"The Committee has the Suicide and Despair videos," Atsuto explains. "They also have the Neo World Program. Why do you think they attacked your island? One reason was to abduct some of the children, but the main was to get the Neo World Program." If the Committee has all of those, why does the mastermind have the Suicide video? Does that mean they have the other ones too?

"But what does that have to do with Akita?" Akita is the biggest mystery here. Only if I knew how she thought like, maybe everything would make sense. I cannot comprehend anything about her. Akita Yamazaki, what are you hiding?

"Kirigiri and Kaneshiro teamed up together. I don't know everything but they did something to my friends to make them end up like...that," he cries out. "Hideyoshi wasn't like that! Neither was Akita! It's because of those fuckers and Kotori! I didn't want my uncle, my aunt, my father...my m-mother to end up like that!" In a fit of emotion, Atsuto runs out of the trial room. Poor Atsuto, he must have seen a lot.

Before I chase after him, I hear something come from the torture room. Is somebody in there? I don't remember Monokuma placing anybody in there. This is the only time to check, so Atsuto has to come later. I'm sorry, Atsuto.

"Hello?" I say as I slowly open the door. In the chair, I see that Minato is the one inside. Did Monokuma punish them for accidentally leaving the trial area? Damn, that sick bear.

"...!" Minato tries to say something but their mouth is still covered. Working as quickly as I can, I free Minato from the torture chair all by myself. This chair causes way too much despair.

"Minato-" I am interrupted by Minato hugging me and crying onto my shoulder. The two of us stay there for a long time...

"Ah!" Minato shouts out. They jump away from me, so I look around to see nothing around the two of us. I wonder what set off Minato until I look down at my own chest, seeing the wound has reopened and blood is seeping out of it.

"Oh."

"We have to go to the Hospital!" Before I can respond to Minato, I see that they have gone missing once again. I sigh as I go out of the torture room all by myself. Seeing the trial room all by myself is oppressive. But, once again, my attention is elsewhere as I notice yet another sound, this time coming from the execution watching room.

Looking in the room, I notice that nothing is inside. The sound must have just been my imagination. I look at Takayuki's dead body on the other side of the fence. There is something I didn't notice from the TVs, Takayuki's smile. He is just like Akita. Both of them are the most peaceful in death.

There is no way to get inside the actual execution, so I sadly turn away from Takayuki. I wonder what was going on inside his mind as well. Hm, I wonder if I can write a scoop for Kazuhiko about all of this. That might make me know who Kindra is as well. Though I highly doubt Kindra is Japanese due to her name, but she might happen to have that name and still be Japanese.

* * *

The sun is still out. I find it strange since I feel as if my body is about to fall, but yet the sun still shines through the branches. It is almost as if it is trying to comfort us after the chaos of this trial. Much like the mother I never had, the sun is hugging us in her own warmth.

I stand in front of the patio just by the graves. Noticing something shine in the corner of my eye, I walk towards it. Something catches my eye before I reach it, however. There are still not enough graves for everyone since we did not predict the extra deaths, but I remember Mirabilis working so hard on them. One of them I realize has a name that shouldn't be on there: Rosalina Irving.

"You really did sacrifice yourself for us, huh?" I chuckle. Even in death, Mirabilis is still the magical girl she claimed to be. "Mirabilis, you used to the wrong name on your own grave." I notice that somebody has placed her wand on the grave. Huh, even if we don't have her body, somebody somehow had the time to get this and place it.

However, I do not linger long on Mirabilis's grave. The one that catches my eye is Kazuhiko's. I notice that somebody has placed a silver cross on it. Grabbing it, I see that it is a typical one for those who practice Christianity. There is text on the back that reads...

"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry?" I read out loud. It says Colossians 3:5 after it. Knowing almost nothing about Christianity, I have no idea what this means, so I place it back where it was.

* * *

Taking a deep breath, I stand in front of the door to the Hospital. I hope that both Yasu and Kira are asleep right now. Explaining to them the madness of that trial will be too much right now.

I open the door as slowly and quietly as I can. That does not matter, however, as I see Yasu and Kira are up. All of the others must have returned to their rooms or elsewhere and left this difficult situation to me.

"Kid, how did things go?" Yasu questions me. It is good to see them awake, even though this is not the best situation. They have their eyes open yet they are still droopy. Kira, for clear reasons, cannot do that. How does Kira go to sleep? Does she still have eyelids? These are questions I must know but do not feel exactly comfortable asking her.

"Yeah, who did it?" Kira adds-on. Both of them are understandably curious. I sit down on my own cot and take yet another deep breath.

"How exactly do I explain this? Um..." I then see that Mochi has jumped onto my lap. Mochi sure can jump really high. Seeing that the rabbit is unharmed puts a heavy weight off my chest. If a rabbit can survive, I can survive. I pet Mochi's ears for a bit before he goes back to Yasu. Seeing Mochi, however, reminds me of Mitsuru. "Mitsuru is dead."

"Did she kill them?" Kira asks me. Yasu seems withdrawn, however.

"...Well, she was killed too-"

"Oh," Yasu and Kira respond both at once.

"Let's not interrupt her anymore. Don't you want to know the truth?" Kira is still down but she is doing a better job at hiding her own sadness. However, Yasu looks like they are about to cry.

"Okay, kid, if you say so."

"If I got it correctly, um, Satoshi killed Mitsuru, but he really is Atsuto Togami. However, Hayato tried to kill Kyoto first, but Kyoto did not die until this morning due to him messing up. Takayuki killed Naoko somehow and was the one executed, but it turns out he has a split personality of Hideyoshi-"

"What?" Both of them are confused. I do not blame them. It is going to take a couple of days for all of this to truly sink in.

"Um..." I look at Yasu once again. They are not going to take this one well. "Mirabilis is really the second heir of the Committee, Rosalina Irving..."

"Wait, the Committee has an heir?" Kira asks me. Now that I think about it, that is the first time that I heard of such a thing. I always thought it would go to a random higher up but it seems like Sasha and Wendy wanted to keep things in the family. They did not even announce that they had a child, however, and Mirabilis is the second. Just what was happening with Mirabilis? Only if she was alive, and the type of person to actually answer questions.

"Yes, but that's not the important thing. She broke Monokuma's rules and was...put to death." Yasu's eyes widen as tears begin to fall out. Mochi starts to snuggle against them as Yasu turns their head to not face me.

"I feel tired. I just want to sleep." Yasu's voice sounds way too high to be their normal one.

"Yeah, let's go to sleep." Kira follows suit. I did not even go to the part where Cassius's true talent was revealed. To be honest, I do not know whether or not that would make Kira sadder or happier. Also, the part about Kazuhiko. So much has happened in a matter of a couple hours.

Knowing Monokuma, I fall asleep. The bear will probably fix my wound while I'm asleep. Monokuma works like that. Being in this situation for this long makes me get inside Monokuma's head better. This will probably be over soon, though, as I'm sure my dad will find us. I'm sure.

* * *

 **Haha, last chapter before the reedit. Woo! And it's officially my birthday. Posting this at 1:00 AM. Don't worry, it's kinda a thing I do on my birthday that I stay up until when I was born 3:56 in the morning. :P Oh, and I'm a college student, it's in my blood to stay up late (wait, blood? What...you know what, whatever).**

 **Reviews~**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Haha, who knew, I can be smart. Oops, I totally didn't just do a complete hiccup. Just gonna change it while I rewrite this and pretend that never happened. :P YES! Feed me with your tears. Mirabilis deserves a medal. She stood up to Monokuma in a way that nobody else really ever will. I'll happily give Mirabilis some reviewer cookies.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Turns out that Mochi is actually...all of our fathers. We're all related and secretly bunnies. Tumblr sure has exploded too. Mirabilis would have made the world a better place...like Kazuhiko and Shinichi too. So many possible world changers are now dead. Here's some Mochi! :D Thank you so much. ^.^**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I WISH YOU LUCK AT WORK! Guys, I keep on breaking Tobi, what do I do? It's only chapter three. We're only halfway through the entire story.**

 **mayurie-Welcome back. :) Takayuki is in Hideyoshi's body. Monokuma just literally killed the world's hope, yep. Hayato needs some much-needed therapy sessions with Tsukiko. Everybody needs therapy sessions with Tsukiko and not Etsuko. NOBODY IN THIS STORY DESERVES THE DEATH THAT THEY ARE GIVEN! We're halfway through the story and we've got a billion questions to answer (thank God DiOS has fewer questions, I learned). Thanks so much. SSPPPPPPPPPPPPPPAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Because em apartments.**

 **AnonChan1-Mirabilis did all the things in this chapter to make her not safe. Takayuki needs a hug in the afterlife fic. Kindra is going on. Hideyoshi has become both a launcher of a thousand ships and the person with the most NOTPs in one chapter. You betcha there's gonna be flashbacks of the both of them being kids playing with each other. Mirabilis needs all of the love in the world. Yep, that's right, they're put in the order that they died. All versions of Takayuki need a hug. Oh, that'll be explained later. ;) Shinichi did some stuff alright. I feel bad for all of these characters put into my care...because of my love of classic literature. (like seriously that's two deaths based on classic literature)**

 **dashunterman-Puhuhuhu, here's gonna be an answer arc. ;) Seriously, though, chapter four answers some stuff and gives you time to breath.**


	42. Chapter 4-1

**Chapter 4-1: Time Waits For...**

* * *

 _ **Monokuma Theatre!**_

 _Oh, it's time to fuck with these kids once again! So many ways, so little time. Tick tock, the clock goes, counting down to your solemn hour. Tick tock, tock tick, tick tock._

 _Look how little students are left. Death truly doesn't discriminate against the sinners and the saints, huh? It just takes, and it takes, and it takes..._

 _That's what makes it so fun! Anybody can die at any moment! And everybody dies eventually, whether they like it or not. It's time to accept that fact._

 _Right,_ Izumi?

* * *

Izumi?

Why does that name pop up all the time? Is there something I'm forgetting? Or just more things I'm hiding from myself due to my heavy conscience? Time to investigate.

As I continue to wake up, I notice that my wound has been healed. That damn bear reacted just as I thought he would. Figures.

Kira and Yasu are both still out of it. Mochi is awake and snuggling himself against his paralyzed friend. I wonder if the rabbit is smart enough to figure out Mitsuru and Mirabilis are gone.

"Ayano, you're awake." It surprises me that Akemi is standing in the room with the three of us.

"...Akemi..."

"Do you wanna beat the shit out of Hayato together?" he asks. Akemi is so nonchalant about it that it chances me off guard at first. But what really shocks me is that he holds one of his hands towards me.

"With you? Yes." Not caring about our last feuds, I take hold of his hand. Akemi himself is the one that shakes me off.

That son of a bitch needs to pay for what he did to Kyoto. Especially because he can't be executed.

And Mirabilis. How could he allow himself to be manipulated like a little bitch?!

"Hmmm..." Akemi pulls out his handbook and searches on it. "This says he's in the garden. Alone."

"What better time to do it then?" I ask. Akemi smirks in response.

"What are we waiting for? I don't want the 'moms' of the group bitching at us." Akemi doesn't even wait for me to leave the room. I quickly follow after him.

* * *

Hayato, like Akemi said, is all by himself in the gardens, sitting at one of the tables. He has massive bags under his eyes and skin paler than it was before. His eyes look dead as they focus solely on the coffee in front of him.

Barely any sun is out so I guess everybody else is sleeping. It must still be ridiculously early.

"Hey, Hayato, you're a filthy murderer, you know that!?" Akemi then kicks away the table Hayato had his coffee on. Hayato doesn't respond.

"...Yes, you are right. I should be the one dead instead of all my other classmates who have perished."

"Indulging in self pity isn't gonna make any of us feel better!"

"Just answer me this, Hayato. Why?" I question him. With my position, I tower over the two boys.

"For the motive-"

"I already know that! WHY!?" I interrupt him. I slap him across the face.

"Remind me not to piss you off later," Akemi comments.

"Kamukura-san, this is enough." Miyuki comes out of nowhere and stands between Hayato and I. "You need to calm down."

"Yes, what Yuki says is the truth," Namita adds-on. Since when did Namita use a nickname for Miyuki?

"I am perfectly calm-"

"Um, you just bitch slapped Hayato." Namita sighs. There are bags under her eyes but she still feels full of life.

"I knew at least one of the moms were gonna come." Akemi rolls his eyes. Namita and Miyuki stare at him, confused.

"Kamukura-san, Nakatani-san, Akimoto-san is also a victim of Kazuma-san. It may be best to remember that." Miyuki, along with Namita, motion Hayato to come with them. Hayato picks up his cup before doing so. Both of us do not want to fight with Miyuki, so we just watch the three of them go.

"That didn't go according to the plan. Oh well, we can think of something else." Akemi sighs as he fixes up the table setup. I remember this being the place Hayato and Cassius would spend a lot of time together.

"I would think the Ultimate Chess Player would think more ahead." If it weren't for the fact Izuru will save us, I would seriously consider killing Akemi. Not like I have much to live for except my father and Atsuto. And perhaps Kindra.

"Really? I just make whatever move my gut says." I severely doubt that is the way you play chess. How did this guy become an Ultimate?

"I will be going now," I excuse myself. Akemi cannot react before I leave.

* * *

Not wanting to return to my room, I make my way back to the Hospital cot. Neither Yasu or Kira are awake yet.

Although I am tired, I cannot fall back into the realm of sleep. Too many thoughts roam in my mind.

Perhaps I was a little too cruel to Hayato. My father would definitely not approve of my actions. Why am I so damn emotional now? The me for the Killing Game would never act like this. Am I truly turning into Kazuhiko like Atsuto said? And is that a good or bad thing?

How exactly did Hideyoshi kill Naoko? Whose the last experiment? Who is Kaneshiro Kazuma? And how did the mastermind get ahold of the videos?

Even with these thoughts, and many more, I finally find myself going to sleep. The images of all the bodies I have seen running through my head.

* * *

 ** _Monokuma Theatre!_**

 _First things first, welcome back! It hasn't even been a thousand words into the chapter yet! You must love me very much to-_

 _"Excuse me, Monokuma. I need to tell a message to all the students!" somebody shouts. I notice a figure that strangely looks like me but with red eyes and black hair come onto the screen._

 _"Izumi!? How-"_

 _"Be patient! Help is on the way! Just don't kill each other anymore-"_

 _"Oh, Izumi, Izumi, you're an ignorant fool!"_

 _The screen fades to black._

* * *

Once again I find myself waking up to the same question playing in my mind. Whose Izumi?

...But, also, what did she mean about helping us? Does somebody finally know where we are? Is the person or group Izumi is talking about somehow related to my father?

"Ayano?" Kira questions me while rubbing where her eyes used to be. Realizing what she is doing, Kira stops. "Do you have an evil twin we don't know about?"

"Evil twin?"

"With red eyes and black hair and stuff?" It appears that I'm not the only person who sees Monokuma Theatre.

"Not that I know about," I answer. Looking over to Yasu, I realize that Mochi is no longer with them.

"Mochi?" The next thing I see is the rabbit on top of me, peacefully sleeping. His fur is somehow still the same shade of brilliant white.

Then Kira says goodbye and goes back to sleep. Before that, however, she takes off her jacket slowly and uses it as a makeshift blanket.

However, I do not want to see another Monokuma Theatre so soon. I once again make my way out of my bed and decide to go the library. The cafeteria is probably still littered with all the different weapons.

* * *

Reaching the library, I notice that Takara is the only one on the base level. Something is different about him, however, as I notice that he has Takayuki's lab coat on. It must have fallen off of Mirabilis when Monokuma snatched her.

He is sitting at one of the tables. Takara has many documents from the upper library around him and is gathering notes in his notepad.

I do not want to interrupt Takara, so I walk pass him. As long as I don't touch him, I should be fine.

"Ayano. Nishiki. Kamukura. You're in a lot of trouble." Tsukiko enters the library and sets her eyes on me. Namita and Miyuki must have told her what had happened.

"Oh no." Not exactly feeling like it right that moment, I bolted to the upper library. Tsukiko tries to keep up with me.

I then make it into the secret room before Tsukiko can find me. She must not know where this is because she just leaves.

"That was close." Okay, I was definitely too hard on Hayato if Tsukiko reacted like that.

"Oh, Ayano!" I see that Atsuto is in the same room. He too looks exhausted, like he didn't sleep the whole night before.

"Atsuto, keep your voice down," I respond. Atsuto then makes the motion of zipping up his lips.

"There's something I want you to see." He motions me to come closer, so I follow his demand. Tons of diaries lay open on the ground along with the notes about Personality Experiment #045.

"Akita Yamazaki, Sae Emiya, Chiyo Jinya, Hideyoshi Yamazaki, and Takayuki Anno all knew each other."

"All the experiments are related?" I ask him. I know how the boys meet, but what about the girls? There's nothing linking them but Hope's Peak before the experiments.

"I've been trying to find out whose the last experiment through these and more about the apartments. Who knows? It might even have information about Izuru."

"Izuru-"

"But Ayano, I figured out the real Takayuki was dead a long time ago. I tired telling him about it to see how he reacted," he interrupts me. Atsuto then picks up a diary with blank pages. He flips to a random middle page that reads...

"Takayuki killed himself today. Must be because of Kaneshiro. Chiyo is out for blood. Must stop her," I read out loud. Chiyo? Were Chiyo and Takayuki somehow related to each other?

"Now let me ask you one thing, Ayano Kamukura...Who killed Kotori?" Suddenly, Atsuto's whole demeanor changes. He is staring daggers into my soul.

"I don't know-"

"Don't bullshit me."

"..." But I promised not to tell anyone. All this time I have kept that promise, and I don't attend on breaking it.

"Then let me ask a simpler question, why did Kazuhiko's name change from Yanagi to Hiraoka?" Atsuto is starting to become frightening. His voice is cold and digs intensely into my fragile skin. He must have learned to act this way to survive.

"Ummm..."

"How much do you truly know about the experiments and the game we're in? How much longer do you intend on hiding everything?"

"One question at a time-"

"Ayano, Kazuhiko killed Kotori, didn't he?"

"..." Shit.

"And you were involved, right?"

"..." I truly don't know what to say. Atsuto keeps looking into my soul with his steadfast eyes.

"And, let me guess, the reason why Kazuhiko's name changed is because he was adopted by Kotori-"

"No, that's wrong!" I shout out. Only if things were that simple. Only if life itself can stop feeling like a goddamn soap opera.

"..." I feel like a lot of people respond to anything the same way, with silence.

Minutes pass with only silence surrounding us. Atsuto seems to be back to normal. He yawns.

"Sooorrrr..." Atsuto then falls onto the floor, asleep. That's my lesson learned, never talk to Atsuto when he's tired. Guess he really is a teenage boy.

Carefully, I remove my jacket and place it under his head like a pillow. I then start looking through some of the diaries myself when I hear something come in.

"Well well well, look what we have here! Somebody found my secret hideaway!" I do not need to turn around to know who it is. Hearing that voice always makes my skin crawl.

"Mono-"

"Don't wake up the kid. He needs his beauty sleep," Monokuma laughs. He tries to walk over to Atsuto but I shield him.

"You're-"

"Oh, Aya-Izumi-chan-chan, you're failing at your job. You're supposed to tell the audience everything. And, what's this, another mystery for them to solve that the protagonist already knows! Geez, you're worse than Akita."

"Stop monologuing-" All these interruptions are starting to get on my nerves.

"I would've never guessed you were in on it too, Ayano. Guess you really are hopeless."

"No, I am not, Monokuma. Help is on the way."

"Ayano, Ayano, are you truly foolish enough to think they can save you. Think again." Before I can question him, Monokuma disappears. He really does do that when it's convenient for him.

But what does Monokuma mean? Even in his madness, his words are heavy with meaning.

"Father. Save us before it's too late." I begin to search through the pages before Atsuto. After reading over the same information for so long, I finally get another piece of the diary collection.

Flipping through another one of Akita's diaries, I do not pay much attention until I see a name that doesn't belong in there.

"Seems like Hotaru Amemori is still loyal to the Sakura Circus? What a shame?"

Knowing that Atsuto will most likely be safe in here, I hurry out of the secret room. I must follow this lead even if it leads to nowhere. Monokuma might have placed that there to throw us off but we can never know for certain.

* * *

When I reach the bottom floor, I accidentally collide with Takara. We both go flying backwards as our heads crash into the other's. Books that were in his hands scatter on the floor.

"Are you okay?" I ask aloud on instinct. Takara does not get my message. I get up first and help Takara up. He accepts my help.

I motion over to his notebook. After we collect his books and place them back where they belong, we make our way back to his table. Takara hands me a pen with a Monokuma face on it. Don't need to guess who gave him that.

"Why do you still trust me?" I write down. Then I notice that Takara has another matching Monokuma pen.

"Because you're still Ayano."

"Doesn't my name mean anything to any of you?" My handwriting is a lot sloppier than Takara's. Perhaps because I haven't written since the last time we spent time together.

"I'm sure it does, but right now we're focused on surviving. Five people dying in one day has perhaps made us more accepting. This is no time to worry about such things."

"Shouldn't that make more people worried? The possibility of I being the mastermind is high. Wouldn't you agree?"

"The mastermind wouldn't say that." Takara gives me a small, comforting smile.

"I've done things that cannot be forgiven though! My family as well!" I notice that my handwriting has become more shaky.

"This is not the time to repent. There's a time and place. If you truly feel sorry, survive this game and then show the world that you should be forgiven." Takara is wise, I have to give him that.

"But I slapped Hayato-" Before I can write anymore, Takara takes ahold of my hand.

"Say sorry. Forgive self. Move on," he tells me. "I deal...ith Tsu...kiko. Talk with...Hayato." Takara then lets go of my hand. He then waves goodbye as he leaves the library.

Wait, how does Takara know to talk with Tsukiko? Perhaps he is more analytical than I thought. But the question is who should I visit first: Hayato or Hotaru? And where are the two of them even?

To be honest, I don't know. Those two are the biggest mysteries here. What is happening in their world? Why do they do the things they do?

I, however, notice that Takara has left his notebook. A certain part of me feels the temptation of taking a peak. And so I shall. Nobody else is around after all.

"Sorry about this." Then again, we are reading through the diaries of two dead people, this is much better in comparison. Pretty sure somebody like Namita has read through the notebook.

Then, on one of the earlier pages, I see...

Five versions of vastly different handwriting littering the page. One belongs to Takara, and the other Takayuki. He is complaining about how hard it is to write with his mouth after all. It doesn't take a genius to guess the others.

It's just a normal conversation to contrast the darkness of the situation. About how their days are going and the weather. A reminder that all of us are somehow still teenagers at heart. Teenagers forced to grow up quickly to survive.

...And only one of these teenagers is still alive.

We are still stuck in this game, but there's still hope. I have to hold on for father, Izumi, and whoever else is trying to help us. Ha, perhaps even Shiro is leading the effort somewhere.

"Kamukura-san?" Hayato asks, breaking me out of my train of thought. Takara must have found him and told him where I was at.

"Hayato." Seeing his face still angers me. I close the notebook as he takes a seat away from me.

"...I know I cannot truly repent for killing Kamui-san and Irving-san but..."

"But what?" There's silence between us as Hayato thinks over his next words very carefully.

"Let's have a truce."

"If you say so. Akemi is the one you have to worry about more. But, let me tell you this straight, I'll never forgive you, got it?" I then leave the table and the library itself. Hayato does not follow me.

* * *

Moving towards the garden on pure instinct, I come across the unlikely duo of Minato and Akemi in the hallway.

"So you just happen to get lost randomly. Like you don't do it on purpose. That's weird," Akemi says.

"Yeah."

"How in the world did the Committee track you down? Let alone the mastermind." Akemi is actually asking some good questions.

"Um...they just kinda asked Akita where I was and she was always right."

"Excuse me, do you mind if I butt into this conversation?" I question the both of them. Minato smiles at my presence. That's good, nobody is reacting like Kyoto. This is an entirely different situation though.

"Oh, Tsukiko forced me to do this. Said Minato could make me feel better or some shit." Ever since last Trial, Tsukiko is acting a bit...weird. Does this have anything to do with what Monokuma said to her?

"Yeah. Akemi can be mean-"

"Yea, yea, I'm an ass. Be the billionth person that said that to me." Akemi sighs. At least he knows that his behavior rubs people the wrong way.

"But are we going to do something together?" This is the right moment to do so. Sticking together means there is a less likely chance somebody will murder another person before help arrives.

"That'll make people happy." Although Minato is still light, I can tell that the events that transpired even effected them. Their smile is less wide than before.

"The last time we did something like that, somebody died. And I don't even want to think about the drunk incident," Akemi comments. "Plus, we should focus more on how the Hell Takayuki killed Naoko."

"We can spend one day having fun. All this stress is bad for us!" Minato argues. Seeing them argue is jarring. Both of them also make good points.

"The more time we spend pretending to be friends, the less time we have to review evidence. And I'm not going anywhere 'fun' with those two killers!" Akemi shouts. He then storms off in the direction of the gardens.

"Come back!" Minato tries to chase after him but gets stuck going the other way.

"What am I going to do with all of these people?" I ask myself. I have no reply.

"Well, you could always mess with them!" Hotaru exclaims. She makes me jump.

"How long have you been there!?" I will never trust being alone with Hotaru around again.

"Oh, I was upstairs. Monokuma seems to have repaired the floor," Hotaru replies. My jaw drops. Why would Monokuma do that? There's a big chance Hotaru is just messing with me.

"Then show me," I respond. First Hotaru points out the new look of the bottom of the floor.

"I'm gonna guest that Monokuma fixed this up so we won't just all die anticlimacticly with another earthquake." That does seem like something Monokuma would do.

"How about you show me the actual floor?" Though a part of me still doubts Hotaru. How could Monokuma do such a thing without making lots of sound? I was in the Hospital and heard nothing.

"Sure thing!" Hotaru then leads me up the staircase. Once we are both alone, I can still questioning her ties to Akita.

* * *

Once the two of us make it to the second floor, Hotaru walks out before me. She then starts jumping on the floor.

"See, this time it won't break under our weight," Hotaru smirks. That's good, we don't need any more people in the Hospital.

"What rooms are here?" I start to look around again. It's good to see that the wood is not completely covered in green this time around.

"I don't know yet." With that, Hotaru opens the door closest to her. Her eyes light up.

"Hm?" I catch up to her and peak my head through the door. The sight in front of me seems unreal.

"Oh my God, a shower! Aya, isn't this great news? And is that a washer and drycleaner!?" Hotaru starts checking everything out. "Kinda sucks that if these actually work the water motive will be for nothing."

"Let me check." Not expecting anything, I walk to one of the showers. I turn the knob just to have freezing cold water pour down all over me. Now I want my jacket back. I quickly turn the water off.

But it does work! No tricks other than we probably don't have warm water. Monokuma could have opened this to us to make us feel more despair. The despair of having Shinichi and Cassius die for nothing.

"Well, that sucks for Kira! Not for us." Hotaru then starts stripping down her clothes and placing them in the washer. I avert my eyes.

"Hotaru-"

"Come on, we're both girls. I'm pretty sure you've seen boobs before. Its like the locker room in gym class." Then I hear the water go on. Luckily, all the showers are separated by curtains. "P.S. all the things you need are on the shelf above the washer and dryer."

"Okay." I make my way out of my shower. Seeing that Hotaru has left the washer open for my clothes, I start to undress. Now I really, really wish I had my jacket.

Once I take all my clothes off, I place Kazuhiko's hat on the top of the washer. It needs to dry. I remember Kazuhiko stressing the importance of not placing his hat in the washer since Kotori ruined his previous hat the same way. That bitch really did have it coming.

I then start the washer after finding all the right supplies. Monokuma has this room strangely filled up to the brim with them. Did the mastermind get tired of being dirty? Maybe.

Then I get everything for the shower. This experience will surely be surreal. A thing we all took for granted before is right in front of us after way over a week of being trapped here. Truly, I have lost track of time.

I feel like Monokuma is laughing at us with plastering his face all over the shampoo and body wash. Even the goddamn towel.

Finally stepping into the shower, I turn on the shower. The cold water is harsh against my skin but is better than the alternative. I see the massive amount of dirt that used to be on my body all over the floor. It's pure black.

"Geez, my hair looks white again! Welcome back white hair! I missed you!" Hotaru exclaims. She then starts laughing.

"Hm." There's no getting back my red tips in here. Maybe I should dye my hair again once we get out of here.

"I wonder if there's like a shaver or anything around here. And my old shoes." Seems like Hotaru doesn't like wearing a dead girl's shoes. Figures.

"Why did you get Akita's shoes in the first place?" I ask her. This should be the first step. Asking about her relation to Akita first would be jarring.

"Because I didn't want to die." Hotaru then turns off her shoulder and I can hear her walk off.

 ** _BAM!_**

"What was that!?" Being nearly done, I quickly turn off the water and put on the goddamn Monokuma towel.

Stepping out of the shower, I notice that Hotaru has one too. Good to know she isn't completely insane.

"Let's check what's going on, Aya." Without waiting for my response, Hotaru grabs hold of my hand and starts running out of the shower room. If any boys are out there, Hotaru will not hear the end of it.

* * *

Hotaru and I rush out to the hallway. Nobody else is there besides us.

"You gotta be shitting me," Hotaru sighs loudly. Then I turn to see what she was commenting on.

"Shit." There's a big metal door keeping us from going downstairs. Don't even have to check it to know that it's locked.

"Aya, you sure have the bad habit of becoming a damsel in distress. And me too. This is gonna be fun."

* * *

 **Well, well, well.**

 **Yes, there's gonna be new chapters during the rewrite. Or else this wouldn't get updated for a loooonnnnnggggggg time.**

 **And the rewrite will include this because I'll probably be done with the story already once the rewrite/reedit/whatever the frock is over. Because that's how my luck works.**

 **Plus this is a shorter chapter too. Since the rest of this chapter is either chaos or CHAOS.**

 **Reviews~**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Thank you. _**

 **mayurie-Thanks! :D Only Aya can steal Aya's role and not get punished. The kids will try to do that...and fail miserably. Yes, that was what Mirabilis was doing during the investigation. Bless all these kiddos, even the mastermind. Techinally Etsuko is a psychologist so she can ignore therapy that doesn't go POP! Thanks. :) And then Mei dies in space. All aboard spaceship suffering.**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Thank you, I love all my dead children too. Every Japanese-based story needs a healthy dose of Christian symbolism. I learned from Evangelion. Let Ayano hope for once. Atsuto isn't doing so hot. Knowing me, it'll be ESPECIALLY painful.**

 **AnonChan1-Monokuma is doing fun things to Mirabilis. They're like a dysfunctional family that has a bad habit of killing each other. Yes, Mirabilis knew. Hotaru, we need you to ask Kira a question! Yasu is gonna wake up and realize that shit is even worse. Thank you. :D**

 **Rose again-I hate the Committee more because...plot points. Ayano deserves all the hugs. Thanks. :) But Etsuko is the better psychologist.**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-This will be a fun chapter for Yasu and Kira. Minato was always in the torture chair. Feed me with your theories. Thank you. :3 And I had to explain to my family why I was laughing so loud. XD My family knows my reviewers. I'm glad that some random lady now knows Kaneshiro and Monokuma. Knowing how this chapter turns out...yea, don't read the deaths in this chapter before work. PUHUHUHU!**


	43. Chapter 4-2

**Chapter 4-2: See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil...Feel the Evil**

* * *

"...What in the..." I feel up the door to try to see if there is any way out. The lock must be on the other side so we cannot escape by ourselves. What does Monokuma gain by doing this?

"Well, this is certainly a situation we've found ourselves in," Hotaru comments. She is being oddly serious. "So you notice that we're truly the damsels now. Only the others can free us from this. I don't really feel like getting myself injured again by knocking down a door."

"Do they even know we're up here?" I ask. Hotaru shakes her head.

"If we want to be known, we're gonna have to make a lot of noise. Hopefully, they won't think its another earthquake," she responds. Steadying her towels with her hands, Hotaru starts to jump loudly on the floor. That's actually a pretty good idea. I join in with her. It is a little fun to be doing this with Hotaru. Something about the absurdity of this all makes me want to laugh.

Ding!

"Is that the washer?"

"Yep! Stay here! Hotaru is to your rescue!" Hotaru then rushes into the washing room, leaving me all alone. There's nothing better to do so I begin to search the others doors. I'm lucky that this floor is clean unlike the previous one.

Going into the room next to the showers, I try to open the door. It seems like something is holding it down from the other side. I have to force it more to make it open. The moment my eyes set on whats inside I truly do not know what to think.

"What. The. Fuck." Robots similar to the ones used for Kazuhiko's execution line the walls. They're of everybody who has died so far during the game. Their eyes are dead yet seem to be staring right at me. This is, I believe, what is called the uncanny valley.

That's not all though since in the very middle of the room there's a shrine with one robot not in the Killing Game. Kotori Hiraoka. And not to mention the room has a strange odor of rotting flesh.

Then the door suddenly closes on me, leaving me to the darkness. The only thing that lights up the room are the candles on the shrine. Seeing Kotori's face emulate like that sends shivers down my spine. All those dark nights in her apartment or on one of those damn tables start to fill up in my mind. She always had the same damn smile on her twisted face. One of despair.

"Ayano Kamukura, you sure know how to keep your secrets. But you should know that my eyes are everywhere in this place." I have never heard that voice before. If this is the mastermind, then who was the person in the secret room earlier? The one that almost made me kill myself. They're clearly two different people.

 _Oh, do you really think we're Monokuma? That's stupid! We're something far worse!_

Wait a minute...don't tell me! There are two masterminds working against each other? No, that's absurd. The mastermind is Kaneshiro Kazuma, right? There should only be one, but this is too different. And I highly doubt there's another hidden student. But what's with the use of we? Don't tell me there's more than two.

 _There's some emotion! I believed in you, just like the Committee. Taking in a Kamukura like you took a lot of guts-_

Whoever that person was, they knew of my name before Monokuma. Perhaps it was that person who told Monokuma of my name...

 _Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan, I can't believe that you're the Kamukura brat. You look different than before._

Monokuma, however, seems to know of me from somewhere. Wouldn't be surprised if I knew Monokuma from before. The problem is that I know a lot of people from before. Somebody can easily lie about who they are.

"You seem deep in thought, Ayano. Did you just realize something?" I hear footsteps come slowly towards me. If there was only a way to get to the door without knocking into whoever this is. This room is too small and cluttered to find a way around. Maybe it would be easier if there were any lights on.

"..." I want to stay still. Making no noises would be the best thing to do. It's not like there's anywhere to run. This is the time to stay calm and think of other options. Fighting might be the best course of staying alive. These robots can withstand a fair deal of damage if I remember correctly.

"Yes, you're a smart girl. You figured it out. Congrats!" Whoever this is, their voice is unnerving. It's emotionless but is overly emotional. How does that make any sense? How can this voice belong to a human!?

"..."

"I know where you are, Ayano. That won't work with me. So let me guess...you knew Kazuhiko killed Kotori. And you had something to do with it. You've been a bad, bad girl, haven't you?" Then the person lunges at me. I quickly jump out of the way, but I crash into the robots. The person is in the light, so I try to see their face. Too bad they charge at me again before I can get too much of a good look. Bearly, getting out of the way, I find myself just in front of the door.

"Damn." He must have overheard Atsuto. He must have cameras in the hidden room. If that's right, he must have known some of what I was planning with Yasu and Mirabilis.

Now at the door, I try to open it. It's locked. Shit.

"I took the liberty of locking the both of us in here. Escaping that way is not an option."

"Ayano!" Hotaru shouts from the other side of the door. She must have found me and found the oddly locked door suspicious. I can hear that she is trying to open the door.

"Oh, Hotaru Amemori. I do not think you are going to want to break that door down."

"Kaneshiro!" On the other side, I feel that Hotaru is becoming faster and more forceful. "Aya, whatever you do...Don't. Get. Captured." Hotaru is breaking character. This must be serious.

"..." I look around for Kaneshiro but cannot find him. Being careful, I move around the room, with my footsteps being as quiet as possible. My eyes search every corner of the room for the slightest movement.

Then suddenly I feel something knock into me harshly. I knock into the wall of robots once again, but this time something feels different. My hand rests on something that is shaped oddly like a button.

"Hm?" Before Kaneshiro can hurt me anymore, a door opens from behind me. I run into it and quickly close it. Kaneshiro keeps knocking into it so I have to press my body against it. This towel surprisingly has not fallen.

"Ayano Kamukura-"

"DON'T LISTEN TO HIM! NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO!" Hotaru screams loudly. Her throat is not going to survive the day if she continues doing that. But, if Hotaru is scared, then that's really bad.

Finding the lock on the handle through the darkness, I finally deal with the door problem. Hopefully, the door will hold. Pretty sure Kaneshiro will not punish himself for breaking his own damn rules.

"What's in this room?" I ask myself. I slowly make my way in deeper. There is still no source of light but the horrible flesh smell is much stronger. A part of me wants to gag but that would only make things worse.

"If you desire to be in that room so much, be my guess. This is all your fault after all." Then the lights turn on suddenly. I have to shield my eyes but, after a while, my eyes adjust.

"What?" To my surprise, there are five bodies in this room. All of them decayed to the point of barely being recognizable. That surely explains where the smell came from.

Each of them is killed in a vastly different way. One looks to be electrocuted, another seems to have been suffocated in some way, the next has their bowels removed, then there is one who has way too many needles impaled into them and the last has their skin flayed.

"Oh my God..." I cannot help but throw up in a corner.

"Hello, students, since Ayano decided to be a bad, bad girl, I decided to give you an especially gruesome motive! The motive of the true Fifth Killing Game! You guys weren't a part of it. And some of you have a very...special photo. Well, the ones not currently trapped on the second floor." Monokuma's voice cannot leave my ears as I stare blankly at the bodies. What happened here? What the fuck is happening!?

"Are you confused, Ayano? You know that I have all the answers. Everything has the evidence, you just have to find it," Kaneshiro explains. I do not try to tune out his voice. "But, since you've been a bad girl, I can give you a hint. Might make you behave better. This is all because your damn 'boyfriend', the unloyal bastard, decided that it was a good idea to kill Kotori. He should've been grateful to her but instead, he betrayed her. But, then again, you are too bias to realize anything about the truth going on here. You may be eighteen but you're still an immature, naive child still learning everything about the world."

"..."

"I believe in you. Believe it or not, I can see through your empty lies. Please don't peg somebody you truly do not understand as the villain. That will only make those traitors win. Right now, we are on the same side. Monokuma sure loves lying about my position as the mastermind, but that is wrong. _She_ knows what she is doing." Then I hear Kaneshiro leave to places unknown.

I wait a couple more minutes to open the door. The last place I want to be in right now is these rooms. Unlocking and opening the door, I slowly look around. Kaneshiro has left the room lite and I cannot see him anywhere. He also opened the door but I cannot see Hotaru anywhere. Perhaps she left to go get something to unlock the door.

"Hotaru?" I call out. She does not respond, so I leave the room. Hotaru has to be somewhere on the second floor.

Looking in the washing room, I do not see her. That is when I start to worry. She is nowhere in the hallways. There's no time to check the other rooms. I begin to call out her name but no response.

"Hotaru! Hotaru! Hotaru!" I do not pay attention to my surrounding so I accidentally trip over myself. However, I do not pick myself up. Is this my fault? Maybe I should have just stayed put. Helping Kazuhiko kill Kotori...no, that was the best decision in my life. We rid the world of a pure monster.

"..." Suddenly, Hotaru falls on top of me. I am not going to question how that is possible. The mastermind probably has the third-floor open. Wait, is there even a third floor? There should be one, but Monokuma did not announce it opening.

"H-Hotaru? Are you okay?" I then place her softly off of me. Checking her more closely, I see that she now has several more bruises on her naked body. There seems to be no blood so that is good. Hotaru does seem to be unconscious, however.

One thing is proven. Hotaru does indeed have a closer relation to this game than originally thought. And Kaneshiro is actually playing a part in this game. But what is he planning? Are the masterminds working with or against each other?

"Time to take care of you." Very carefully I pick her up. I then begin to head in the direction of the washing room.

* * *

In the washing room, I realize that our clothes are now ready. I make some sort of makeshift pillow and blanket with the towels. Then I begin putting on my own clothes. Whoever is in control of the cameras might have too much fun watching two attractive women be naked together. The last thing I put on is Kazuhiko's hat. Only if there was another way for us to clean clothes here.

"Now time for you." I remember helping the adults on the island taking care of the sick children. Sometimes I was put in charge of dressing unruly toddlers. This, however, is a completely different experience.

Getting out Hotaru's clothes, I slowly put them on her body. I do not want her to be in more pain than she already is. Her face is such agony even when she's asleep. Seeing Hotaru likes this is such an odd experience. The odd girl usually wore a smile even in the worse of situations.

It takes me a fairly long time to put everything on, including the shoes. Is the reason why Hotaru wore Akita's shoes more than we originally thought? I think with that reaction Hotaru has way too much experience with Kaneshiro already. Plus, the real Akita Yamazaki was a ringleader. There must also be a real reason why the mastermind took Hotaru's shoes other than mess with her. The mastermind must have known that Hotaru was literally the worse person to do that too.

With all different kinds of thoughts running through my head, I sit down next to Hotaru and keep an eye on her. I cannot let the mastermind(s) play with her more than they already have. Those sick bastards.

"...A-Akita?" Hotaru mumbles. Is she asleep? I thought her unconscious, but she might not be anymore.

"Hm?" I listen in. A part of me feels guilty for basically eavesdropping on Hotaru, yet there's no way I am leaving her alone. This might be a good way to figure out what is going on. Everybody here seems to have their fair share of secrets. And nobody is willing to admit to them. Many people would still be alive if we truly felt that way.

And then Hotaru begins to snore and not talk. Well, there goes that information. Hotaru is a surprisingly loud sooner as well. I would not want to sleep in the same room as her.

With the chaos died down, I take time to breathe. Always thinking about the mysteries of this game will surely drive a person insane. That is a sure way to fall into Kaneshiro's trap and kill somebody. Right, Hayato?

Then I feel somebody tap onto my shoulder. Still tense, I jump and shield Hotaru with my own body. But the person there is only Takara. He seems put off by my reaction.

"..." His gaze moves to Hotaru, the showers, and then back to Hotaru. I cannot tell what Takara is thinking. Then again, I have no idea how Takara found his way up here. Is it that everybody found their way up here?

"Um, what's going on here?" Namita then comes into the room next. Guess they did find a way. I wonder how many of them have come up here. Being so focused on Hotaru must have made me unable to hear them coming.

"W-" Before I can say anything, Hotaru grabs onto my wrist violently. She is now awake but something feels off.

"Nothing! You know me, I did something stupid and Aya had to save my ass!" Hotaru laughs. "Monokuma got pissed off that she is a decent human being and didn't leave me for dead."

Why is Hotaru lying? Should I play along with her lie or not? Can I really trust the other people here enough to tell them what happened between the two of us and Kaneshiro? Nevermind that, is Hotaru trustworthy? The most obvious answer is a big fat no, but she is the only student here confirmed to not be Kaneshiro.

"Well, a lot of people are getting injured nowadays. You should really be more careful, Hotaru." Namita completely buys it. Takara, on the other hand, is looking at us with a skeptical eye.

"What's the fun of that though?" Hotaru is back to her old self. Namita then glares at Hotaru.

"Remember, be safe." Namita then leaves the room. That leaves Hotaru and me with Takara. He is about to say something until somebody else comes into the room. It surprises me that it's Atsuto.

"Ayano, you forgot this. You might not want to wear it anymore until its cleaned though. I'm sorry that I snapped at you," he comments. My jacket is in his hands. Its good to see that it is still not destroyed or lost.

"Thank you, Atsuto." I then place it inside the washer. Right now I am sick of wearing that Monokuma towel. Though I am curious on how it stayed around my body the whole time.

"I was told that Kamukura-san and Amemori-san were in here by Namita-chan." Miyuki is the next through the door. And the saga of her calling Namita different names continues.

"My precious Yuki!" Atsuto then tries to jump onto her. Miyuki dodges him easily, causing him to crash into the wall. Hotaru laughs but I cannot find myself to find the humor in the situation. Escaping Kaneshiro was way too damn hard.

"Togami-san, I advise you to stop doing that. That path would only lead to disappointment." Miyuki is oddly harsh. Though she is way too damn good at keeping up with all of our names.

"Just...my luck..."

"Ignoring that, Namita-chan is currently making a chart for the times that we can use the showers. And ways for us to stop people like Togami-san from...peaking. Plus how to have Iwata-san and Matsuhita-san bathe and get to the top stairs. We have found a wheelchair for Matsuhita-san to use but that does not solve the stairs issue." Miyuki is now being oddly talkative.

"Couldn't we just like, you know, carry Yasu up ourselves? Sato-Atsuto can do it," Hotaru responds. Well, somebody is having problems with the names.

"If that is what it comes to, then we must. Somebody else could also bring up Matsuhita-san's wheelchair. But, now onto Namita-chan's plan. She wants all of us women to have a sleepover tonight. Well, Matsuhita-san and Ueda-san are still permitted to come if they want to, but the men cannot." A sleepover? Doesn't Namita know that the big events usually end with somebody dying or something else horrible?

"Sure! Where?" Hotaru is really excited. Atsuto is still recovering from his injury, while Takara is just observing all of us very closely.

"Amemori-san, we found a game room down the hall from here. It is fairly large compared to all of the other rooms strangely enough. We are all coming there after Monokuma's announcement." That makes sense. Still, it is fairly stressful thinking about what could possibly happen there.

"Alright, I'll be there! I'm leaving! I should prob be in the Hospital with these injuries!"

"I shall escort you out of the room, Amemori-san. Injuring yourself again would not lead to the best results." Miyuki escorts Hotaru out of the room. I leave the room as well after I say goodbye to Atsuto and Takara.

* * *

Looking at the staircase, I see that the door that came down is no longer there. What is Kaneshiro planning? And what could the other possible masterminds be thinking of as well? How do all of these puzzle pieces fit together?

I go down the stairs once again. Although the second floor is nicer, I have had enough of it for today. Right now I just want to be on the first floor. Though there is another reason. Something about how this building is structured makes no sense.

"Or you saying the stairs are right there?" Kira asks. On the bottom of the stairs, Tsukiko, Akemi, Kira, and Yasu are all together. Yasu is in their wheelchair and Kira is wearing sunglasses. It is good to see them up again.

"Yep, kid," Yasu replies. They still don't look quite there but better than yesterday.

"Yes, so wait to go over there. So do not go up it by yourselves. If you feel the stairs, Kira, do not try to go up them by yourself. For any reason you have to, grab onto the railing and be very careful," Tsukiko instructs. She then safely puts Kira's hand on the railing.

I carefully move past the group of four. Tsukiko is trying the best she can, but none of us truly know what to do with people that are blind or paralyzed. Akemi must be there to make sure that nothing happens to Kira or Yasu.

"Ayano." Akemi then begins to stare at me. It is not a glare, yet there is some malice behind it. Neither of us confronts the other. I continue on the path that I was going on. Akemi keeps his eye on me though.

* * *

Once again, I find myself in front of the Hospital. I then enter the room to see that the only other person currently in there is Hotaru. She smiles as she sees me sit in the cot next to hers.

"Yuki just left. Gosh, I swear, I think she and Nami are banging each other on the side." Hotaru begins to laugh until she coughs. She then stares absentmindedly at the ceiling.

"That is not what we are talking about right now..."

"Hm, I take it that you want to discuss what happened, Aya. Considering nobody else but Kaneshiro can hear us." Hotaru props herself up. Should I tell her about my theory of multiple masterminds? Only I have experienced the evidence that points to that conclusion.

"What's your connection to everything, Hotaru? Please be frank with me."

"Ask and you shall receive! Though I'm wondering what Kaneshiro means by you and Kazuhiko killing Kotori." Hotaru then snaps back to her serious persona. I think she and Atsuto can become good friends.

"Do I have to be first?"

"Yes~ I do notice that you're turning more and more like Kazuhiko every day. Then again, you two were also banging each other! Maybe you should give Yuki and Namita some pointers." Hotaru smirks as she sees my face turn red.

"It was really only Kazuhiko that did that. I just helped cover for him by giving him an alibi," I explain. There's a weight that comes off of my chest. After all these years, I can confide in somebody that is not Kazuhiko.

"Lesson learned, don't get on your bad side. Though I guess I have my explaining too. You see-"

"Urgh!" Miyuki then comes bursting through the door with blood dripping out of her mouth and onto her clothes. She tries to cover it with her hand but the coughing will not stop.

"Miyuki!" I try to comfort her but she makes her way to medicine cabinet first. She gets out pills quickly and pops a few of them into her mouth. By the moment I catch up to her, Miyuki is in better condition. Her breathing is still harsh but blood is no longer seeping out of her mouth. "Are you alright, Miyuki?"

"Kamukura-san!" Miyuki then bolts out of the room.

"That certainly happened." Although Hotaru is trying to act the part of a carefree girl, I now see the hidden gestures she does. But Hotaru is still true to herself. A liar wouldn't be able to look people openly in the eyes like she does.

"It certainly did." Is Miyuki sick? Of course, she has been coughing on and off during the entire game, but is it something more serious? Or did she, like us, somehow ran into Kaneshiro? Could Kaneshiro trigger a response like that?

"Do you think that has something to do with Kaneshiro?" Hotaru asks. Good to know I am not alone with thinking that way.

"Should we help Miyuki?"

"Yuki can take care of herself. We need to continue the conversation we were having earlier." I then sigh and return to the cot from before. Hotaru is right. Out of everybody here, Miyuki is best able to defend herself.

"If you say so." The sooner this is over, the better. Hotaru surely looks like she wants to get it over with too. Plus, I should check up on Miyuki soon. Perhaps I could talk to her again during the sleepover.

"Well-"

"It's nighttime, kiddos! Yea, yea!" Monokuma announces. It catches the both of us off guard. That doesn't make sense. Sure, we spent a long time upstairs, but it shouldn't have been enough for it to be already night.

"Fuck you, bear! My connection to the Sakura Circus is-"

Monokuma then pops out of nowhere and covers Hotaru's mouth. Then an action is put around her neck. Then the bear leaves as soon as he appeared, leaving us both dumbfounded.

"So the bear doesn't want people to know. Figures. He wants me to fall into despair like everyone else besides Yuuki, but that ain't gonna happen, right Aya?" Hotaru smiles. "Oh, and can I look at that? I kinda can't."

"Okay." Yeah, Hotaru cannot bend her head that way without dying. I bend down to her level and press the action around her neck. "It reads...do not reveal your connection to Akita Yamazaki or Sakura Circus."

"So it's plot relevant! Kaneshiro is ruining our fun," Hotaru responds. "But that doesn't mean we can't talk about other things. Like the fact that Kaneshiro is actually here inside this building."

"Can you talk about Kaneshiro without mentioning Sakura Circus?" It will most likely be a no, since Kaneshiro is most likely the person, or one of the people, behind Monokuma. Everything is worth a try though.

"We would already be outta here if things were that easy. I can tell you that even I find him to be a piece of shit." Hotaru then gets out of her Hospital cot. She begins to stretch around but stops when her bruises get in the way.

"What else could there be to talk about?" I question her. There is the matter of the dead bodies I found, yet only I know of that. At least that I know of. The others must have been sent photos as well, so perhaps that's why the girls are all together in a sleepover. Of course, I could ask what Kaneshiro did with Kaneshiro when I was away from her. I already know I won't like the answer to that question.

"That room full of robots. You didn't realize it. Let me show you." Hotaru then takes ahold of my hand and drags me back up to the second floor. One thing I notice is that Hotaru's hands are shaky and cold.

* * *

Going back to the room, I notice that both of us freeze in front of it. None of the other girls passed us by during our walk so they must already be in the game room or waiting until it gets later.

Hotaru is the one who gets the nerves to open up the door. The room is exactly like it was before. Whatever misplacement or damage I or Kaneshiro had done is completely gone.

First thing I do is go right up to the Kazuhiko robot. It looks exactly like him but none of his heart is there. All that robot is...is yet another reminder that Kazuhiko is dead. Like the Christian cross I found yesterday. Perhaps I can ask around and figure out if anybody knows anything about Christianity.

"Look over here, Aya, and see for yourself! The plot is thickening. Dun dun dun." She is pointing to one that's hidden between the robots for Takayuki and Mirabilis. The robots are indeed in the order that they died.

"Hm?" Even without seeing the robot itself, I question why Hotaru was able to see it. Pretty sure she did not see into the room. Of course, she was up here before, so perhaps she saw it then.

Then I see the robot of Hotaru. Seeing the two of them be right next to each other is uncanny. But questions start to fill up my mind once again. Why does Hotaru have a robot? Screw it, why are there robots in the first place? And why is Hotaru's robot with the dead? It's clear that the mastermind must be storing the rest of the robots in another room.

"Kaneshiro really wants me dead! Then I just have to stay alive! There's no way I'll fall into his trap as well!" Hotaru then picks up the robot and begins to examine it real closely. "I wonder if everything's right. Pretty sure Kaneshiro made my boobs too big. Pervert."

"How can you tell-"

"And that freckle is on the wrong side of my face. Like, damn, it's impressive you knew about that freckle but clearly not enough. Kaneshiro really needs to check his facts." Okay, Hotaru can nitpick. She is analytical but only in the oddest of circumstances. This would be much more useful in a trial.

"Oh, there you girls are! We've been looking for you!" Namita then comes through the door. The girl seems to be all clean. She stops when she realizes everything off about this room. I take it she didn't check this room when they were looking.

"Hotaru brought me here," I say.

"Don't throw me under the bus like that, Aya! I thought we were friends!" Hotaru then casts away her robot and begins to hug me. She does it too tight, making it hard to breathe. Guess Hotaru's arm muscles aren't only for show. To have them still in this good of shape must mean that Hotaru has been exercising.

"Um, what even is this place? Whose that woman in that shrine?" Namita must have no idea what is going on in the grand scheme of things. Then again, my brain is about to explode with everything going on.

"That's...Kotori..." I take deep breaths when Hotaru releases me. The only person here that would enjoy a hug like that is Minato, but that would be pushing it. Minato feels like the person who likes the comfort and warmth of hugs and not whatever Hotaru just did.

"Ok...we should go now." Namita's eyes are focused on Hotaru's robot as she leaves. Even with her knowing as little as she does, Namita still finds it suspicious. Just what does all of this mean?

* * *

Namita takes us to the game room. Once inside, I see that all the girls, plus Yasu and Minato are there. It is sad to see how little of us are here now. There were originally ten girls in our class but it has been almost cut in half to six. Then again, out of the original nine boys, there are only four. Yasu and Minato are nonbinary and have been the only ones who identified like that since the beginning of the game. It's just sad to think that out of the twenty-one of us who started, only twelve of us remain.

"Alright, I know this has been a stressful couple of days for everyone, but this is where the all of us just relax. We're gonna be like normal teenage girls! Even if it is just for this one night!"

Hearing Namita say that, though, brings a smile on my face. None of us has given up on hope yet, no matter what Monokuma says.

* * *

 **Hahahaha...well. Yea. Updating again. Why? Because I got inspired!**

 **So yeah, shit went down during this chapter. Kaneshiro confirmed asshole.**

 **Reviews~**

 **AnonChan1-Plot twist, Izumi is the protagonist. All theories are accepted here in the Committee Saga so Requiem can destroy them all. Ayano is showing her character flaws more this chapter. Yea, some of the dreams vary, but sometimes they have the same dreams. Takara and Ayano slowly become BroTP. And the plot thickens. Well, Ayano knows everything but she's not telling. ;) Well Akemi certainly doesn't. Takara showing his true, cute colors. Everybody has been put the wringer last chapter. Become BroTP Akemi and Minato. I shall call this ship MinEmi. THE SHOWERS ARE HERE EVERYONE! Through the power of friendship! Hotaru was joking. The suffering train will never stop. Well, here's a sleepover that will have nothing bad happen during it. Just for all your babies. Except for the boys, screw the boys. They're suffering some more (boys are like wwwwhhhhhyyyyyyy).**

 **ShadedLyht-Monokuma will always be an ass...or asses. ;) Nope, Monokuma was just screwing with them. The motive is...well, Ayano doesn't know. ;) ;) ;) Hotaru is indeed connected to Sakura Circus and knows Yuu and Yuki. Yea, here's another chapter! With lots of Hotaru content! And Kaneshiro being a dick. You never know with this story. Who knows? Maybe 'debunked' theories are the truth. :D**


	44. Chapter 4-3

**Chapter 4-3: The Catcher in the Rye**

* * *

I look around the game room. It looks like a typical arcade. Some of the free space now has pillows that must be where all of us are sleeping. Yet this is the first arcade I have actually seen since I only saw pictures before.

"So this is what an arcade looks like," I note. It is dark and hard to see except for the dim lights on the machines. None of them seem to be actually working. The only thing we can do is the one not connected by machinery: the dart board.

"Okay, now we're gonna...do...whatever you do during these!" Namita smiles. She must have heard about these by hearing stories about sleepovers, possibly from her parents. Even the event planner has not hosted a sleepover before.

"Oh! I had one of these with Ayano! It's fun." Kira is smiling as well, which is good, but now everybody is looking at me. Their eyes more filled with doubt than before. "Another Ayano! Kirigiri!" At least Kira seems to be feeling better.

"So what do we do?" Tsukiko inquires. Her eyes are on the action around Hotaru's neck. Nobody seems to be pointing it out. Maybe because they don't want to ruin the awkward mood.

"I'll go get the drinks!" Hotaru exclaims. She then leaves the room by herself. That is not threatening at all but, hey, at least Hotaru is doing something. I would suggest somebody go with her but she's already gone.

I'm tempted to ask about the motive, yet it's clear I will probably not get a clear answer tonight. Is that the reason why this sleepover is being held in the first place? The motive? But, if that was truly the reason, it would have made more sense to also have the boys here. What are the boys doing anyway? Considering that two of them have killed people before, although one was for a good cause, shouldn't we be keeping a better eye on them?

"We play games like truth or dare!" Kira replies. "There's also spin the bottle. Marry, fuck, or kill also...exists." For some reason, it is weird to hear Kira is using such a strong swear. Everybody might swear more considering Mirabilis...is dead.

"What's marry, fuck, or kill?" Minato questions. Okay, now that's way too weird. Hearing Kira say fuck is one thing, but I never thought Minato would say it, much less in this context.

"Let's not do that one! Truth or dare instead!" Kira begins to blush. "Truth or dare. Okay? Okay. Tsukiko, truth or dare?"

"Wait, who said-"

"Tsukiko, truth or dare?" She begins to bat her eyes and then nobody raises any more complaints. Namita does still seem a little peeved that she was interrupted, with her pouting and crossing her arms. "Wait, before that, we should sit in a circle!"

"If you say so, kid." Tsukiko and Minato help Yasu down from their wheelchair as everybody finds their place in the circle. We make sure that there's room for Hotaru right next to me. On the other side of myself, there is Namita.

"Ok, Tsukiko truth or dare!" A knowing smirk finds itself on Kira's face. Guess she has a mischievous side. If she and Hotaru team up with Atsuto, we are probably screwed. Maybe I should have gone with Hotaru after all, yet it is too late now.

"Truth."

"Hm...Have you ever got a crush on someone?" Even though I should not be interested, I find myself listening in closely. Learning more about Tsukiko would help in matters later.

"..." Tsukiko turns bright red.

"Oh, why don't you look at that?" Namita responds. All of us seem to be enjoying this far more than we should. It does make sense though since the last couple of days have been nothing but nonstop drama.

"Can we go to another topic?" Tsukiko asks. Right as she says that, Kira begins to burst into tears.

"I. Can't. Believe. You! Wwwwwhhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" she cries out. The tears might be clearly fake, yet there is still an instinct to help her. Most likely because she still looks quite young. Even after all she has gone through, Kira has retained some of her childlike personality. Though I do wonder how different crying feels if parts of her eyes are now missing.

"I do! Okay! Next person!" Tsukiko begins to hide her face. Seeing our leader act like this makes me want to laugh.

"Yeah! But Tsukiko, you're the next person to pick! And remember, you can't pick the same person who picked you!" Now Kira's tears are completely dried. She might not be showing it, yet I can just feel how proud she is of herself.

"Namita, truth or dare." She then points her finger at Namita, who begins to laugh.

"Truth."

"Argh! Why is everybody picking truth!?" That is when we all notice that Hotaru has been there for some time with drinks balancing in her hands. Its impressive for her not to only balance all of that, but enter the room without any of us catching her.

"Kid, we're like two pe..." Before Yasu can finish their sentence, they fall asleep again. Minato notices and immediately gets one of the pillows to rest Yasu's head on.

"How can you even do that, Hotaru?" Minato asks. They look amazed by such a feat.

"Growing up working at the family restaurant has a few perks," Hotaru answers. She then places the cups right next to everyone, including Yasu. We all look at the cups with doubt.

"Are we sure that...you know? Nothing is put in these drinks?" Minato is surprisingly the one who asks that question. Their time in the torture chair and all of the events that have transpired over the next couple of days seems to have changed them.

"They're not poisoned or whatever. I didn't even get the motive, so why would I do something like that?" To prove her point, Hotaru drinks out of her own cup until it is half gone. "Does anybody want me to drink out of theirs to prove a point?"

"..." Kira tries to grab her cup but misses, causing it to spill everywhere. Hotaru sighs and begins to try to clean it up. It is not like Monokuma has given us any paper towels to work with.

"Ok, let's just focus on the game. What's the truth, Tsukiko?"

"Truth...hmm...Namita, um..."

"Since I'm the only one with experience in this game, I can think of something!" Kira, once again, has a massive grin on her face. "Whose the most hated person in your life, Namita. And it can't be a person in this game! Give us the juicy stuff."

"Um, I guess I don't have the strongest relationship with my dad-"

"Your parents are the most precious people in the world, I wouldn't insult them if I were you." Kira then gets right up in Namita's face. Namita is put off by the closeness and tries to back away.

"Um...um...u-um..."

"Iwata-san, please step away from Nami." Miyuki then strolls over to them and aims the sword to Kira's back.

"Yuki, calm down!" Namita pleads. "Everybody, let's just calm down, okay?" After she says that, Miyuki puts her sword back but glares daggers at Kira. Kira returns back to her spot.

"I sleep for a couple minutes and its already chaos," Yasu sighs. Mochi is in their lap, snuggling against them. "If you continue to be like this, you're gonna scare Mochi." I feel like they are doing their best to pretend that they're happier than they actually are. Something about them seems fake to me. Then they take a drink out of the cup Hotaru gave them, along with Tsukiko, Namita, and Miyuki.

Minato takes a long look at the drink before consuming its contents. Hotaru is after them, finishing the rest of hers. Deciding that probably means its safe, I go after her, only taking a slip of the mysterious liquid. It certainly tastes weird. The only one who doesn't take a drink is Kira. She is staring longingly at the cup before she sets it down next to her.

"Ok, ok, time to do this! Yasu, truth or dare?" Namita questions. She takes another sip.

"Truth-"

"Oh come on!" Hotaru then takes Kira's cup for her own and downs all of its contents. Kira does not mind.

"Hmmm, what's the worse thing you've done..." Namita's face then meets my lap. For the love of! Did Hotaru really just give us alcohol again? How lightweight are all of my classmates? Miyuki begins to glare at me.

"Lap party!" Tsukiko then does the same thing, causing me to blush. Having two passed out drunk girls in my lap is an experience I have not had as of yet. It's surreal, to say the least. The next day we might be killing each other, but now we're sleeping in each other's laps.

"As its the rules of this game, I shall answer your question, but then you've to take my every order!" Yasu tries to stand up but falls to the ground. I want to go up to help them, but Tsukiko and Namita have me pinned down.

"Help yourselves, fools." Miyuki then throws her sword toward the dart board and barely hits it. "I'm gonna get out of here...and...and save my sister! Wait...I put her there. Save my sister from my own bad decisions! She's the only one I'll help, the rest of you are worthless trash."

"I severely doubt this is how drunk people are supposed to usually act," Kira comments. She tries hiding in the corner but surprisingly doesn't fit. Considering how small she is, that shocks me. Then again every corner is decorated with a game of some kind.

"Its part of my secret, Kira~ Or should I say...killer? Haha, Its Death Note all over again!" Hotaru then takes Miyuki's sword from the dart board and throws it herself. Even with it being a sword, and her being noticeably drunk, Hotaru hits the bullseye. "Hey, look at that Akita, I still got my touch! Suck it, Kazuma!"

"...Um, Hotaru, its time to not talk-"

"I can whatever the fuck I want bitches!"

"Hotaru, you forgot a word-"

"I can whatever fuck I bitches!" Hotaru tries to get a random hoop game working. She cannot, so she picks up Kira and tries to dunk her into the hoop. Kira is put out of commission for the time being. Pretty sure she's out cold by hitting the hoop too hard on her head.

"Why?" And this is why I avoided the cafeteria and kitchen at first.

"Ahem, pleasants! I shall continue my speech! Slave, help me from the ground and onto my throne!" Yasu demands. Minato then helps them up. They are placed in their wheelchair and they start to pet Mochi like one of those stereotypical villains with cats.

"Ah hell nah! Don't help her! Wait too late. It's your own funeral." Miyuki then retrieves her sword from the dartboard and tries again. Somehow she almost hits Hotaru, but she dodges before it can hit her.

"Watch it! I'm not supposed to die until chapter five!" Hotaru cries out. She tries to get Kira back but cannot reach her. Kira is still out of it.

"Ahem! I shall answer, so pay attention..." Then Yasu begins to cry heavily. "I'm a useless failure of a monarch! And I've failed so many...of my subjects. Mitsu-cho is dead! Mirabilis is dead! We're all dead! Even Dango died!"

"Wow, I didn't expect this result. But so warm~" Namita begins to laugh as she nuzzles closer to me. Miyuki then throws her sword at me which barely misses. I then try to shake Namita off.

"Dango?"

"Alright, let's now...um..." Namita gets up from my lap and then falls onto the floor. With her gone, I find it easy to remove Tsukiko from my lap. Perhaps this is the best time to run. I can apologize to Kira later for leaving her for dead.

"And Cassius, my only equal, died because of my involvement! I've failed all my subjects! Dammit!" Yasu cries into Minato's shoulder. I do not want to hear all this personal baggage when somebody is not even fully themselves. Something about it just feels wrong.

Trying to be quiet as I can, I quickly retreat out of the room. I can still hear everybody from outside the door. If the next Experiment is in there, I especially do not want to be in there.

"I guess I am going to bed...without my supplies." I groan as I realize I left everything in there. Guess I can deal without for one night. Kotori did a lot worst to me and Kazuhiko before.

* * *

Before I reach my room, I see that the cafeteria door is ajar, allowing some light to creep into the hallway. I slowly make my ways toward the door, and I look inside real quick. Atsuto and Akemi are together with the whole cafeteria cleaned up.

"Well, you may be a killer, but you're not like that Hayato bastard." Akemi is being surprisingly open with Atsuto. The both of them are talking like they are old friends. Is it possible that they knew each other from before the game?

"We're not that different, Akemi. Hayato and I both gave into Monokuma's will. Seems like no matter what, I cannot escape Kaneshiro." Atsuto then looks over to me and smiles a bit.

"Atsuto... _Akemi_. Glad to see you here." I sit down with them. They were sitting on opposite sides of one of the tables, so I sit on Atsuto's side.

"Why are you even here, _Ayano_? Aren't you supposed to be with the girls?" Akemi asks me. He still has that look of skepticism in his eyes. I can just feel the newfound tension in the room.

"They all got drunk," I answer. Honestly, I do not like being anywhere near drunk people, or somehow altered by some other drug. Reminds me too much of my time with Kotori.

"I'm gonna guess that's Hotaru's doing." Atsuto lets out a small laugh.

"Yes."

"I swear, Hotaru has a good side when she's not getting everybody drunk," Akemi says. "Tho I do wonder how she got Kira to drink anything. She's been hesitant to drink anything lately. And she's also, you know, blind." I just stay silent. Would not want to experience Akemi if I tell him the truth.

"Satoshi would go crazy if he found out what she was doing." Atsuto sighs. "Oh, wait, Ayano, you don't know. Satoshi is actually a friend of mine. He was cool with me taking over his identity to sneak into Hope's Peak." That is good to know. Satoshi might be a good bet on getting out of here. If father is somehow unable to, maybe Satoshi would, considering whether or not he's like how Satoshi portrayed him.

"I'm going to check up on the girls. Here's hoping they won't kill me." Akemi then leaves the room. His legs drag behind him while a yawn forces its way out of his lips. Then he forgets to close the door behind him.

"Ayano, I guess we got a lot of making up to do," Atsuto awkwardly giggles, mostly to himself. He then takes a seat where Akemi used to be.

"I guess too. Want to spend some time together? Making things up and whatnot?"

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Atsuto Togami?**_

 _ **Yes/No**_

* * *

"What truly happened all these years, Atsuto? How were you after...everything?" The both of us truly have seen the darkest depths of despair, but I have seen hope as well. I believe that the despair of Kazuhiko's death is far less than the hope of being able to meet him in the first place.

"Well, it was difficult at first, but it got through it. Always was on the run from Kaneshiro," Atsuto answers. "I wonder where everybody else is. There was this one bodyguard lady from my childhood that randomly disappeared. A lot of people had that fate actually. Just disappearing without a trace and no saying goodbye. The only person I knew from my childhood was Satoshi."

"Was Satoshi part of the Future Foundation too?" I question him. I fix my posture to become more straight. My eyes suddenly feel heavy. If only I could truly tell what time it is.

"No, Satoshi is a neutral party. He just picks what side he wants to. It's really annoying." Atsuto then closes his eyes and clenches his teeth. "Sometimes he would just sell me out to Kaneshiro. And then he's like please kill Kaneshiro! Like, bitch, you don't think I'm trying to do that!" Then he slams his head against the table and I try to help him, but he refuses, getting up himself.

"But...Ayano, what's Kazuhiko exact relationship with Kotori? The answer's not pretty, isn't it?" Atsuto opens up his eyes again. Staring into his eyes, I wonder if I should tell him the truth. I promised Kazuhiko I would not tell anyone, but Kazuhiko is dead. The real question is whether or not I want to delve into the memories once again.

"If you want to...there's no turning back after finding out the truth." I then hold onto Atsuto's shoulders. This surprises Atsuto, who jumps.

"Yes." Even with his jumpy behavior, Atsuto looks me directly in my eyes. He then relaxes. "Tell me, Ayano, and we might be able to see what Kaneshiro wants. Why he hates Kazuhiko so much."

"...Um, let's see how to explain this..." I take a deep breath. If there are people I hate more than Kotori, it's... "You see, Kazuhiko came from a poor family in the city. His parents...well, they are pieces of shit and decided to sell him to the highest bidder, which happened to be the Committee."

"Wait, are you saying the Committee engages in human trafficking!?"

"How else do you think they get all of their subjects for the experiments? I mean, they sold me to the highest bidder, the Nishiki family." I could feel that my hands are shaking but hide them from Atsuto.

"...What...?"

"The Committee has a lot more secrets than you think, Atsuto. And I know a lot of them," I reply. Mostly because Kotori had too big of a mouth. Kotori would brag about the mistreatment of others. With her being an Ultimate, I do not want to think about the kind of treatment Sae got to turn into... _that_.

"I knew they were corrupt...but _this_."

"That's not all of it-"

"That can wait for another day." Atsuto then bolts out of the cafeteria. That was a bad idea. But there is a weight off my chest. Perhaps Atsuto needed to hear that but doesn't know that yet.

"When did things become so complicated?" I ask myself. There is no answer. Just the silence of the night.

" _When they did_." My eyes dilate. What...what is that? I look all around me to see that I am still by myself. The conclusions my mind automatically jumps to are not exactly the prettiest.

"Okay, I just need to calm down. This is just a stress thing." With a deep breath, I slowly make my way out of the cafeteria. My legs feel like they are dragging a hundred weights behind them.

* * *

Back in my own bed, I try to get myself comfortable. Though the sudden weight on my back is way more crushing than anything I felt before. My eyes keep drifting into the corner, half expecting another horrible sight to greet me there.

"...What is this feeling?" I do not have an answer for myself. My emotions have not been this all over the place since Kazuhiko and Kyoto died. Sure, Kyoto died yesterday, but I feel like this game is messing with our natural grief process.

Forcing my eyes to close, I take deep breathes. Everything is going to be alright...right? My father is going to save us all any minute now. I cannot stand another second in this prison. Seeing anymore of my friends die might send me off the edge.

"Everything's going to be alright," I tell myself. The single tear that escapes my eye betrays me.

Eventually, I fall into an uneven sleep. A sleep that is just darkness and nightmares. All the sleep I have ever had is just darkness and nightmares except with my father. Just...just finally save me, father...

* * *

 _ **Monokuma Theatre!**_

 _Well...um...I didn't prepare anything. I was kinda busy, okay? That motive took too much of my time and Ayano being a bitch. And now all of the girls are...doing things. Girls are scary._

 _You know what, I can talk about girls! Girls are nightmares! Boy are nightmares! Everything's a nightmare!_

 _No matter what you do Ayano, nobody will save you. Trust me on that-_

* * *

I wake up from my sleep with sweat all over my body. My breath is short and barely there. What...what is going on?

"There's nothing you can do but make sure you're not dead, Ayano. Just wait for us, okay?" somebody says from inside the room. In the same corner Kazuhiko was, Izumi is standing, watching over me. Her red eyes shine in the darkness.

"I-Izumi?" I try to say but cannot get the words out.

"Don't try to move. The only way I could get in the program was to make you have sleep paralysis. If I didn't, Kaneshiro and Kirigiri would be on my ass." Izumi then walks closer to me when I realize I cannot move. I realize that she is probably telling the truth.

"What do you want to tell me?" I think. If I remember, sleep paralysis ceases your ability to talk or move for an amount of time. Then this is going to be a long, forced talk with Izumi.

"Ayano, you must promise me that you won't tell anybody, even Atsuto, got it?" Izumi takes a moment for me to process the information. "You're currently in the Neo World Program."

"..." The Neo World Program?! That...that means there's a chance that everybody is still alive! Kazuhiko and Kyoto can still be alive! That is what father did to all of his own friends that died.

"Now Ayano, please listen-" Before Izumi can finish her sentence, she disappears into a bunch of pixels. Her arm reaches out to me until it joins the rest of her body. And I am all alone once again.

" _Go back to sleep, Ayano_..." And then my eyes peacefully closed.

* * *

 _"Hey, look, Aya, I found something!" Atsuto tries to give me the seashell he found but falls before he can. Then he begins to cry, which summons his mother to come and get him._

 _"Atsuto! Be more careful." A much more mature and emotionally stable from the original Killing Game Toko comes to get him. She retrieves him from the sand in the hurry._

 _"Are you hurt in any way, Ayano?" My father then sits down on the sand to see the sandcastle I was making. It is, to be honest, a wreck. Turns out five-year-olds do not have the best sandcastle making skills._

 _"No!" I smile at my father until I grab onto his leg, embracing it in a hug. He is really tall in my memories but now I'm probably taller than him._

 _"Come on, Toko, its almost time for lunch, we should probably get heading there." Then my father picks me up in his arms. It is easy for him since I was fairly small for my age then._

 _"If you say so, Izuru..." Toko is the first one to leave with Atsuto holding onto her hand, still with tears in his eyes._

 _"Daddy! I want...waffles! No, pancakes!"_

 _"..." My father looks out to the ocean, his eyes somewhere else. "...Oh, Ayano, you can't have that. We're having lunch. Japanese lunch. Like...sashimi or sushi."_

* * *

"It's morning! Wake up! That includes all of you with a damn hangover!" Monokuma shouts over the speakers. I slowly get out of bed, with my eyes still heavy. At this point, I believe nobody is having a good night's sleep.

"I should investigate more today." Then I trip out of my bed. "Okay...I should fully wake up and then investigate."

Getting up once again, I drag my feet all the way to the door. That is when I realize the door has been opened and that there is a letter right in front of it. I then reach down to the floor to get it.

 _"Really, Ayano? Do you trust, Izumi? You really should think twice about that. This might be the Neo World Program but its very, very different now. Thank Kazuhiko for that."_ At the end of the paper note, there's another, smaller piece of paper glued on. It's a picture of a green pod surrounded by others, but what's important is the person inside. Kazuhiko is in the pod and has a knife stuck into his neck.

...

...

...

...

...

What?

"Heya, Aya, I got this killer hangover. Whatcha looking at?" Still in a state of shock, I cannot hide the paper in time to stop Hotaru from seeing its contents. Hotaru stares blankly at the piece of paper.

"Dammit, Firefly, you weren't supposed to do that!" Monokuma falls from the ceiling and then throws something onto the floor. I quickly realize its some kind of sleeping gas as I fall onto the ground.

"Damn...Monokuma..." Hotaru's eyes close right before mine. I try to reach onto her with my closed eyes, and I realize how difficult it must be for Kira. The moment I touch the tip of Hotaru's gloved fingers, I find myself falling into the same old, familiar darkness.

* * *

Then I find myself awake once again in my bed. It's strange to think that Monokuma did not do anything with me, yet the person I am worried about now is Hotaru. What did he do to her?

But then what about everybody who has died in this game? Seeing Kazuhiko die again in another way was not on my to-do list. Then again, I have accepted his death a couple of days ago. Not because I wanted to, but because that was the only way to survive. To not fall into the endless spiral known as despair. Once I am out of here, I will finally be able to properly mourn all of the deaths. Except for Kaneshiro, for I will for sure kill him.

This time when I get up I see that the door is now closed. Opening it again, I see that the paper is nowhere in sight. Hotaru comes skipping down the hallway this time, much more carefree than usual.

"Hey, Hotaru, do you want to talk about the paper?" I call out to her. She then suddenly stops and runs to where I am.

"What paper? Did you get something, Aya?" Even though this is Hotaru we are talking about, I feel like she is honest. There is a look in her eye that I now notice. Hotaru also has a bad habit of smirking when lying.

"...No..." Did Monokuma erase her memory somehow? If he is able to do that with Hotaru, then there is no stopping Monokuma doing that to the rest of us. Are any of our memories real?

"Alright! Let's hang out then!"

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Hotaru Amemori?**_

 _ **Yes/No...well, whatever, you're stuck doing it, too bad**_

* * *

Hotaru then brings me back to the game room. For a bit, she tries to teach me how to play darts, yet I learn quickly that I suck at it. Then it turns into Hotaru just showing out her skills and complaining about her hangover.

"Ok, let's take a break!" Hotaru takes out a few fold-up chairs I did not know were there before. I take a seat in mine while Hotaru fully relaxes in her. It is like she does not have a care in the world.

Sinking more in my chair, I realize how comfortable these chairs are. At least compared to everything else in this school. People back at home used to complain about how uncomfortable these chairs are, yet I find myself mentally thanking them. Do not know what that says about the current state of my mental health.

"Gosh, my talent is so useless, but its good to see it takes your mind off things." Hotaru then crosses her legs and starts humming a random song badly. I do not want to hear her sing if this is how she hums.

"It's not useless. My talent is now pointless with this action, however..." Just thinking about how I could possibly save everybody if I sacrifice myself is terrifying. Though I do not know enough about the programming about the Neo World Program to successfully hack into it.

"You don't have to deny it. I love my talent so much! Its the biggest middle finger to my folks! Yeah, hear that guys, fuck you!" Hotaru then pulls out another dart with another bullseye. So Hotaru does not have a good relationship with her family? That might be useful information. Considering she seems to be part of a circus, I will not be surprised if she is a runaway.

"Are you sure you should be screaming that out loud? Do you remember how Kira reacted to somebody dissing their parents?"

"What should I care about what others think? That's your problem, Ayano! You gotta let go! Stop caring so much!" Hotaru then jumps onto the top of the back of the chair, balancing on it with one foot. "Learn how to go along with the wind. The only person you've to please is yourself! I don't care if everybody else in the world hates me if I still have the love of myself."

"Are you giving me advice?" Advice was the last thing I suspected in this conversation. Hotaru is being strangely mature. I always thought of her as carefree, yet maybe that's just her self-acceptance.

"Yep! But I wonder how Nanami and Yoshio are doing. Monokuma says all the people close to us are dead but I won't believe it until there's evidence!"Nanami and Yoshio? I guess even Hotaru has friends outside the Killing Game.

"I have this friend...well, more specifically he was more Kazuhiko's friend, but his name is Shiro. He's should be safe right now." Shiro. That is yet another person that can help save us from this place. He would be sad that Kazuhiko is dead, though Shiro is not the type of man to easily give up. Shiro is by far one of the most stubborn people I have ever meet.

"You know, Aya, let's make a promise right now." Hotaru then holds out her hand. I look at it with a skeptic's eye. "We get out of here to screw with Kaneshiro. Our friends are waiting for us back home!"

"Alright." I take her hand and we shake on it.

"Now we're both gonna to survive, right? I mean, it's easier for you considering you're the _protagonist_ and whatnot." Hotaru then makes her way to the dartboard again. "Let's continue our game, Aya. I need to teach you how to finally hit the board!"

With some newfound confidence, I take one of the darts...just to horribly miss again.

"Well... we've got a lot to teach you." For a couple more hours, Hotaru tries to teach me the basics of dart throwing, only to fail miserably. I will never complain about her talent ever again.

* * *

After a while, we go our separate ways, and I find that I actually like being in Hotaru's company. She may have a very weird hobby with getting the rest of her classmates drunk, yet there is something about her that connects the both of us.

Going down to the first floor, I see that nobody else is there. The rest of my classmates must be somewhere else right now. But there is this overwhelming feeling that somebody else is here. Now I know that is because we're in the Neo World Program. Somebody is watching us.

I then start making my way up the stairs once again. A couple steps later I hear somebody go on the stairs behind me.

"I'm sorry about this Ayano!" somebody cries out. I then turn around just to have a bullet nearly gaze at my waist. Okay, I am not allowing myself to get injured, or worse killed right now.

"Where are you?" I shout. Of course, there is nobody there. The mastermind must be abusing their control of the Neo World Program. I should have seen this sooner because of all of the stories my father used to tell me.

What is the mastermind planning?...And when is my father coming to rescue all of us? Please...please...I will kill just to know where you are right now, father.

* * *

 **DiOS, what's that? I haven't heard of DiOS. No, I don't have story favoritism. What are you talking about? And what do you mean there's a poll for the fourth victim already up? It's not already up. I really don't know what you're talking about.**

 **So this was supposed to be up sooner but then I kept getting distracted by Discord. And MMD never working. Dammit, MMD, work for a second!**

 **The biggest plot twist of this chapter is that Ayano and Hotaru are slowly becoming friends.**

 **Also, there's another part of the Committee Saga I'm writing right now. Why? Because I'm fucking insane.**

 **Reviews~**

 **Scissor-Snipper-This...this is what the re-edit (kill me) is for...Yeah...and memes. KaneshiroxKazuma selfcest. This Killing Game should just be called: Monokuma's plan never works. Hotaru shows off more of her skills this chapter. Miyuki is much like a certain V3 character. ;) (dang, Yellow, play the game or watch a let's play, I wanna talk about it more in the reviews XD)**

 **AnonChan1-Hotaru showing that she's an actual person this chapter. Kaneshiro is here to haunt your nightmares. Only I know right now what the special photo really is. ;) The real question is what was Kaneshiro doing up there? Hotaru knows too much plot. Should it really shock people that most of them got drunk? Is Ayano really to be trusted tho? Monokuma's favorite hobby is screwing with Hotaru. Nothing good happens when new rooms open up. Monokuma always screw them over.**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-Stop raising death flags, Hotaru. I want Ayano's towel skills. Hotaru, please stop raising death flags for everyone. Its not healthy. Anybody want to guess what the real motive is? I'll give you a cookie if you guess correctly. Yep, this fic is gonna have an absolutely crazy end. Because its Danganronpa.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-That's what MoDE is for. Anything is possible in the Neo World Program. Don't worry, they just all got drunk. Poor, poor Kira. Thank you, here's the next one! :D**

 **ShadedLyht-Only I know that. ;) Hotaru is like...blood, that's nothing to worry about! Well, they just all got drunk again. Please stop making everybody get drunk, Hotaru. You can guess but only I know for certain.**

 **dashunterman-That's for me to know and you to find out. ;) Feed me with all your theories so I can crush your hopes and dreams. If Mitsuru comes back to life, she will probably be beheaded again. Dammit, Mitsuru.**

 **ThePLOThand-Another new reviewer! Who got spoiled because of Discord. It's always Junko, even in the Committee Saga. You'll never escape Junko. Its cool that you do the music thing! :D Only if you weren't spoiled, then you'll be absolutely mindfucked like everybody else. Ah, so many people dropped because of the craziness, and I evilly laugh. IT ONLY GETS WORSE FROM HERE.**


	45. Chapter 4-4

**Chapter 4-4: Diamonds In The Sky**

 **(Note: This chapter contains very heavy subject matters. Be careful. If you feel uncomfortable at any time, stop reading.)**

* * *

"Hello! I heard a gunshot!" From the gardens, I see Kira open the door with Tsukiko and Hayato by her side. I look down to see a small wound where the bullet grazed me. The bullet is currently lodged in one of the higher upstairs.

"Ayano, are you alright?" Tsukiko quickly runs towards me while I try to make my way down the stairs. The shock and pain of being shot finally registers, causing me to fall down. I rather have been stabbed again than experience something like this.

"The mastermind...is trying to kill me..." I can bearly make my words out. Pretty sure that is a lie but it will gather more of a response from Tsukiko. My entire focus is on the overwhelming pain from the wound. If this is how it feels with the bullet not even inside me, I do not want to imagine the pain Kazuhiko and Kyoto were in.

"Kamukura-san, is what you say true?" Hayato asks. He stays where Kira is. Guess Tsukiko is taking care of the both of them. She really does care about people she views to be in trouble.

"Isn't that against the rules?" Kira feels her way around as she slowly creeps her way closer to the stairs. Hayato does not go with her. He stares at me but averts his eyes.

"What rules?...They don't matter..." I sputter out. "At least to the...mastermind." Bringing my hand up to my face, I see that it is covered in blood. This is worse than I thought it would be.

"Guys, I heard a gunshot but that's way too crazy! What's...? Ayano!?" Hotaru comes running down the stairs. She automatically goes right by my side. Tsukiko shouts something to Kira, and then Hotaru begins to pick me up.

"What's going on here?" The next one to come to the scene is Minato. They try to help me as well, yet it seems like their ability to get lost is becoming stronger. One second they're there, the next they're gone.

"...We gotta get Ayano to the Hospital. Come on." Hotaru then bridal carries me all the way to the Hospital. The amount of times I have visited this room in the last couple of days is alarming.

* * *

At the Hospital, Hotaru lays me down on the cot. Both Tsukiko and her call for Monokuma but he does not come. I could see that the two of them being to sweat.

"Hayato told me...oh no!" Atsuto comes rushing into the Hospital. He takes off his suit and begins to roll up his sleeves. Does it seem that bad? If it is worse than a regular gunshot wound, then Monokuma definitely is toying around with me. Monokuma could kill us at any moment, after all, so it makes he does not actually want me dead.

"Ok! Let's do this!" Hotaru grimaces while she takes a closer look at the wound. Tsukiko and Atsuto follow after her. Hayato must be trying to find Takara, Miyuki, and Namita.

"Does anybody have any medical experience whatsoever?" Tsukiko tries to find anything to actually work with. She opens up draws and draws of what I presume to be a bunch of pills.

"I only have some." Atsuto then pulls out something I do not quite recognize. Before I could ask anything, Atsuto places it over my mouth, and my eyes feel heavy...wait...Is it bad enough to truly put me under? What did Monokuma do to me? Do not tell me that bullet was somehow drugged or messed with in any way...

* * *

 _"Aya, Aya, I got something for you~ Aya!" Kotori walked nearer to me and took a seat on the couch I was sitting in. "I'm acting all nice, dearie, do you want me to stay that way? Or should I bring you back to Mr. Nishiki? He is technically the one that owes you, right? You should be happy about my generosity, otherwise, you would still be there, right? That means...mother knows best. And I'm the only female figure in your life."_

 _"...Only Kazuhiko calls me Aya..." I pouted. My short legs hung from the couch and I began to swing them around._

 _"Hmph, if you say so. Wouldn't you want to join in with Kazu right now? We're doing something very fun." Kotori then escorted me off of the couch. At that moment, I obliged everything she said, no questions asked. Anything was better than Mr. Nishiki._

 _"What is it, Mrs. Hiraoka?" I asked her. Kotori held her hand down to me and I grabbed ahold of it. It was warm and inviting, reminding me much about my father._

 _"That will ruin the surprise, dear. And you don't want to be spoiled, right?" Kotori smiled at me. At the time, it gave hope, but now I know its true purpose: despair. The nothingness that proceeds into despair. A deep, downward spiral that only leads to utter insanity or horrifying death._

 _"I don't care, Mrs. Hiraoka! I wanna know!" I was excited. Like a kid that was waiting for their mother to make cookies, only to find out that they were poisoned with cyanide._

 _"Patience, child. Good things come to those who wait." Then she let my hand go. I was confused for a second, but then I looked up at her face. That was when I first realized the woman named Kotori Hiraoka was nothing more than a monster._

 _The eyes that my father always said to look out for. Those eyes of madness. Except they weren't those. Instead of spirals, it is pure darkness. No hope, only despair. Despair that could have easily crushed Junko Enoshima's. Junko was nothing compared to Kotori Hiraoka._

 _"...Mrs. H-Hiraoka?"_

 _"Only if people knew the truth about despair, then maybe the world wouldn't be doomed. But, alas, people only believe in Junko Enoshima's despair. She was but a child. How would she know anything about suffering?" Kotori opened the door to the closet. Her body blocked my vision from what was inside. "I will make sure that even children like you get this feeling, right? After all, mother knows best. And I'm your mother now."_

 _"M-mother?! Mrs. Hiraoka-"_

 _"That's mother to you now, sweetheart. Now join with Kazuhiko. Shame I can't do the same thing again." Kotori's eyes returned to normal but I could not see them the same way ever again. Once they were a beautiful green, now they have been tainted by muck._

 _"..." I did not know what to do. My feet would not move even though I wanted them to so badly. Kotori towered over me and offered her hand to me, yet I refused. Standing perfectly still._

 _"Looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way. Bummer." Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain..._

 _PAIN PAIN PAIN JUNKO PAIN PAIN PAIN FATHER PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN EISHI PAIN PAIN PAIN IZURU PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN KAZUHIKO PAIN PAIN PAIN KOTORI PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN IZUMI PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN IZUMI PAIN PAIN PAIN IZUMI IZUMI IZUMI PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN KYOTO PAIN PAIN PAIN AKITA PAIN PAIN PAIN SHINICHI PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN CASSIUS PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN NAOKO PAIN PAIN PAIN MITSURU PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN TAKAYUKI PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN DEATH PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN..._

 _Nothingness. Sweet, sweet nothingness._

* * *

Then I wake from my slumber. Something does not feel right. Not right at all...

I am all alone in the Hospital, left wondering whether or not Monokuma drugged me. Atsuto's medical knowledge could have possibly saved my life if that bullet was somehow laced.

For hours, I am left alone with nothing but my own thoughts. What is taking them so long to check here? Has something possibly happened? Did Monokuma kill them all? And, most of all, what is the purpose behind everything?

"Ayano?" The first couple of people that enter the Hospital are Namita and Miyuki. They must have both realized that I am awake. "Hey, how are you feeling? Sore anywhere?"

Now that Namita has pointed it out, the searing pain coursing through my body comes crashing back like a truck. What in the world is going on with my body? And why does it hurt so much? Sure, I was hit with a bullet, but this pain is more than that. Yet I can't find it in my will to scream or be fazed. Everything is numb but so, so painful. Not even a single tear can fall.

"Is there anything I can get for Kamukura-san?" Miyuki asks. Her voice is the same as usual, monotone. Visions of her throwing up blood cloud up my mind. What is Miyuki hiding from the rest of us? And why do I have the feeling that Namita already knows?

"Hm, what Atsuto said," Namita replies. "I'll stay with Ayano. I need to bring her up to speed about what's happening over here." She then sits down on one of the cots next to mine.

"If you say so..." Miyuki then leaves the Hospital, leaving me alone with Namita. Although I do like Namita, I found myself wishing for somebody else that I knew better.

"Alright, Ayano, time to get serious for a moment. You've been out of it for a couple days," Namita says. "And, nothing happened. Monokuma said he didn't want to switch the 'protagonist' again so he left us alone. We all took a pact to not look at our motives either. Its been strangely peaceful." She shifts around on the cot, crossing her legs.

"Okay."

"Yeah, that's really all to say." Namita begins to sit up to go, but I find myself not wanting her to. Something inside me just wants somebody, anybody, here with me right now.

"Can you...stay?" I struggle to say. Somehow Namita manages to hear that and stops in her tracks. She then returns to her place on the cot, once again crossing her legs.

"Sure, if you want to! Then I will! That's my job, isn't it?" Namita smiles. Her job might be to plan, yet Namita somehow always keeps the mood up in our group of misfits. Although her plans have either ended up with everybody getting drunk or somebody ending up dead.

"Alright..."

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Namita Nakahashi?**_

 _ **Yes/No**_

* * *

"Hm, what do you wanna talk about, Ayano? You're kinda the injured one here." Namita awkwardly laughs. I can see that her eyes are solely focused on my waist but she tries to look away.

"Nothing is really on my mind..."

"Ok, then I'll think of something!" She then begins to tap her fingers on the cot. I notice that Namita's hair is actually staying on one of her ponytails instead of her constantly playing with it. "What's it like being raised by Despairs?"

"I guess that makes sense to ask. Just like it is how to be raised by anyone else. History lies about them, you know?" There is no way I will lie. Lying would be the easy way out. Plus, I think the only one here with a remotely positive view about the Committee is Kira, and even then she does not worship them, only Ayano Kirigiri.

"Oh, that figures. Why can't people just tell the truth!? But one must follow the rules, right?" That is interesting. Namita is a stickler for rules, huh? Explains why she is part of the trio with Miyuki and Tsukiko.

"Yeah? Well...what about your family?" I remember Namita saying something about being distant from my father during the sleepover. The last time we talked she mentioned a brother as well.

"Oh, you're wondering about my father comment. Haha, figures that you would." I wonder how Namita can be so relaxed one moment and a socially awkward mess another. It makes her hard to read. What is her true personality? Is the truth somewhere between?

"So what is it?"

"You know, Hotaru reminds me of him. Carefree, doesn't really care about the rules, gets on my nerves." Namita doesn't like Hotaru? I do not remember seeing the two of them personally interact with each other. She must not want to create drama and stays away from her. "Honestly, I don't know how my mom deals with him...Ok, time to change the subject!"

"What-"

"Yeah, what about that party we were talking about earlier? Oh, and you being able to meet Yen. I think you would like her. Both of you are the quiet, thoughtful type," Namita interrupts me. Her eyes begin to sparkle. "You know, Yen is actually from Vietnam. Learning about a culture not heavily affected by the Committee was so cool! And I taught her things like English and how dumb the Committee can be!"

That could be the reason why Namita seems to not be that bothered by me being a Kamukura. Yen already opened her eyes to the truth a long time ago. That is good to hear. Vietnam is an ally of the Committee but is still its separate identity. Mostly because they were able to fight back the Despairs in their countries and properly take care of themselves. Nothing like the end of the world to repair a country at odds. Even Korea is back to one country, though they are taken over by the Committee.

"Oh, Yen would always help me create all my parties. She never really liked being a part of them tho, so I would have to convince her. If she went, I would buy her a new video game she wanted. And that's why I was always broke! Hahaha!" Namita laughs. Video games? She can afford those? Figures Namita is on the richer side, she does host parties for celebrities.

"How do you think the people outside of the game are?" I question. Hotaru does have a point of Monokuma lying, yet I cannot get the thoughts of everybody being dead out of my mind. Mostly for the other people in this game.

"Well, if Yen was dead, I would feel it. Just ask your heart." Namita sweetly grins at me. Her finger is pointed directly to my chest. "Trust yourself, Ayano, then you'll be happier." What is with it and people giving me advice right now?

"..." Though Namita does have a point. I think way too much, I know that, but I cannot trust something as childish as my heart or gut.

"Well, I'll be going. I need to see what is taking Yuki so long." Namita waves to me while she exits the Hospital. Then, once again, I find myself all by myself. Great.

Bored out of my mind, I decided to close my eyes once again. Sleep quickly takes ahold of my mind while my body sinks into the cot. It may not be the most comfortable thing in the world, but it will make do for now...

I just realized that no matter what happens, when I return home, my bed will be empty and cold. No more of that comforting warmth...

* * *

 _"Promise me, Aya, we'll get out of here together. Even without Ar_nI_, or_ih_en_K, e_S, and oy_h_." Kazuhiko held onto my hands, his face noticeably younger. Back then he was taller than me, what a weird thought._

 _"..."_

 _"Aya? What's wrong?" Kazuhiko put his hand on his shoulder but I did not respond. My eyes were dead. Nothing was responding like it was supposed to. No surprise there, I was put through Hell. Repressed memories, yet I do remember some of it. What I remember is not pretty._

 _"..."_

 _"Will you respond? Just...give me something. Even one word is good enough. Please, not you too." Kazuhiko began to cry and sought comfort by hugging onto me. I just stared at him._

 _"..."_

 _"Just stop it! Why do I have to be the special one!?" Kazuhiko pouted. "I swear, if anybody hurts you again, I'll kill them!...Kotori still allows me to write stuff for the paper after all..." His eyes screamed with a special kind of bloodlust._

 _"...Scoops?"_

 _"There we go, Aya! You said something! I knew you could do it! See, all you gotta believe! Believe in yourself like how I do." Kazuhiko lightly caressed my check. My eyes trailed its movements. "That's what you and I will do now. Scoops!"_

 _"...Yeah?"_

 _"Just say one word, okay? I can say the rest. I'll make sure that your suffering comes to an end, no matter what." He then began to walk away but I stopped him. Even in my completely broken mind, I yearned for that warmth. Much like a candle. Warms you up but gets snuffed out too easily._

 _"...Stay..."_

 _"What?" Kazuhiko's eyes filled up with an emotion I still cannot quite decipher. Multiple feelings mixed into one cohesive whole. Eyes dilated yet relaxed, puffy but cleaned, full of tears yet dry._

 _"Stay."_

 _"Aya-" In a snap of emotion, I reached up to him. Kazuhiko did not know what was coming. I then pressed my lips against him like I saw...and Kazuhiko at first does not kiss back due to the shock. Then, after it all registers, Kazuhiko finally kissed back._

 _"...I love you..." I told him when the two of us broke it off._

 _"Aya, I love you too! I'll finally put an end to your suffering! I promise!" Once again, Kazuhiko crushed my body with a hug. That time, however, I return the favor. Only if I knew what he was referring to at that moment. I could have stopped all of this if I was not too busy wallowing in my own crushing self-pity._

* * *

...Waking up, my eyes feel groggy. I think I see something in the corner in my eye but dismiss it. My eyes feel like they are about to close again but something feels very wrong.

"Aya, I love you, Aya~" The voice sends a shiver down my spine, tears in my eyes, and a smile on my face. Kazuhiko comes into my field of vision. Not the fake robot version, but the real one.

"Kazu..."

"You don't need to say anything. I just wanted to hear your beautiful voice once again." Right as he comes to caress my cheek, I realize how fake he is. None of that warmth, only Kotori's chill. My cheek is on fire but freezing.

"...You're not Kazuhiko Hiraoka."

"Now, Aya, that's not polite, you should know better than that. We can get out of here together and continue working on my scoops! Heard there was another Killing Game happening. And this one is in space with our boy Shiro!" A sly smile. One of those smiles that could only belong to Kotori Hiraoka.

"Shiro...?" That cannot be true. How can there be two Killing Games happening at once? Nothing about that makes sense! The mastermind(s) should be solely focused on this one.

"That's where the last experiment is too. Not here. I wonder who it is. Getting an interview with them would be amazing for the ratings!" Kazuhiko tries to get closer to my mouth, yet I push him off.

...Wait, this is not reality...

 _Kazuhiko does not get affected and continues to inch closer. I continue to try to push him off with all my might but it does nothing to stop him. Closer, closer, closer...Then I dart out of the cot._

 _"Get away from me, you fucking imposter! I'm done with my emotions getting messed with!" Something within me snaps. Kaneshiro using Kazuhiko to get to me is the last straw! There is no evidence that what he says is true!_

 _"HAHAHAHAHA! You bitch!" Kazuhiko then runs right to me. Before I can react, he grabs onto me and pushes me onto the nearest wall. I try to get up until Kazuhiko forces me up. Then he pins my body against the wall._

 _"You are not the real Kazuhiko. Why should I fear you?" I say. The shakiness of my voice betrays me._

 _"Aya, you sound way too sure of yourself~ But mother knows best. Hahahahaha. Oh, but she isn't my mother, she's yours, right?" he whispers in my ear. The usual breath of air is not there anymore. Then he bites onto my ear. I feel something to escape my mouth but I told it in. Is it me or is it getting hotter in here?_

 _"...Huff...huff..." My body feels heavy and warm. I could feel my chest go up and down with my breath. Fear is in my veils but sexual desire is starting to cloud my judgment._

 _"Come on, gimme more of your sounds, Aya. I want to hear more of your beautiful voice." Kazuhiko then starts to kiss my neck and continues his way up. Sweat pours out of my body. I cannot decide whether or not to fight, try to try, or just accept it. Accept the pain. No, that kind of thinking is how Kotori used me, I will not become the victim of this illusion!_

 _"I...refuse..." I suppress the moan trying to escape my lips. Got to get out of this somehow, no matter what. No matter what._

 _With tears in my eyes, I wrap the only things not pinned down, my hands, around Kazuhiko's neck. Suddenly the warmth comes back but it starts to fade away._

 _"...Aya...why? I...love...you..." Kazuhiko tries to struggle against me but cannot. The life begins to exit out of his body once again as his attempts slowly become less and less forceful._

 _"I love the real you! But you're dead!"_

 _"Are you so sure about that, Aya~ Hahahaha!" Kazuhiko, although I am strangling him, still finds it possible to laugh. The most chilling laugh I have ever heard. His eyes closed, and, when they open, they're pure darkness._

 _"..."_

 _"Kotori may be dead, along with Junko, but their influence still exists. Be wary of that, Aya." Then Kazuhiko slips through my hands and falls onto the ground. His body looks exactly like it did before._

 _I fall afterward with the tears unable to stop in my eyes. On the cold, hard floor I cry and cry and cry until I cannot anymore. My eyes are on fire but I do not care. Then I find myself falling into the realm of sleep once again..._

* * *

"Aya!" somebody shouts. Hearing that name again, I immediately jump on, but then I realize it is just Hotaru. Hotaru then begins to lift me up, while I lay on her shoulder.

"Sorry..." My body shakes. Tears still find their way out of my eyes. Everything just hurts.

"This is time to bring you to the others! It's getting serious!" In an odd act of leadership, Hotaru decides herself and I follow her lead. We both begin to make our way to wherever Hotaru is bringing me.

* * *

In the cafeteria, which is definitely better from when Shinichi died, everybody else is gathered eating breakfast like the old times. Hotaru almost kicking down the door catches all of their attention.

"Hotaru-"

"Shut up, Tsukiko, and listen to me! I'm sick of your shit! We need to keep an eye on Aya now!" Hotaru shouts. "I just found her crying in the corner of the Hospital with more serious wounds than before! She's in actual danger!" I am about to thank Hotaru before she randomly lets go of me and leaves the room. My body falls onto the ground.

"Ayano!" Surprisingly the first person to me is Takara followed by Akemi of all people. Everybody else follows except for Minato, who is probably lost again, and Kira, who is feeling her way around.

"Alright, we gotta create a plan, guys. Hotaru was right," Namita exclaims. With what she has just revealed, her words shock me. Namita either has a clear or frantic mind.

Blocking out their voices from my mind, I take a deep breath. Around everybody, I am safe just as look as Hayato does not have another gun or I drink poison. Its a strangely calming experience to see all of them plan about me. Everybody is starting to take the Kaneshiro threat more seriously. Helps that they have had more time to emotionally heal than I have.

My thoughts get interrupted when I'm escorted to one of the tables. Next to me are Yasu and Kira, with Takara on the other side of us. Everybody else leaves the room and are still talking with each other.

"Welcome, Ayano, we're your first protection squad. Just know that I'm not always sweet." Kira rests her head on her arm, which itself is set on the table. She seems to be still struggling with her blindness but better with her mental state.

"Get used to this, kid." Yasu still sounds down and out of it. The only thing that gives them joy is Mochi, who they are petting in their life. Mochi is all flopped over and honestly it takes all the willpower in the world to not openly 'daw' at the adorable sight.

"..." Takara is still silent, preferring to watch the three of us talk at a distance. He looks like he's elsewhere. His eyes are focused on the white lab coat draped over his body with what seems to be the beginning of tears forming in his eyes.

"So what should we talk about?" Being the only remotely talkative one out of all of us, Kira leads the conversation. Or at least tries to. None of us are exactly known for our social skills. And Kira can sometimes be socially awkward.

"That's a good boy, Mochi. You're the light of my world. You'll never betray me." Yasu pets the sides of Mochi's cheeks, and that rabbit looks like he is in pure heaven. I cannot believe I feel a tinge of jealousy for Mochi.

"..."

This is just becoming extremely awkward. Even Kira is just ignoring conversation and is beginning to play with the sleeves of her jacket. Minutes of silence causes me to begin to shift around in my seat.

"I need to go to the bathroom!" I lie.

"Do you want any of us to go with you, Ayano?" Kira asks. Figures that Namita would want to have somebody keep an eye on me on all times. That is something I do not want. I am a person who greatly enjoys their alone time.

"I will be quick." Once I make sure none of them will follow, I make my way into the kitchen and take a deep breath. Flashes of what happened with the fake Kazuhiko still linger in my mind.

I will have to think of something. What can I do now? Perhaps I should return to the library. There seems to always be a clue there, so that is the best bet I got. All I need to do is keep my sanity and life. Figuring out all of the answers to these questions will help my mind find peace. Plus, it gives me something else to focus on other than those black, dead eyes.

Entering the hidden hallway through the cellar, my eyes linger on the door. The door that Kazuhiko saw the truth of and where the start of my suicide attempt began. A dark aura is all I feel. Curiosity wants me to go in there, but curiosity killed the cat. What lies inside must truly be horrifying.

I continue onto the pool. It is still as filthy and disgusting as before. No matter what I think, I cannot fathom how Mitsuru and Hotaru managed to survive swimming in it, much less diving. Just seeing it makes me want to puke in the corner of the room.

But I continue to stare into the dark depths of the murky, contained liquid. A part of me is drawn into the monstrosity. Take a swim and you can wash off the newfound blood of Kazuhiko on your hands. Then again, even if I tried, there is no way to truly get it gone for good.

"When I get out of here, I am getting serious therapy."

* * *

Next on my tour is the hallway between the pool and the library. There is also the gym and rec room, but I have barely ever visited those places. Perhaps some of my classmates use those rooms more often.

I am almost to the library before I feel someone tap on my shoulder. Turning around, I see that Takara is behind me. He must have followed me after I was taking too long. Self-reflecting in front of the pool was probably not the smartest idea. Though it shocks me to know how good Takara is at sneaking around.

"You...take...long...Worried..." Takara tells me. I guess I am the closest person he is to with all the survivors. Perhaps because I am never one to judge people on the surface level.

"There is no need to worry about me, Takara," I respond to him. He then glares daggers at me. Good to know, Takara can get angry, and he has a truly terrifying glare. Getting on his bad side may be a hard feat but is something I definitely do not want to do. Helps that I actually like Takara and find that the two of us could be friends if we tried.

"Not...sure..." Takara also seems comfortable enough around me to openly talk. I may not know much about selective mutism, yet I feel a special connection between him and me.

"Want to spend some time together? That would be a good way to keep an eye on me." Not to mention, to finally get the images of Kazuhiko out of my head again.

* * *

 ** _Do you want to free time with Takara Miyagi?_**

 ** _Yes/No_**

* * *

"I remember you mentioning something about your friend, Misao. What can you tell me about her?" I ask. That seems like a good way to start a conversation. Also, it can help me find answers about the missing students.

"We...friends...since...young..." Takara explains. "When...not...acting...she...help...with...treasure...Us...close..." Hm, I wonder if there are any romantic feelings there. Takara does not seem that interested, but what about Misao?

"What did you do as kids?" Flashes of memories of playing with other kids on the island flood my mind. Issei loved splashing in the water, Rika always stayed to the sands and made castles with me, Sora stayed on the beach towel and read his books while his sister, Hana, tried to get his attention, so much more. Of course, Atsuto would always play with me when he visited, which caused Rika to get jealous and complain to her mother, Akane. Izuru is the only reason my aunt did not beat me up in a blind fit of rage.

"Pirates! Lots...of...treasure!" Even before Takara found his talent in treasure hunting, he was already interested in the idea. Maybe he and Kira can start a conversation about jewels eventually?

"And what can you tell me about treasure hunting?"

"It...fun!" Takara, I love how childish you can be in this setting, but that does not answer my question. He must not know any of the technical babble that goes into it. That is actually kinda refreshing.

"Cool! What's so fun about it?"

"First...Misao...then...all other friends!" He smiles while thinking of simpler times. Its infectious and I cannot help letting go of my worries and joining with him. The both of us begin to laugh.

"Can you tell me more about Misao?" Then I see Takara blush. Okay, take back what I said before, Takara has a crush on her. Seeing somebody as young and jaded as Takara be this happy is a nice change of pace of the constant depression.

"She...pretty...and cool! Likes...soap operas...and treasures..."

"You have a crush on her, don't you?" Hotaru must be rubbing off on me. That is a bad thing. Yet, for some reason, I have this constant feeling of wanting to see her again.

"...!" Takara's face becomes all red. He attempts to hide inside his jacket, yet I can still clearly see him. Both of us are finally letting go of the stresses of the game and embracing the fact that we are still teenagers that belong in the outside world.

"I can give you some hints. After all, I was the one that made the first move on...Kazuhiko..." Mentioning his name again causes another wave of emotions. Is that what the mastermind is trying to do with me? Replacing all of my fonds memories of Kazuhiko with whatever monster attacked me in the Hospital. A monster purely made out of my mind.

"Alright...let's...go...to...room..." Takara, still red, makes his way into the gym. I follow after him. It makes sense that he wants to go considering anybody can listen in at any time.

In the gym, both of us take a seat on the floor. I have seen that Miyuki has been working on this place as well. That woman is so strong but I still worry about her.

"I will now give you some tips." Something about having a student of some kind makes me proud. It is almost like I am saying screw you to Kotori's grave. Mother does not know best, I will make sure of that.

* * *

After my lessons, Takara and I take some time to just have small talk with each other. It is great to have another normal conversation even after all that has happened today. Not to mention that somehow the pain from my wound has gone away.

"Oh, I was thinking about checking out the library? Want to go with me?" I ask him. Takara nods his head and both of us get off the floor. The leftover of green has created stains on our clothes but we do not care. Nobody cares about stains whenever you are this far in the Killing Game. We have to just keep facing forward, not fall into the mastermind's trap, and get out of here!

"What...searching...for?" he questions me.

"Anything that will help us solve this game," I answer him. Without any further questions, he goes with me as the both of us leave the gym to enter the library. I consider for a second to ask him about the motive but know that will not get me anywhere. Takara was not even supposed to look at the motive, so, if he did, I have no idea whether or not he would trust me on that level yet. We may be getting closer but this is still the Killing Game.

"I wonder if we can find out anything about Kaneshiro Kazuma," I say, making conversation in the hallway. Nobody else is in it. I wonder where everybody else, yet I figure they are probably on the second floor somewhere. That seems to be where everything is happening.

"Yes." Once the both of us reach the door, Takara wants to open it, but I insist that I do. Both of us are way too used to opening doors. We come to a compromise and both open the door together. What awaits us is something I never thought I would see...

Namita and Miyuki are currently kissing each other.

"What?"

* * *

 **Its pride month so I was really happy that I got to this part. :3 Namita and Miyuki are canon, folks.**

 **Sorry if I triggered somebody with the sexual assault scene. That's why I put the warning. To be honest, that is the only scene that has caused me to cry while writing this. I'm a horrible person to Ayano. XD**

 **Reviews~**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Hotaru: please somebody stop her. No, Ayano, don't become more like Hotaru! NO! But Hotaru MVP this chapter. That's kinda the joke. Because I'm like...hahaha, I'm making fun of myself. Hotaru is Hotaru. ;) Yeah, well, insane is one way to explain this chapter. Here's a little less Hotaru this chapter but still Hotaru!**

 **AnonChan1-Well, Namita is still using her talent. Kira is out of shock but still repairing. Hotaru will always drug her classmates. HAHA, its a little more than a crush. Atsuto took care of himself since having a guardian meant getting found by the Committee. LORE! Anon, congrats, your theory was right! You can now join Yellow and Commander. HOTARU YES. I think Hotaru's talent is cool too but she doesn't. Everything ends in flames in this story. Have a bad feeling about everything.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Hotaru will never stop. Do whatever I want, it'll end with your suffering no matter what. ;) Yes, get horrible, horrible ideas. Because the Committee is horrible. Thank you so much. :D**

 **ThePLOThand-Yes, I just want a MM in a story be like...I'm Junko...Junko Takahashi. Minato is neither dude or gal. Beware of Kingdom Hearts spoilers then. XD Yes, I know how to spell Makoto. ;) You're the first person to point that out. (hahahaha, the choking was them breaking up, Ayano broke up with the fake Kazuhiko...kill me)**


	46. Chapter 4-5

**Chapter 4-5: Blossoming Weeds**

* * *

"..."

"..."

"..." This is the definition of awkward.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"So, um, how's the weather?" Namita and Miyuki have broken off of each other. Miyuki being all red in the face is a sight I never expected to see. The two of them cannot meet their eyes with ours.

"What was happening here?" Tsukiko asks. She must have followed us. What is with people in this forest and me being unable to hear them? First Takara, now Tsukiko. Maybe my hearing is going. That would suck.

"No...th..." Namita is about to faint onto the floor but Miyuki catches her just in time. She then places Namita in the chair and begins to walk towards the three of us.

"What we do is none of your business." Miyuki storms out of the library, pushing all of us away. We all stay there while we try to process the information we have just learned. How long have Namita and Miyuki been in a relationship?

Takara follows Miyuki afterward, leaving Tsukiko and me alone with Namita. The two of us stare at Miyuki's body for a few awkward seconds. Both of our minds are trying to piece together all of the pieces of the puzzle.

"Well, I'll be going as well." Namita does not look that well. Tsukiko and I both look at her and decide that this is something to pursue later. Considering Namita just fainted, she is not in the best emotional state.

"..."

"..."

"Want to talk with each other? You know, to calm down a bit?" Tsukiko asks. She does seem more relaxed than me. Mostly because she was probably not just assaulted by the fake version of her dead boyfriend.

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Tsukiko Oda?**_

 ** _Yes/No_**

* * *

"What do you want to talk about?" It is a little awkward considering Tsukiko did want to haunt me down a couple days ago. Guess her feelings have quieted down since then, and Takara managed to convince her.

"Whatever you want." Both of us then sit down at one of the tables opposite of each other. Looking around the library, I see that Miyuki is almost done with cleaning up the place.

"Hmmm, what was your childhood like, Tsukiko?" I question her. Tsukiko is another classmate I barely know anything about. Her leader persona makes it hard to get through to her.

"Believe it or not, I was a shy child," Tsukiko laughs. She then moves some of her hair out of her face. Since the beginning of the game, Tsukiko has lost one of her hair clips. Or maybe she just gave it somebody else who lost it or died. "Then my father introduced me to music! Well, I already knew about music, but then I got further into it. Even though my father is...not...awful..."

"I was a happy, sociable child. People change too much." In this game, I find myself once again wishing to go back to the life of a child. Children do not know how good they have it. That naivete...I would kill to erase my memories of the cruelty of the world.

"Ha, I think you've got a point there. But change is part of what makes us human beings." Now Tsukiko is adding onto the list of people that are giving me advice. "...That's something Reiji would say."

"Reiji?"

"Oh, he's one of my band members! There's Ikou, Takeshi, Natsuya, Jun, and Masaaki too! I've known Reiji from high school since he was senior when I was a freshman! Speaking of I wonder what all my school friends are doing now and if they remember...you know. There's Manami, Hoshiko, Nemu, Yume, Marika-"

"You have...a lot of friends." I have unleashed a monster with that one simple question. Tsukiko cares a lot about her loads of friends and it shows. Its good to see a more energetic side of her personality. A Tsukiko that is not actively putting up a front to make sure that less of us have to die.

"And Jun's wife, Miyabi works as a makeup artist for First Light! She's so good! Miyabi did my nails when this all started but...yeah," Tsukiko continues on. She is now off in her own little world. "They both of them have a cute daughter named Kiku! Aw, I just want to pinch her cheeks. Whose a good little girl? That's right, Kiku!" Now our leader is talking like a teddy bear that is not Monokuma. This is not where I expected the conversation to go.

"..." What did I do to deserve this? Can I have the old Tsukiko back?

"You know what, Ayano, when we get out of here, I'll show you Kiku! Then you'll know how cute she is! And Miyabi always puts her in these adorable dresses and ahhhhhh!" Another promise. When I get out of here, I will be busy with everyone. Probably enjoying on how we are still alive and trying to move past all of this trauma together. And group therapy. Lots of group therapy.

"I've seen babies before, Tsukiko." Babies can be cute, but they all look the same. Their adorable factor fades away when you see as many as I do. Kotori...had some fucked up interests. Interests that tainted my view of the world.

"But you haven't seen Kiku!" Suddenly, Tsukiko rushes to my side of the table and begins to hug me. So Tsukiko is a hugger too? If...Kazuhiko...was alive, they could have bonded over that. Their shared need for affection.

"What can be so different?" I ask her.

"Every person, no matter how young, has a different personality! And Kiku's so cute! She's so smart for her age and isn't bothered by the music. Except when it gets too loud, then we tone it down." She then stops hugging me. After, Tsukiko takes a seat in the next chair over. I can tell that she has already calmed down.

"You can tell their personalities that young?"

"Yeah." Tsukiko is so confident in herself. A part of me wants to be that way myself. She is the pillar that the group leans on. Our true pillar of strength. Miyuki and Namita might help her, yet everybody knows that Tsukiko is the one in charge of everything. It shocks me that nobody has tried to kill Tsukiko. Then again, there is no other motive to kill Tsukiko than to make the group fall apart. Tsukiko is too likable.

"Being a good judge of character is one of the things people like about me-"

"Help!" Minato then comes crashing through the door. They are clearly out of breath. Most worrying of all, Minato's eyes are red and puffy like they have been crying a lot lately.

"Minato, what is it?" Tsukiko quickly snaps into her leader mode. She runs up to Minato and I follow after her. What has Minato seen? I have not heard any announcements so hopefully, it's not a dead body.

"Come with me!" Hoping Minato will not get lost once again, Tsukiko and I hurry on with him. We try to ask them what it is but Minato is not paying attention to us.

* * *

Minato leads us through the garden and student hallway path to the cafeteria. In the cafeteria itself, the only person I notice is there is Kira, who is feeling around and is almost to the kitchen.

"Hey, can one of you help me?" Kira asks. She must have heard us coming through the door. Because she lost one of her senses, it makes sense that her hearing is better than before.

"I'll be right there!" Tsukiko then runs to Kira and holds onto her hand. We both trade glances with Minato. Whatever Minato wanted us to see is in the kitchen. Poor Minato is still in emotional shock.

"I will go ahead!" I tell Minato and Tsukiko. Minato takes a seat in one of the seats of the cafeteria. They are out of breath and look like they need to take a moment to rest.

Now in front of the door, I feel no hesitation when I open it. Though I wished I did. Atsuto and Akemi are working together to restrain the other person with them. I am sure they can overpower them or do not want to hurt them.

...Yasu...had a knife in their hands...

"Yasu!" I scream out. Then I help Atsuto and Akemi. There is no way I will allow Yasu to kill theirself. Flashes of when I tried to kill myself flood my mind once again, but this time I highly doubt it is because of the suicide video. This time Yasu made a clear, conscious decision to try to kill theirself. If I stayed, there is a chance I could have avoided this. I cannot have another one of my friends die!

"Come on, don't be like Hayato! Just...argh..." Akemi is trying his best to not say any snide comments. He holds onto Yasu's wheelchair to keep it in place so they won't use it to get away.

"Mochi wouldn't want you to do this, right?" Atsuto pleads. Those seem to be the magical words and Yasu's hand lets go of the knife. Its loudly falls onto the ground, and its sounds echo throughout the entire room. All of us take a breath of relief until our bodies fully realize whats happening.

"..." Yasu begins to openly cry. Mochi comes out of their toolbox, and the both of them have a staring contest. The rabbit nuzzles up to Yasu's chest. They continue to cry.

"Not again," Atsuto comments while looking towards me. This room has a dark history in the Killing Game. Besides Hayato, everybody that tried to kill themself, did it in the same spot. Would not be surprised if that is somehow still the same knife.

...Kaneshiro's goal must not be to make all of us fall into despair, but a small amount. The ones that would fall into despair would experience an emotion far greater than Junko could have envisioned. Junko wanted quantity over quality, Kaneshiro is the other way around. Though I highly doubt Kaneshiro wants to end the world like Junko. Why does he need more people on the side on despair?

"Don't do that again!" Akemi shouts at Yasu. About to scold him for his actions, I notice that there are tears in his eyes. He bites on his lip so hard that it starts to bleed. He storms out of the room, trying to hide his face by putting up the hood of his jacket.

"Yasu..." I do not know what to say. The bodies of Mitsuru and Mirabilis litter my brain. Yasu has been through Hell, so sadly, after the initial shock, I can easily believe that Yasu would try to kill themself.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Atsuto then crouches down so he matches Yasu's eye level. "And don't say leave. I'm going to stay on your side from now on."

"Atsuto, can I help?" I question him as I tap onto his shoulder. Atsuto must have been so much death, and I would not be surprised if he saw somebody kill themself before. He has seen far too much for his age. Then again, so have I. All of us have at this moment of the game. Nobody is the same as they were when we were all abducted by the mastermind.

But where are we? The mastermind must have a connection to the Neo World Program, which means that all of our bodies must be connected to the system somewhere. Just where? Where is the mastermind hiding all of us?

"Not right now...just see what everyone else is doing..." Atsuto says. His face does not turn to face mine. I know Yasu is safe with Atsuto, but I have a bad feeling about this. "Trust me, Ayano, I can take care of this."

"...I trust you..." I need to check on Kira, Tsukiko, Minato, and Akemi. Atsuto knows what he is doing so I have to be true to my own word. Plus, I need to find answers about Namita and Miyuki. Maybe Takara is still trailing Miyuki and gathering information his own way. Then there is Hotaru and Hayato, both of which I have no idea what they're doing right now.

"...Thank you..." Yasu faces me. I smile, but the moment later Yasu falls asleep again. Mochi stays on their lap with Atsuto petting him. Everything is going to be fine.

* * *

Stepping out of the kitchen, I see that Tsukiko has made some kind of group with Kira, Minato, and Akemi. So that is what she was doing. I was wondering what was taking her so long.

Hayato has entered the cafeteria and is looking over Tsukiko's group. I try to avoid Hayato since it is still awkward being in the same room with him. He seems to be dealing fine with Akemi, but I was harsher to him than Akemi.

I exit out of the room, glad that Tsukiko is not forcing me to stay. Though I still have nothing to do. Flagging down Namita or Miyuki is not high up on my to-do list. Somebody else can more easily find out the truth.

"Kamukura-san..." Miyuki is in the hallway. I notice that Takara is not following her, so he must have lost her at some point. She sighs when she tries to pass by me.

"Miyuki, what-"

"I do not have time for this, Kamukura-san." Somebody is grouchy today. Miyuki fast walks to the Hospital and enters. I wonder if she will have yet another episode of her illness.

"..." Even though I have been sleeping for a very long time, I feel tired. I decide to retreat back into my room. Right now I do not want to socialize with anybody else. Just let me be by myself. If Kaneshiro tries something, I will seriously snap at someone.

* * *

In my room, I see that somebody has placed my pillow back. That will make sleeping in it much easier. Much easier than the cot at least, since I heavily prefer the bed.

I find myself praying to nothing that I do not have yet another one of those nightmares. My mind probably cannot take killing another Kazuhiko. Pretty sure that is what Kaneshiro wants. Taking a deep breath, I get into a position I am comfortable in.

"Calm down..." I cannot convince myself. Though adrenaline is pumping throughout my entire system, I find myself falling asleep. This probably means I am a heavier sleeper than I realized. That might be useful to know in the future. Or, maybe I am just getting used to sleeping when my sanity or life is at stake.

* * *

 ** _Monokuma Theatre!_**

 _Stop going to sleep so early, Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan, or these get hard to make. This takes time out of my busy schedule, so stop it! Or else you'll give me plans for despair!_

 _But then this is like waiting in traffic. It's despair-inducing! Especially because of that one asshole that never learned how to properly drive! I'm looking at you, Dave._

 _We just need to make Dave a motive. Then everybody would kill each other. Because Dave, that's not how you operate the coffee machine! This is why Junko didn't hire any Daves. DAVE! NO, DON'T PULL THAT LEVER! NOT THAT ONE EITHER-_

* * *

 _Then I find myself in another flashback. I've experienced enough of these to know, even before the Killing Game. Kazuhiko was there to comfort me then but is not anymore. In return, I did the same thing to him. We both comforted each other._

 _"Now, Ayano, sweetie, this might hurt a little bit, but this is not even the beginning of it. Stay strong or give into despair, those are your only two options." Kotori brought out a syringe filled with a strange red liquid. "This is apparently now an experiment to figure out how to make people taller. Well, it is, but I'm allowed to do anything since the court doesn't view you as a person. What a poor child, adopted by bad luck."_

 _"..." I tried to say anything, yet the gag over my mouth stopped me. My arms struggled against the restraints on the lab table. Of course, I knew it was futile. It was only to make sure I still had an ouch of my sanity. Not just another dead puppet of Kotori's._

 _"Remember, Ayano Kamukura, I know who you are. The Committee would kill you if they learn that you're Izuru's child. Eishi will certainly only make things worse." Kotori sighs. "They don't know the truth. Only if they figured out how a more mature despair affects people. I've made sure that at_k_-_

 _Memory Loading: Complete version 100%_

 _-Configuring_ _-_

 _"...They don't know the truth. Only if they figured out how a more mature despair affects people. I've made sure that Akita girl was an example of that. Shame she had to die. Now I got to think of a way to get back our numbers. Possibly another experiment." Kotori then lowers herself to my level. "What do you think, Ayano? You're a smart girl. You pointed that out with i_uz_-_

 _-Configuring-_

 _"What do you think, Ayano? You're a smart girl. You pointed that out with Izumi. Getting her out of the systems is going to years." Kotori, while I was confused, impaled the long needle into my arm. It is more like a sword than a shot._

 _"..." Just a couple more minutes. I watched as the syringe emptied out of the mysterious liquid into my body. Watching each drop sink into my body felt more like hours-_

* * *

Waking up suddenly from my sleep, I know that somebody forced me out of my dream. The mastermind or masterminds must be working with a group of people and one of them messed up.

And that one little hiccup could have given me a plan.

New information. First, some, if not all, of my memories have been tampered with in some way. It will be by the hands of a person who knows who they are doing, which is probably Kaneshiro.

Second, Kotori knew who Akita was before Personality Experiment #045 before Sae entered the picture. Something about that memory before made no sense to me, and she was mentioning how they were all dead. Akita must have been the first and the other two followed. She was a template which is why she appears to be the most flawed.

Third, I made Izumi. She must be a program of some kind. That is why she looks so like me because I probably made her in my image. Izumi is still on the Committee's servers which means they are still trying to delete her and...

For sure, this game is being controlled by some fraction in the Committee...and I am sure it is not the main branch. Somebody is trying to take control of the Committee away from the Irvings!

I must tell Atsuto what I found out today! With both of our knowledge, we might find a way to outsmart the mastermind. This is at least one of their end goals!

* * *

The first place I decided to check is the place I saw Atsuto last, the cafeteria. Sadly only Kira remains in the cafeteria. In her hands, there is a cup of coffee. Once she takes a drink of it, Kira spits it out.

"I said not coffee! That's what I get for trusting Takara!" In defeat, Kira slams her head against the table. Somehow her glasses do not crack. "Life sucks! First Tsukiko treats me like a child, now Takara gives me coffee! Put me out of my misery!"

"Kira-"

"Ah! That voice? Is that you, Ayano?" Kira asks me. Trying to get up, Kira accidentally falls onto the floor. I rush to her but she refuses for me to help her get up. "I'm tired of people always doing that now!"

"Sorry?"

"I can take care of myself! I don't care about no blindness! See, perfectly independent!" Right as Kira says that, she heads head first straight into the wall. I am most impressed by her glasses again. The programming on that might be set to 'unbreakable.'

Wait, Kira is tied to Ayano Kirigiri. Maybe I could gather some information by spending some of my time with her. There is only some time until nightmare if my internal clock is correct, so she should be free right now.

"There is nothing else to do, so do you want to spend some time with me?"

* * *

 ** _Do you want to free time with Kira Iwata?_**

 ** _Yes/No_**

* * *

"Sure, got nothing better to do." Kira and I then return to the table she was sitting at previously. She takes another sip of her coffee and has the same reaction.

"I am interested in your relationship with Ayano Kirigiri, considering we share the same name," I tell her. I hope that Kira finds nothing weird about this line of questioning.

"That makes sense! Ayano saved me, on Christmas nevertheless! I was only twelve at the time too!" Kira exclaims. How old is Kira? By looking at her, and not judging things by height, I would take a guess that Kira is about sixteen. That means four years or so.

"Twelve?" I question. Still, that is an extremely young age to be personally involved in the Committee.

"...I actually live with Ayano now!"

"What?" I know that is an extremely bad sign. Why is Kira living with Ayano? Considering her reaction with Namita, I expected her to have a good relationship with her parents. Kira being eighteen is also highly unlikely. Especially taking into account her immaturity.

"Parents may be the most important people in the world but they're better off without me. So I decided solo...until Ayano was like live with me." Exactly how old is Ayano again? And what is her relationship with Kira? Ayano is older than me so that is not a thought I want to have for long.

"Living with Ayano? How is that like-"

"You know, we should talk more about you!" Kira has a limit on how willing she is to talk. Pressing on too hard might make her overly suspicious of me. I have to be more careful from now on.

"How was it living Izuru Kamukura?" She sounds way too curious to be judgmental. Did the other Ayano tell her the truth sometime during the time they were living together? That seems both likely and unlikely. Whatever Kira knows, its Kirigiri's truth, and that is way too bias to be taken at face value.

"Pretty fun, way better than Eishi Nishiki or Kotori Hiraoka." Maybe sharing some personal information about myself will make Kira open up a bit more. She does have walls up but much less than some of my other classmates.

"Eishi Nishiki? That name sounds funny...and familiar..." Considering Ayano is high up in the Committee latter, it would not surprise me if she mentioned Eishi to Kira before.

"He's only my foster father! Nobody important!" I dodge. "Ayano Nishiki is technically my legal name now, but I never liked it. I much prefer Ayano Kamukura. And Kotori spent more time taking care of me than Eishi." Eishi...I do not like thinking, much less talking about him. A part of me feels proud that Kira finds his name funny.

"So you're like Ayano Hiraoka!" Kira yells out. If I had any of that coffee, I would have to spit it out. I cannot believe Kira just said that. No way will I ever be a Hiraoka. Kazuhiko and I made a promise as well that he would take my last name if we ever got married. That is easier said than done, however, due to...complications.

"Not exactly." I know everything is written on my face, and, for once, I am glad that Kira cannot see. It is not Kira's fault. She simply does not know the full extent of my relationship with Kotori.

"Aw, it has a nice ring to it. Oh well!" Kira tries to point to me, but she faces the wrong direction. I try my best not to snicker. It is not that funny...but it is. Poor Kira is going to learn how to better live with her condition.

"Well-"

"It's nighttime! Time to go to sleep you turds! If you feel tired in the morning, it's your own damn fault! You, teenagers, should sleep more!" Monokuma announces. I bite down a comment about Monokuma being the reason why. The bear only feeds on comments like that. Playing into his game is something I do not want to do.

"Hey...Ayano...can you help me to my room?"

* * *

After sending some time guiding Kira to her room, I decide to return back to mine. I will wake up early or actually get the right amount of sleep. Any is fine by me.

If I am lucky again, the same person who messed up will be in charge of my dreams. Having the answers accidentally feed to me is a nice change of pace. Whoever this Dave is...he is now my favorite person. I will still have to deal with the memories but I know that is in the past. Dealing with Kotori is better than experiencing whatever that fake was.

I get comfortable in my bed once again. Get in the same exact position as before. The mastermind making another slip up is the pick me up that I needed today. Forget about the hidden relationship, or the suicide attempt, there is a chance of getting out of here by outsmarting the mastermind! We can negotiate if we just know what he truly wants. If the main goal was taking over the Committee, the game would be already over with Mirabilis's death.

* * *

 ** _Monokuma Theatre!_**

 _Thanks a lot, Dave! Now you're dead! Do you know what your family will think? Dishonor on you, dishonor on your grave, dishonor on your family! DISHONOR! I would say that would make them fall into despair but then I think they will just accept that you were always a useless failure that ruined the lives of everybody you meet._

 _You had one job! Pulling the right lever! This is why you're the only foreign person in the office-_

 _Reina, what do you think you're doing!? Don't follow in Dave's footsteps! Wait, Saviors of Humanity. I thought we got rid of you! What are you-_

* * *

 _"Just hold on, okay? My name is Hanako Tezuka, leader of the Saviors of Humanity! Kazuma Kaneshiro, you'll pay for the deaths of so many, especially Shinichi Fujimoto! We will find the rest of the students and bring the rest of them to safety!"_

 _Hanako has an impressive build for someone her age. Her hair is red but looks dyed. She is sporting a pixie cut. On her body is a black and white business suit that looks a little too big for her. Bags are underneath her brilliant green eyes._

 _"I will bring an end of this dreadful game before your goal becomes a reality! I won't let you use these kids for entertainment! My team and I will make sure that you properly pay for your crimes! And next time be smarter about who you send your despair videos to! That shit won't work on me!"_

 _She...she is immune to the despair video? How is that even possible? Whoever this Hanako is, she is an amazing woman. I may know her on the surface level but there is a deep want to big in deeper. This woman is already fascinating._

* * *

When I awake next, my eyes are heavier than they have been in a long time, but I force my body out of bed. I have a strange urge to not go back to sleep. Maybe I should go to the kitchen and see if I could get anything to drink. Using the coffee machine is a no considering that would result in my almost certain death.

I slowly make my way to the cafeteria as I fight the ongoing melatonin affecting my system. A slap to the face only works for a second as I almost fall into the trap of sleep once more.

Then I notice the cafeteria door is currently left ajar with light spilling into the hallway. If some of my classmates still think it is a good idea to sleep unprotected, then it is their fault when they get injured.

"Anybody in here?" I call out. There is nobody inside. Somebody must have left the door open and the lights on then. Everybody makes mistakes, plus somebody could have entered the cafeteria during the night to get something to eat.

Then I look in the kitchen as well to see not a soul. Even the cellar and bathroom. Same result. Being out in the school at night alone is a scary thought but it is oddly peaceful. Hearing nothing but the inner thoughts of your head and your heartbeat. That heartbeat is evidence that I am still alive. Each bump bump makes me calmer.

" _Don't be so sure of that, Ayano."_

Looking down further, I see that my shirt is stained with blood. I have not cleaned it. But then I feel that some of the blood is still fresh. Somehow my wound has reopened and is bleeding once again.

That is when I decide eating will have to wait until after another trip to the Hospital.

* * *

The Hospital is almost like my second home within the Killing Game now. Within the last couple of days, the amount of times I have revisited this place is quite frankly absurd. I think I have been here more often than the blind girl or the paralyzed person.

"Relax, Ayano, its because you're being targeted by the mastermind. It makes sense. Now you have to make sure you do not accidentally cause your own death." I then open the door. "Hmmm, maybe I should wake up Atsuto. I cannot fix my own wound."

Just as I am about to close the door, I notice a substance that should not be there. Some of it got on the bottom of my shoe, and I looked at it to know for certain. Whatever this means is not good.

The red liquid is clearly fresh blood.

Then I look further into the Hospital to see that there is a bigger puddle of blood right in the middle. One large trail leads from it, and where it ends is hidden by some of the cots. Taking a deep breath, I see what is there all by myself.

* * *

...What awaits me at the end of the trail is what I unfortunately expected. A dead body. She is placed sitting on one of the walls, which almost has a lot of blood staining it. Her head looks particularly smashed in. Though her eyes remain closed and somewhat relaxed. Heavy amounts of blood drip from her mouth, though only that blood has now dried.

A sword is plunged deep into the side of her waist. Its beautiful blade is now stained with crimson. Whats worse of all is that one of her hands laid on the handle as if it was placed there. How much this murder reminds me of the one for Akita Yamazaki makes me want to scream.

After all, the person who lays dead on the floor is who owned that sword...Miyuki Kobayashi, the Ultimate Onna-Bugeisha. I do not want to know how Namita will react to this.

* * *

 **Bye Miyuki. Alas, you guys should've known that relationships in Danganronpa are doomed to fail. Poor Namita. What a wonderful way to spend your pride month, with a newly dead girlfriend. (please somebody kill me) It was about time for one of the mom squad members to die.**

 **Thank you so much, CaptainDallasGQ for sending in Miyuki Kobyashi. Working with her was truly a pleasure, but, alas, she is now deader than dead.**

 **Yeah, I know I updated this quickly but I'm now a FoD frenzy! Two chapters in two days! REJOICE! Because what's DiOS? Never heard of that.**

 **Now for the reviews~**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Kotori...oh boy, you thought Junko was bad, Kotori was like bitch please! I know the things and most of that is staying with me because...what the fuck, Kotori. The mastermind really loves screwing with Ayano. ;)**

 **ThePLOThand-Well, hahahaha, oops, I can't tell jokes that well. *dies* Don't read this one, it has something you actually haven't been spoiled on! Akita, oh Akita. WHY AKITA.**

 **CommanderofInsanity-Oh boy, I await your reaction for when you're all caught up. ;) *prepares the popcorn* Yellow, create the theories now when Commander is behind!**

 **yuri fan-Well somebody knows how to write very detailed reviews about what truly matters.**

 **AnonChan1-No problem. :) Ayano was shot by a person. Atsuto being MVP. Kotori...surely believes in something. ;) *spoilers* Well the mom squad is now the mom duo. Because then Kotori got Kazuhikoed. Poor Ayano...just poor Ayano for the rest of this story. Hotaru being second MVP! Ayano was tired, that's why she fell. Mochi is here to save Yasu. Therapy...not from Etsuko. Takara's crush is adorable since we needed some happiness! CANON SHIPS WHERE ONE OF THEM IS ALREADY DEAD! I CRUSH YOUR HOPES AND DREAMS LIKE MIYUKI'S KILLER CRUSHED HER HEAD! HOTARU YAS!**


	47. Chapter ?-1

**Chapter ?-1: Profiles of the Forsaken**

(this chapter contains deadnaming because the Committee is lead by assholes)

* * *

 **Student One: Akita Yamazaki, Ultimate Mediator**

 **Creator: SanityRequiem**

 **Information:**

Akita Yamazaki is teamed up with her partner, Takayuki Anno. She is in charge of relations between the Committee and third parties. Although her tactics are questionable, Akita always gets results. Mostly she makes sure that businesses follow the rules and do not rebel against the might of the Committee. Sometimes she helps her partner with his current cases, which proves she has some degree of investigative ability.

The reason why she was promoted to the rank of Ultimate is that she allowed Mitsuru Banda, leader of the infamous gang named the Black Guard, to join forces with the Committee. Rumors that Akita is a part of this gang herself are still being investigated.

She is also strangely knowledgeable about circuses. Why she has all of this knowledge is still being researched. Personality Experiment #045 seems to have side effects that we were not certain of.

* * *

 **Student Two: Takayuki Anno, Ultimate Private Investigator**

 **Creator: CommanderofInsanity**

 **Information:**

Takayuki Anno, as stated before, is Akita Yamazaki's partner in the Committee. He is the head of the investigation team of the Committee. Mostly he handles civil affairs (as he does accept cases outside of the Committee if the person(s) pay him well enough), but Takayuki also deals a lot with murder, kidnapping, trafficking, theft, etc. The main reason is that the crime levels are still high even after the Tragedy, mostly because of a group that calls themselves the True Despairs.

Solving various murders related to the serial killer, Hideyoshi Yamazaki has earned him the rank of Ultimate. Ayano Kirigiri seems to not be on board with this idea, yet an unknown third party convinced her otherwise.

This subject is also related to Personality Experiment #045 and also shows signs of strange side effects. Researchers know of these but allow him to continue on with his daily life for further research.

* * *

 **Student Three: Naoko Kawabata, Ultimate Child Prodigy**

 **Creator: mayurie**

 **Information:**

Naoko Kawabata is the child of Hanako and Daichi Kawabata, both of them formerly held high ranks in the medical branch of the Committee. She writes thesis papers on various topics, yet they were most likely published by a third party without her permission. Her knowledge seems to come from various different topics but her main focus in physical and mental health.

The article that made Naoko an Ultimate was one based on **[INFORMATION REDACTED]**. Ayano Kirigiri herself was very impressed by Naoko and fought for her position as an Ultimate. Nobody knows why.

 **[INFORMATION REDACTED]**

* * *

 **Student Four: Hotaru Amemori, Ultimate Dart Thrower**

 **Creator: ShadedLyht**

 **Information:**

Hotaru Amemori works as a dart thrower for the Sakura Circus. Before that, she participated in many different dart throwing contests around Nagoya. Her family owns a restaurant around that area, so Hotaru also has experience in different fields relating to restaurant work, including, but not limited to, cooking, waiting, hosting, etc. She also has experience throwing other objects, though darts are her main field of focus.

After seeing a show put on by the Sakura Circus with Hotaru Amemori in it, Ayano Kirigiri decided to give her the role of Ultimate. Though she warned us that she might prove to be a problem for us in the future. She somehow still remembers Kazuma Kaneshiro.

 **[INFORMATION REDACTED]**

* * *

 **Student Five: Rosalina Irving, Ultimate Florist**

 **Creator: YellowtheWriter**

 **Information:**

 **[INFORMATION REDACTED]**

* * *

 **Student Six: Kyoto Kamui, Ultimate Strategist**

 **Creator: ObieSenpai**

 **Information:**

Kyoto Kamui shows skills in strategy due to all of the contests that he enters. Although he has yet to win a single one of them, Kyoto has always landed in second. We thought about naming him the Ultimate Jack-of-all-Trades yet he has shown that there are talents he cannot do. All the contests he joins relate to strategy, and, by closely observing all of his matches, we thought this talent was the better fit.

Winning second place against Akemi Nakatani is what put Kyoto Kamui on our radar. Out of everybody who ever faced Akemi, Kyoto is the only person that came remotely close to beating him.

Also, he seems to have some kind of relationship with Ayano Nishiki. The Committee has questioned them about this matter and both of them answered. There seems to be more going on than either of them tell us. Whether or not either of them knows is up to debate, however.

* * *

 **Student Seven: Shinichi Fujimoto, Ultimate Translator**

 **Creator: the-hazel-eyed-bookworm**

 **Information:**

Shinichi Fujimoto is a translator for the Committee. He translates some books, but, most of the time, he acts as the main translator in meetings and such between other countries. His knowledge about other languages is greatly beneficial for the Committee. The boy has made it fairly high up even though he is extremely young, though there are some rumors about him.

Being the translator for Ayano Kirigiri made her promote him to the rank of Ultimate. Unlike all the others before, Shinichi was approved by Shun Tsukishiro, a trusted talent scout for the academy. He does not approve of most of this class.

There are rumors that Shinichi Fujimoto is involved in the rebel group, the Saviors of Humanity. So far, there seems to be no evidence, but nobody has been called to investigate the claims. If they continue, hiring Takayuki Anno might be wise.

* * *

 **Student Eight: Mitsuru Banda, Ultimate Sukeban**

 **Creator: dashunterman**

 **Information:**

Mitsuru Banda is the leader of one of the most infamous gangs in Kyoto, the Black Guard. She has a second-in-command, Mami Shikisima, that is also in the running of becoming another Ultimate at the request of Akita Yamazaki. The Black Guard is in a temporary alliance with the Committee as both of us are trying to put an end to the True Despairs. It is unknown why the Black Guard and True Despairs are at odds, yet there are rumors that the 47s, the True Despair's former name, is behind the death of the co-founder, Wakaba Naohara.

The main reason Mitsuru is an Ultimate is to make sure we can keep an eye on her. Although her skills are fierce, there is still much doubt about whether or not Mitsuru can be trusted with this title.

* * *

 **Student Nine: Yumiko "Yasu" Matsuhita, Ultimate Engineer**

 **Creator: Anonchan1**

 **Information:**

Not much is known about Yumiko Matsuhita, as she has stayed out of the sight of the Committee. Her father insisted that we call her she, although she seems uncertain at most. Out of the information we do know, she works with her father in his shop, and she creates many different kinds of things using her skills in engineering. She also has skills in animal care, as she is often seen with her rabbit, a dwarf hotot, Mochi.

Yumiko is another student that was agreed by both Ayano and Shun to become part of the academy. It is still unknown how Shun knows about Yumiko, though he does call her by Yasu, her preferred name. When asked, Ayano explained that Yumiko made a lot of personal objects for her. Further questioning is needed to truly figure out the true reason why Yumiko was accepted into the academy.

* * *

 **Student Ten: Takara Miyagi, Ultimate Treasure Hunter**

 **Creator: notadeadguy**

 **Information:**

Takara Miyagi also has stayed under the radar, along with the rest of his family. More is known about Takara than Yumiko, however, since we were able to uncover information about him through background checks. He gathers treasures around the world, but mostly he focuses on Japan. We are thinking about making him in charge of our search team due to his impressive skills. His main area of experience is geocaching, with him being able to find the most precious of prized artifacts in any random backyard.

Ayano Kirigiri was impressed by his skills of treasure hunting and personally went undercover to do a mission for him. That is when she decided to make him an Ultimate. It is unknown whether or not Takara knows about this.

* * *

 **Student Eleven: Hayato Akimoto, Ultimate Salesman**

 **Creator: HyperBrachydios**

 **Information:**

Hayato Akimoto is a salesman that is known all throughout his community. He has the skill to sell anything with ease. Many people try to hire his services, yet he seems to be unwilling to work with many others. The man focuses on a main group of trusted people, which includes Cassius Jacobson. In the younger days of his career, Hayato singlehandedly raised a shop from the bottom to the top using only his sale pitches.

One day, Ayano went undercover to see if he can sell her anything. She went home having spent over a thousand dollars. Hayato might have figured out her identity but Ayano was still amazed by his ability to create an intriguing sales pitch, even about garbage.

Unfortunately, Hayato is another student that is surrounded by rumors, further deepened by his relations with Cassius. Many believe that he is a part of a smuggling ring yet these claims cannot be proven without proper evidence.

* * *

 **Student Twelve: Kira Iwata, Ultimate Jeweler**

 **Creator: QueenofChocolateWinx**

 **Infomation:**

 **[INFORMATION REDACTED]**

* * *

 **Student Thirteen: Cassius Jacobson, Ultimate 'Jeweler'**

 **Creator: tobi-is-an-artist-too**

 **Information:**

 **[INFORMATION REDACTED AS REQUEST OF THE JACOBSON FAMILY]**

* * *

 **Student Fourteen: Akemi Nakatani, Ultimate Chess Player**

 **Creator: CrayonPencil**

 **Information:**

 **[INFORMATION REDACTED]**

* * *

 **Student Fifteen: Kazuhiko Hiraoka, Ultimate Journalist**

 **Creator: Puhuhuhu**

 **Information:**

Kazuhiko Hiraoka is part of one of the most powerful teams in the entire Committee with Ayano Nishiki. He is the main writer for many news articles and is known to do his research beforehand. Though Kazuhiko has been part of controversy, as many were uncertain about his article about Akita Yamazaki before it was erased from history. Getting into trouble with the Committee is something he does often, yet he always seems to find his way out.

As request of Kotori Hiraoka in her will, Kazuhiko was made to be a part of the academy. Many are unsure about this move, including Ayano Kirigiri and Shun, but the Irvings themselves forced their hand.

 **[INFORMATION REDACTED]**

* * *

 **Student Sixteen: Ayano Nishiki, Ultimate Hacker**

 **Creator: SanityRequiem**

 **Information:**

 **[INFORMATION REDACTED]**

...

73 11 f3 0a 19 32 ec 93 43 64 05 db 0a 2f c1 31 5f 2d f8 46 09 22 55 88 ff b6 8e 24 fc 56 d4 bc 4e 4d 0f 18 37 a8 d5 c4 d0 b6 d6 02 fd ef 56 97 cb 42 65 cf e3 3c 49 c3 f0 1d 32 bd 19 32 ac c8 8e 44 ad 97 84 7d 33 d8 0f 21 41 64 f5 a7 36 19 ed 1b a6 22 c3 d8 08 71 53 2e c7 c6 51 a3 ce 92 92 3f 28 14 fb a1 ac 3b 7a 77 f5 e6 fe ac 87 69

* * *

 **Student Seventeen: Tsukiko Oda, Ultimate Band Manager**

 **Creator: RoseShadow21**

 **Information:**

Tsukiko Oda is the band manager for the band First Light. This is one of the only bands that the Committee still allows, and even rebel groups focused on music, such as the Remnants of Music, think that their sound is amazing.

Both Ayano Kirigiri and Shun hired Tsukiko to be an Ultimate because of her ability to create this band. She singlehandedly convinced the Committee to legalize fringe music again. This makes Tsukiko popular with many different kinds of crowds. Helps that her band does not find themselves in the middle of various controversies like many old fringe bands from the past.

* * *

 **Student Eighteen: Minato Ueda, Ultimate Traveler**

 **Creator: [INFORMATION REDACTED]**

 **Information:**

Minato Ueda travels all over the world, which allows her to be a divisive person in the Committee. She knows many Committee secrets by finding them by accident. Due to the Committee not wanting to waste money or resources, we decided to let Minato live. Researching her can bring about many different results. Also, she seems to have created some form of friendship with Akita Yamazaki. Protecting Minato is yet another one of Akita's jobs.

She accidentally found herself in front of Ayano's door, which made Ayano try to kill her but then accept her into her school. The reasoning behind Ayano's logic is still being questioned to this very day.

Many of our researchers are still trying to find out how Minato is able to accidentally find herself in all of this heavily guarded secret locations. Possible experimentation is needed if no obvious answers come up.

* * *

 **Student Nineteen: Namita Nakahashi, Ultimate Event Planner**

 **Creator: Cepheid Variable Star**

 **Information:**

 **[INFORMATION REDACTED]**

* * *

 **Student Twenty: Miyuki Kobyashi, Ultimate Onna-Bugeisha**

 **Creator: CaptainDallasGQ  
**

 **Information:**

Miyuki Kobyashi is a protector of the innocent in the cities during the night. Not much is known about her personal life but her feats are something to behold. She is also an urban legend on the internet since many do not believe that she is a real person. It is unknown how Ayano convinced Miyuki to come out of the shadows and join her school. All we can do is theorize.

According to Ayano's own words, Miyuki saved her life one night. Miyuki seems to not have known Ayano's identity, which hints that she is not originally from a city. Whether or not this is where Miyuki was recruited is up to debate.

 **[INFORMATION REDACTED]**

* * *

 **Student Twenty-One: Satoshi Nakajima, Ultimate Bartender**

 **Creator: SanityRequiem**

 **Information:**

 **[INFORMATION REDACTED]**

* * *

 **Many of you are probably like...what...w-what in the world is this? Let me tell you! An experiment! Extra chapters in the story itself (with the best timing in the world, right after somebody died). I have no idea whether or not I'll continue this. If you guys like it, then yeah. If you don't, then only this one would be made.**

 **So, yeah, here's info! And deadnaming! Because the Committee is still lead by a bunch of assholes.**

 **As the peeps that hang out with me on Discord already know, updates are gonna be slow for a short while. I'm in a musicial peeps, going to college again soon, and have a job. Busy Requiem is busy.**

 **Reviews~**

 **AnonChan1-Miyuki had too many death flags. Even in the extra chapters, Yasu suffers. Akemi does care, he just has an...unique way of showing it. Miyuki did not know Yasu tried to kill themself. I'm losing my theory destroying powers! NNNNNNOOOOOOOOO! Ayano Kirigiri and Kira just chill. HANAKO IS THE BEST AND SHARES NAOKO'S MOM'S NAME! MIYUKI, NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! AtsutoxYasu is an amazing ship. The mom squad is now the mom duo. HOTARU YES!**

 **TheRoseShadow21-DiOS is like FEED ME. I will make sure both Mei and Miyuki are avenged (don't have a M name, got it). Tsukiko is a precious ray of sunshine. I look forward to build this world some more. Thanks. :D**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Poor Miyuki, all she wanted to do was kiss her girlfriend in peace. Now she rests in peace. I know. ;) Not even Dave can fix my lack of ability to find my own mistakes. Dammit, Dave. I'm just imagining that they have just been staring at the body all this time. (but, don't worry, the next chapter is actually almost done)**

 **mayurie-FoD chapter four in a nutshell: Yes...NO! I make it my job to make sure that Yasu suffers. Miyuki, at last even an onna-bugeisha can't handle death flags. I'm having lots of fun. Ayano will certainly try. Fuck Kotori.**

 **ShadedLyht-Tsukiko is precious. I'm crazy about babies so yeah. Minato can sometimes not glitch out. XD Poor, poor Yasu. Dammit, Dave, that wasn't your job. Miyuki's death...yeah, it wasn't supposed to be surprising that she died. Just know that the whole mystery itself will probably screw with everybody.**

 **Guest-Thanks. :D When do my chapters not miss words? Well, bye Miyuki.**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-POOR EVERYBODY! Never trust me with anything, because I will just take everything away from you. Kira is sixteen. The Committee Saga usually has a...weird update schedule...of updating all at once and then being left untouched for a long time. Haha, please don't read this before work again, I don't want your boss blaming me for anything. XD DiOS doesn't exist.**

 **BIBOTBOT-I hope you feel better. :) You figure out because Atsuto can't do shit. Well, I just wanted my mastermind to be different from Junko because I'm tired of all SYOC masterminds being exactly like Junko. That is for me to know and nobody else to find out. ;) It's not an axe anymore, its a chainsaw. Thanks. :D Once again, I wish you the best of health.**

 **ThePLOTHand-So. Many. Reviews. XD Thanks so much for all of them and the music. If NicoB actually reads this story, I think I'll faint from excitement because NICOB.**


	48. Investigation 4-1

**Investigation 4-1: This Life is Mine**

* * *

"..." I find myself just standing there, unable to move. My mind races inside myself. What should I do? I-is Miyuki dead?

In a fit of emotion, I go up to Miyuki to check her vitals. It does not surprise me that I cannot find her heartbeat.

Then I feel a wave of wooziness come over me. With my open wound and finding Miyuki's body, my mind and body are both not in the best of condition. I can barely find it within me to stand up.

"...H...h-help..." My vision begins to blur as I make my way towards the door, feet dragging behind me. Right as I open the door, my body gives out. I fall onto the floor with a loud thud.

* * *

 _Expecting a Monokuma Theatre, I'm shocked when nothing comes up. The only thing here besides me is darkness. Nothing. Did the people controlling them think that they were not worth it anymore since Hanako hijacked them?_

 _Curious, I try to see if there is anything else with me. Being surrounded by nothingness reminds me of the afterlife or lack thereof. Thinking about death reminds me of Miyuki's freshly brutalized corpse._

 _I continue on my way, allowing myself to be devoured by my own thoughts. Mostly on how all of this could have been prevented. Even though it is not my fault, I have to take some responsibly for this game. Killing Kotori was one of the reasons this is happening after all. I may not have killed her myself but I still cannot wash the blood off of my hands._

 _"Heya, Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan!" Turning around, I see a young high school girl behind me. I can tell who she is the second I lay eyes on her._

 _"J-Junko?"_

 _"Yea! That's me!" Junko then kicks me down onto the floor. I try to get up, but then Junko slams her foot into my stomach. Her heel begins to dig into my skin as I cry out in pain. "You better remember it, yeah? Well, I had my fun! It's time for you to wake up now!"_

 _"I won't give into your demands, Junko!" Catching her off guard, I grab onto her leg and force her off me. She has a smile on her face during the whole ordeal. "I won't become a damn despair for your enjoyment. I survived Kotori, you'll be a piece of cake!"_

 _"Well, I see why he likes you. You're not like that hope idiot or future wannabe. There's something else in you and I like it!" Junko snaps her fingers, much like how Monokuma always tries to do._

 _"What...what are you talking about?"_

 _"I'm talking about the true meaning of this story, Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan! You should know what it is!" Junko walks toward me and holds onto my chin. I spit on her hand. "Of course, you gotta wait to the last trial to figure out everything, right? And groan as I'm revealed to be the mastermind."_

 _"You might act like Junko but you're not her. I know better than that. I'm not an idiot, Committee!" I yell at her face. "Ha, I know much more about Junko Enoshima than you can ever fathom. Now leave me alone." This is a Monokuma Theatre, and the only the Committee has the resources to pull something like this off. "Now I have to solve my friend's death. I'm going to wake up-"_

 _"You can't just will yourself-"_

 _"Fuck you."_

* * *

"Ayano!" When I wake up, I see that I am placed on one of the Hospital cots. Atsuto is tending to my wounds with a serious expression on his face. Nobody else seems to be in the room.

"A...Atsuto...you have to get everybody else..."

"Your wounds are more important right now!" Atsuto's voice is cracking. His eyes are also red, along with his hands thanks to my wounds. He tries to take a deep breath but it comes out strained.

"Atsuto..." With my energy, I ignore my wounds and go up to hug him. He yelps out, staying where he is. We stay there for a time I cannot decipher. Whether it had been seconds or hours is beyond my simple understanding.

"A-Ayano...I need to work on your wound!"

"Go get the...others, Atsuto...I'll still be here..." I cough but do not let go of him. "We...just meet again...I won't let you go again! I'll stay by your side...no matter what happens."

"I will..." Before he goes, Atsuto hugs me back. We break apart from each other and he lays me back softly on the cot. I see his tears out of the corner of my eye. "Just don't die, okay?"

"..." Once Atsuto leaves the room, I sit up straight. My eyes meet with Miyuki's corpse. I am glad that her eyes are closed because I would be meeting them otherwise. Seeing Miyuki's lifeless eyes would be too much for me. I have seen way too many of them before.

Who could have done this? The last time I saw Miyuki she was heading toward the Hospital, so could I have stopped this? Probably. Miyuki would still be here, able to smile and love like she used to. Namita would not have to experience the pain of a broken heart like I had to.

I stare at the wall for what seems to be like hours. Due to the lack of any sort of announcement, the true investigation has not started yet. Maybe I should try to get out of the cot and start searching for clues, but I do not want my wound to open up again. Having two dead bodies would make everything worse. Of course, I do not know if it is that bad, though it is better to be safe than sorry. Letting myself die will allow the mastermind to get what they both do and don't want. That is the main reason why I believe there are multiple, otherwise, none of their actions make sense. Even Junko's actions had some degree of twisted logic to them.

What is taking Atsuto so long? It must be later than I thought if he has to actively try to find everybody else. If it was still early, it would make sense that they would still be in their rooms.

"Is this the kitchen!?" Surprising me, the next person to walk into the room is Kira. I do not believe she was summoned by Atsuto or she would have a completely different reaction.

"Watch out!" I cry out when Kira accidentally slips in the blood puddle. She tries to get up again yet the same thing happens. Quickly, I jump out of my cot, but it is too late. Kira, on what seems to be on her billionth trip, Kira lands on Miyuki's body.

"...Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"A body has been discovered! After a brief time of investigation, there will be a Class Trial. Blah, blah, blah, you guys have done this three times already. The body is in the Hospital btw. I debated whether or not Kira counted, but then she was a dumbass and fell onto the body so yep," Monokuma explains. Kira screams more as she quickly tries to get away from the body. She falls into my arms and I try to balance the two of us. Thanks to my wound, I accidentally make us both fall onto the floor.

"W-who is it!?" Kira is still in a state of panic. I can feel her body trembling right next to mine.

"It's Miyuki."

"So that's how it is. What is...?" Kira then lays on the side of the cots, not trying to get up anymore. I join her, not caring that both of our outfits are now stained with blood. She would probably care so I can mention it later. Trying to get her to finish her thought is probably futile now. Kira is infamously stubborn, so I should wait until she feels comfortable.

"How is everybody in here!?" Tsukiko cries out. Though her cry is not one of sadness, but of anger. Her face drops when she checks further down the room and sees Miyuki's body. "...Miyuki..." Yasu rolls in on their wheelchair after her, with Akemi trailing after them. Akemi might not be the nicest person, but even somebody like him wants to see Yasu do alright.

"..." Yasu is not speaking. Akemi stares at the body and then back to Yasu. All of us in this game is just tired of everything. Miyuki is strangely lucky out of us, she is free of this prison. No matter what, she cannot return. The nothingness of death is better than the torture of this game.

"Time to get this over with again." Akemi sighs as he pulls out his handbook. His eyes have circles underneath them and his skin is a lot paler than the beginning of the game. It would not surprise me if pulling up his shirt revealed that his ribcage is visible. Then again, even if there is enough food for all of us, it is not healthy, and we do not eat as much as we should.

Next in the room is Atsuto, who has Hotaru and Takara with him. Hotaru and Takara react strangely a lot like Akemi, just pulling out their handbooks and getting to work. Atsuto, however, rushes over to me. He picks me up from the cot. Once again, he gently places me down on the cot and continues working on fixing up my wound.

"That should fix you up for the time being. Hey, do you want to see...the truth bullet?" I nod my head as Atsuto takes out his handbook. He closes his eyes but opens them again quickly after. Tears are in his eyes but he tries to hide them.

* * *

 **Monokuma File #4**

 **Victim-Miyuki Kobyashi, Ultimate Onna-Bugeisha**

 **Height-Five feet even**

 **Weight-One-hundred and twenty-five pounds**

 **Age-Seventeen**

 **Birthday-Not in the system, nobody knows except for Miyuki herself**

* * *

 **Cause of Death**

 **Miyuki's cause of death is blood loss.**

 **There is a sword (that belonged to the victim herself) in Miyuki's abdomen that was placed there before death. However, this is not the cause of death. Also, there is an injury in Miyuki's lungs but it has been there for years.**

 **She also has suffered from blunt force trauma due to severe head injuries. The first of the injuries happened before death, yet the others did not occur until she died.**

* * *

Blood loss? Well, thanks Monokuma, I could not tell that from the absurd amount of blood all over the floor. Tsukiko is still in shock as she realizes Namita at the door. Namita then runs the other way, but none of us chase after her except for Tsukiko.

"Does anybody know where Minato and Hayato are?" Hotaru asks. The absence of any other authority figures forces her up to the bat. "Hayato is still suspicious and Minato...yeah, Minato is fine. We just have to make sure they're not dead."

Takara whispers something into Hotaru's ear and she nods her head. He then leaves the room, and Hotaru makes sure that he gets out safely. It bothers me that she does not send anybody else with him. But it shocks me more than the both of them seem to be closer to each other than I realized.

"..." Yasu does not speak still. Mochi comes out of their toolbox to try to comfort them, yet something about Yasu's eyes seems more dead than Miyuki. Atsuto, however, walks over to them.

"I can't allow you to stay like that..." Atsuto bites his lip as he stares at Akemi. Akemi nods his head and moves farther away from Yasu. Then he moves himself and Yasu out of the room. While I am glad that Atsuto is taking care of Yasu, I am worried about who to trust during this investigation. Nobody but he is really trustworthy is this game. Even Kazuhiko ended up killing somebody, something he had done before.

"Well, since it would be what Atsuto wants, I guess I'm stuck with you Ayano." Without giving me a second to respond, Akemi grabs onto my arm with a surprising amount of force and pulls me out of the room.

"What?"

"I'm stuck with you so deal with it. We're the only people that Atsuto still trusts in this game." I have known that Atsuto and Akemi were friends, but Atsuto truly trusts him? If that is true, I highly doubt that this game is the first time the two of them have met. Adding onto that thought, why have not they told anybody that? It is a theory but it makes a lot of sense. Is Atsuto hiding something about his relationship with Akemi from me and everybody else?

Beep! The sound of the handbook pulls me out of my own thoughts. Akemi rolls his eyes so he pulls up the bullets for the both of us.

"If you die, then it's not my problem." I was about to ask why, but Akemi almost drops his handbook on me. Akemi...Atsuto, why do you put up with somebody like him?

"...Screw you, too." It surprises me that Akemi has not been targeted by any of the killers due to his annoyance. He also is fairly smart, even I have to admit that, even though he does not participate in trials as much as he should. I always get the feeling he knows more about what is going on than he lets on. After all, it would not shock me if he actually has known about Atsuto's identity all this time.

"Let's get this over with."

* * *

 **Monokuma File #2: Blood Splatter**

 **In the Hospital, there is a weirdly formed blood splatter. It is fairly different to how it used to be due to people falling on it and messing it up. The three who have done this were the ones that found the body: Ayano Nishiki, Atsuto Togami, and Kira Iwata.**

 **Back when it was not messed up, most of the blood was focused in the middle of the room. A small bit was at the beginning, while there was more leading up to the body. The blood steaks imply that the body was dragged there and the victim put up a fight.**

 **Most of the blood in the room is fresh. Some of it has been dried, however. The dried blood is some of the blood near the entrance and the blood coming from Miyuki Kobyashi's mouth.**

* * *

 **Monokuma File #3: Placement of the Body**

 **Miyuki Kobyashi's body was placed sitting up in the Hospital. It should be noted that it is on the same part of the wall where Akita Yamazaki died.**

* * *

 **Monokuma File #4: The Sword**

 **The victim's own sword is stabbing her abdomen. One of her hands is placed on it, but this has been clearly done post-mortem.**

* * *

"Well, clearly seppuku is out of the picture. Though somebody is going to be a dumbass and still say it," Akemi comments. I do not agree with him, however. It is still too early to erase any of our possible theories. "Ayano, it says that you were one of the people that found the body. Do you have anything to say?" In his eyes, I see hints of suspicion. Great, people are going to start suspecting me again of murder, aren't they?

"I couldn't go to sleep so I decided to go to the kitchen-"

"You're a dumbass-"

"Let me finish my damn story, Akemi," I interrupt. "As I was saying before you so cruelly stopped me, I went into the kitchen and noticed that the door was open and lights on. I wanted to investigate more but then my wound reopened. That is when I went to the Hospital, even though I was just about to get Atsuto before I noticed the blood splatter."

"You didn't think about getting any of us then?" Akemi questioned. I glared at him. He always thinks that people will always do the most logical thing even in a situation that would cause a severe amount of emotional distress.

"Let. Me. Finish. Akemi." I groan. I would tell him off more, but I get the feeling that he would complain to Atsuto. Plus, I hear the all too familiar beeps coming from his handbook so this information could prove to be helpful.

"I'll let you finish when you finally grow a brain. Shouldn't the Ultimate Hacker be smarter than this? Does taking away all of your precious technology really make you this useless?"

"...I checked the Hospital-"

"You're just gonna continue anyway-"

"I checked the Hospital and found Miyuki's body. I was about to get everybody else but then I fainted. When I woke up, Atsuto was by my side, fixing up my wound. He left me to get everybody else himself because he wasn't finished yet. Kira then found her way inside and, yeah, that's my testimony. Any questions since you're clearly smarter than everybody else here?"

"Why did-"

"Oh my God! I'm already done with you. Bye, Akemi, I hope you rot." If he turns out to Miyuki's killer, I would not spend a single tear on him. Purely because of that, I am certain he is innocent. Having somebody that I am not close to dying is too kind for this game. Monokuma is making sure I suffer because I am his precious protagonist.

"Ayano Kamukura, I think this game is not what you think it is. Talk to me when you're out of your pity party," Akemi tells me. I am about to question him about his questionable words, yet he enters the Hospital again. He really does get on my nerves.

The thing is, I am sure that he is telling the truth. Akemi must have found out something that nobody else knows. Has he told Atsuto? Or is that he trusts me more with his information? No, that wouldn't make sense...right?

I take a deep breath as I make my way toward the cafeteria. There might be evidence there with the suspicious state I found it in. Alone once again, my thoughts consume my mind. This game...truly changes people. None of us would act like this before the game. Except for Akemi. What has happened to Akemi before to react this way to the game? He knows too much.

"Only if everybody else was still here..."

...Akita would be complaining about everybody but will be helping in her own strange way. Kazuhiko would drag me around everywhere so we can add every detail to our articles. Shinichi would try to help his friends with his own deductions, translating Takara's amusement with all of them. Cassius would not find any meaningful evidence yet would keep on trying for the sake of his family name. Naoko would be too shy to lead the investigation even though she is the one that makes the most useful deductions. Kyoto would pick up on the things not found by anybody else, not realizing his usefulness until his friends remind him. Mitsuru would protect the body to make sure that none of us would mess with the evidence. Mirabilis would attempt to purify Monokuma while making up her own crazy theories. Takayuki would want to part of the investigation and brother Monokuma until he can tell everybody else something we missed...

Miyuki would help Namita and Tsukiko while helping Mitsuru protect the body...

"I will solve all the mysteries of this place for all of you..." I give one of the cameras a sad smile as I enter the cafeteria.

* * *

The cafeteria is not who I found it. There is the fact that I now had to open the door, but the lights are dimmer and some of them are off. Wandering into the kitchen, I see that I am truly alone.

Nothing is off about the kitchen except for the blood that I left from my wound reopening. I remember that it was not there before. Thinking back to the second investigation, I check the bathroom and the cupboards. The killer has not left anything too overt in those areas.

Then I enter the cellar and immediately notice that a lot of things are off. There seems to have been a fight in here. All over the floor, there are broken glasses with their liquids staining the floor even more than it already was. What is weird, however, is that there is no blood in here even with all of the safety hazards.

One of the shelves is broken as well. With what information I can gather, somebody was pushed into that shelf. They then began to fight with their attacker. Miyuki must have taken off guard. Just, if that is the case, what was Miyuki doing in here? The last time any of us have seen her was going to the Hospital, and the cellar was perfectly fine then. Pretty sure there would have been mention of it otherwise.

"Kamukura-san?" Only one person uses honorifics like that anymore. I turn around to see Hayato behind me.

"...Hayato..." Being alone with him makes my skin crawl. Kyoto was alone with him in the forest and he ended up dead. My eyes try to search for a weapon anywhere on his body but cannot find any.

"I have heard it was Kobyashi-san that died," he says.

"Well, most of the others are in the Hospital," I tell him. Although Hayato can be helpful at times, I do not want to spend more time with him. Hayato does not leave, making the silence between us incredibly awkward.

"Once I give you the newest evidence, I will be taking my leave." The two of us stare at each other. His eyes drift to his cheek and I know exactly the memory that flashes inside his head.

"Let's get this over with, Hayato." My mind keeps imagining Hayato shooting Kyoto. Sure, Kyoto was never supposed to suffer, but he did. Hayato should have at least made sure that his shot killed Kyoto quickly. Now I do not want to imagine what Kaneshiro did to him. There had to be some reason why Kyoto told me his name.

"If that is what you want, Kamukura-san." With firm actions, Hayato takes out his handbook and shows the scene to me. I see it turn on and display his name. Hayato Akimoto. Now we are sure he is not faking his name. That actually gives me a good idea, though, to make everybody show their names displayed on there to make sure that there is nobody else faking their name.

* * *

 **Monokuma File #5: Ayano's Testimony**

 **Ayano Kamukura claims that she woke up during the night and couldn't go back to sleep. She saw that the door to the kitchen was left ajar and light on. Alone, she went to investigate, but couldn't continue because of her wound reopening.**

 **She went to the Hospital where she found MiyukiKobyashi's body. Before she could get anybody else, she passed out because of blood loss. Ayano woke up to see Atsuto Togami tending to her wounds. He left soon after to get others to discover the body.**

* * *

 **Monokuma File #6: Missing Medicine**

 **Some of the medicine used to heal Miyuki Kobyashi's injuries is missing from the Hospital. It is nowhere to be found. None of it is currently in her system.**

* * *

 **Monokuma File #7: Evidence of Fight**

 **In the cellar connected to the kitchen, there is evidence that a fight took place. It is unknown who was involved in this fight.**

 **One of the selves is broken. Dozens of bottles litter the floor with their liquids spilled out. There is a lot of broken glass though there is strangely no blood anywhere.**

* * *

"Goodbye, Kamukura...chan...I hope you do well during your investigation." Hayato then exits the room. I am left in awe. Hearing Hayato use chan, on me no less, is shocking. Is he trying to extend an olive branch to me in his own way?

Stepping over the glass, and trying to not mess with any of evidence, I decided to continue onward to the secret passageway. Maybe we should create a new name for it since it has not been secret for the longest time.

I open the door to see that somebody else is in the secret passageway. It is Minato, who looks confused. They must have gotten lost again and wants to know what is going on.

"Minato?" Their eyes might not be dead like Yasu's, yet there is less light. Minato is far from the naive optimist they started as at the beginning of the game. That change is good for winning this game but we needed more people like Minato in the world. Now they are like everybody else, broken down by the insanity transpiring all around them.

"Hey, Ayano...why do people keep dying?" Minato asks me. I gasp. The question catches me completely off guard.

"I cannot say," I answer. There is no meaning in death, just like life. It is what you personally make of it. Kaneshiro must have a motive for this game yet the death is pointless in the long run. No matter what, things eventually return to the boring status quo. Not even Junko could destroy the natural state of the world, and she almost ruined the entire Earth.

"Hm...I wonder how Chi and Katsu are doing." Minato completely changed the subject but I do not mind. I come closer to Minato until there are only about ten feet between the two of us.

"Chi and Katsu?"

"They're my brother and sister. I love them both." They must be thinking about how Monokuma said all of our loved ones are dead. Still, we do not know if that is true or not.

"Siblings, huh? I wonder if I have any. My father never told me who my birth parents are. When I was taken away from him, I was still too young." Now my mind wonders about how everybody on the island is doing.

"...We can continue this later. I want to know who killed Miyuki..." Minato's sad eyes pierce daggers into my soul. Then again, this is currently an investigation, and we should focus more on that. They disappear when I try to say something else.

"I never would have guessed how much I miss their hugs." Seeing nothing else but the door that is calling out my name, I turn back into the cellar. Nothing will be found wandering the school absentmindedly.

* * *

Back in the cellar, kitchen, and cafeteria, I do not find anything so I leave the rooms to go into the hallway. Something unexpected greets me when I set foot outside. Namita. I wonder

"Namita? D-do you want to talk?" Just looking at her, I can sense the saddest emulating from her body. Her eyes are red instead of their beautiful gray.

"Huh, a-are you sure?" Her entire body is shaking but she is trying to keep herself together. A single gust of wind can tip over her unsteady legs. However, Namita is trying to keep herself together, but she has been doing that for too long. Instead of the confident girl she wants us to believe she is, I see for how she truly is. A frightened little girl who just lost her girlfriend.

"This is important now. Come on, let's go to the cafeteria." Opening the door to the cafeteria, Namita glances at me and then the floor. She takes minutes to make a decision as she slowly makes her way through the door.

"Ayano, thank you." Our eyes meet. I remember those eyes back when Kazuhiko died. That is another reason to talk to Namita, to make sure she makes none of the decisions I did.

"You don't have to thank me, Namita-"

"No, I have to." Namita then sits down at one of the tables. She keeps putting her hair in and out of various ponytails. The closer she is to tears, the faster she goes.

"Are you okay?" I ask her as I sit down right next to her. Her legs cannot keep still as they continue to bounce. Namita cannot look into my eyes but I do hers.

Finding meeting her eyes with mine, Namita responds, "N-no, I'm not."

"That's okay." Tears then fill up in Namita's eyes as she finally lets her hair down. She begins to cry freely and scream out in pain. I am about to comfort her as she hugs onto me. Her face is hidden by my shoulder. My jacket begins to become soaked by the tears. "Let it out, Namita. It is what Miyuki would have wanted."

"Oh, I'm not so sure about that." Namita tries to laugh but it turns into a hiccup. "Miyuki is...was the type of person who wanted people to keep emotions to themselves." She breaks apart from me with one of her various ponytails in her hands.

"She was like how I used to be, then." This game, and most importantly Kazuhiko's death, have taught me the importance of emotions. I used to think that they only got in the way of everything. That is not true. But I do not think that was the same for Miyuki. Miyuki believed in the same thing for a different reason. A reason Namita knows but is not likely to tell me on just a random whim.

"Ayano, you're a good person." Namita places her ponytail in my hands as she waves goodbye. She is probably heading back to the investigation to find out this mystery. In a weird way, I am strangely jealous of Namita, who gets to have revenge for her lover's murderer on the same day. I have to find out until Kaneshiro messes up or the last trial. If Kaneshiro wants this to be like Junko's game, there are only two trials left, only one that starts with death. Just survive until then, or when the Saviors find us, and we win against Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro might want death like Junko so killing him would be viewed as mercy. I will make sure he suffers like all of us have.

Looking at the ponytail, I see that it is a red that matches my chocker. I take off Kazuhiko's hat gently and place it on the table. Then I place my hair in the ponytail, feeling the grime. When I leave the room, I place Kazuhiko's hat into my room and leave it there. It is about time that I become my own person, not Kazuhiko.

* * *

 **Yeah, here's another chapter of the main story! :D The extra chapter had a lot of good reactions, so I will be doing more in the future. So be prepared for that. There are not a lot of them but they're still interesting (mostly they'll be in DiOS and MoDE since FoD is really far along, might or might not add more extra chapters in the rewrite though).**

 **Well, we created another meme so [REDACTED].**

 **Reviews~**

 **AnonChan1-Yes, I'm the real Committee~ Akita was originally made to be long term so she would have been...interesting. [REDACTED]. We always need one remotely normal person. Shinichi is very good at hiding his alliances. She would be the Ultimate Second-in-Command, yes. You can fight the Committee all you want. ZOOM. Aya-K is actually the Ultimate Cosplayer (move out of the way, Shirogane!). Kazuhiko created the article about the original Akita. Sure...I'll tell you, it's [REDACTED]. Tsukiko here to impress all of you. FIGHT THE COMMITTEE! Minato mystery creator. ;) [REDACTED]. Dammit, Miyuki. HOTARU YES!**

 **Scissor-Snipper-It indeed does. Thanks. :D**

 **ShadedLyht-Thank you so much. :) And thanks again. I really should have made it so both of the Ayanos had more different names...oh well, too late for that now. Thanks once again. Thanks all around!**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Here's more hatred for the Committee! Shun deserves all of the congrats in the world. Shun is like...why am I stuck with crazy? [REDACTED]. That might be the next extra chapter. Thanks for the idea. :)**

 **ThePLOTHand-Feed me your theories, I live off destroying all of them. Nothing can escape the two deaths curse...except for this story since there's three. Puhuhuhu. *gets out popcorn to see your reaction* Now I gonna to read your stories. Because I love Yu-Gi-Oh and music so...yeah, I should get on that. XD**


	49. Investigation 4-2

**Investigation 4-2: How Important Am I To You?**

* * *

"Kamukura-san, may I ask why you no longer have your hat?" Hayato questions me as I enter the Hospital once again. I am glad that he is back with his old honorifics. Currently, only he, Hotaru, and Takara stay in the room.

"I just felt like trying a new look."

"Well, I like it! I can finally get a good look at your face. You're prettier without it," Hotaru comments. I cannot help myself from blushing a bit. "Yep. Much prettier."

"Let's get back to the investigation. Is there any more evidence?"

"Somebody's flustered. Well, whatever, I guess this is more important." Hotaru begins to laugh but then becomes serious all the sudden. She turns back to Miyuki's body, continuing her more careful examination of her body.

"There have only been seven bullets revealed so far, Kamukura-san. Have you seen all of them?" Hayato is about to show me his handbook but I shake my head.

"Minato showed them to me."

"Speaking of Ueda-san, where are they?"

"I don't know. They got lost again." I sigh. Even though I do like Minato, their constant habit of getting lost is starting to get old. How was Akita able to deal with this every day, especially considering her personality? They might be injured but we will never know. Now that I think about it...how is Minato getting lost all the time even possible?

"Geez, kids, I gave you something to help with that!" The voice hits me with a sudden wave of panic but I refuse to let it show. That would be giving him exactly what he wants. "That teddy bear has a chain connected to their collar for a reason-"

"Fuck you, Monokuma! We're not walking Minato around like a dog!" I shout out, unable to control myself. I would try to cover my mouth but it is already too late.

"Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan, I see that you removed your hat. You must've finally snapped out of your emo phase. If we're gonna do that again, its gonna be much shorter time. Your face really is something to behold...but a teacher shouldn't talk about their students in that way!"

"And we shouldn't treat one of our own as a pet." Hotaru then joins in on the conversation. She walks straight up to Monokuma, leaning over him. "Get. Lost."

"Yes." Takara stands up with Hotaru. Monokuma starts to sweat bullets as Hayato and I also join up with the two of them.

"I will stand by Amemori-san. As somebody who has already fallen prey to your game, I will take a stand for it no more!" Hayato exclaims. "You have broken too many rules, even killed an innocent person, Lord Cassius. So I have decided to not take part in this investigation anymore!" Everybody around him gasps, but the steadfast look in Hayato's eyes tells us that he is serious.

"Wh-wh-what?!"

"Nakatani-san gave me an idea when he asked what happens when the Blackened wins. Participating in this game is a choice. And I am simply deciding not to do so. There are no rules against this, right? And you making new ones right now will only show how petty you are." Hayato smirks at Monokuma. His logic makes a lot of sense actually. Even if we decide not to be part of the game, everybody else outside of the Hospital is still investigating.

"I will join Hayato. How does it feel to have your 'protagonist' turn against you?" I look at Hayato directly in my eyes. Sure, I do not fully forgive him yet, but this might be the start of a new alliance. We may not be the best of friends yet not worse of enemies.

"Dgids19irvkbhjf0920ter-"

"I think we broke Monokuma," Hotaru notes. She gently pokes at the Monokuma with no response. Then she punched it, only to get the same reaction.

"One...victory." Takara begins to laugh. Not something like most of the laughs of the Killing Game, ones of multiple, mixed emotions, but one out of genuine happiness.

"That's kinda weird when there's a dead, brutalized body right there." Hotaru is even back to her old, mischievous self. Though she does bring up a point. We have already gotten used to Miyuki's body and it hasn't even been a couple of hours. Just how much is this game messing with us psychologically?

"We should probably move the Monokuma somewhere else," I suggest. Everybody agrees with me. Still being careful (or as careful as she can be), Hotaru places the Monokuma outside the door. We would destroy him, but it is not worth the risk of possibly getting executed.

"We should not waste our time, however. This will be a good time to start discussing the finer details of Kawabata-san's case." Hayato brings up a good point. With everything that has been going on, we have sort of ignored Naoko. Naoko deserves more respect than what we have given her.

"So we are moving from one case to another. Perhaps that is what Monokuma wants since the two cases might have something to do with one another-"

"Oh, Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan~ I'm so not sure about that." Out of the corner of my vision, Junko appears. She goes directly to my face, and I can feel her breath lingering in the air.

"Hm?" Takara does not seem to notice Junko right in front of him.

"Kamukura-san? Why are you so scared?" His question makes me realize how much my body is quenched up. The only one that has any idea about what is going on is Hotaru. Hayato and Takara look past Junko, Hotaru's gaze is directly on her.

"My little firefly, you're still here! I'm so happy you're still alive! You both can be my replacements for Bitch-chan!" Junko then hugs Hotaru, who spits on her face. Hotaru tries to slap Junko yet her hand just phases through her.

"Amemori-san, what is happening?!"

"Hayato, we need to run now!" Hotaru commands. Not looking to see if anybody else is behind her, Hotaru darts out of the Hospital. I try to go after her yet Junko restraints my arm.

"I need somebody to play with! C'mon, play with me!" Junko turns into her childish persona.

"Ayano-"

"Takara, Hayato, leave _now_!" Seeing that tears are starting to form in my eyes, the two boys follow my directions. I am left alone with two dead women, just only one of them is currently standing.

Taking a deep breath and closing my eyes, I feel the pressure easing from my hand. Junko is not real. She will never be real again. She is only part of my imagination. Hotaru can see her too, though, so perhaps she is part of Kaneshiro's plan?

"C'mon, play with me, Aya! I know what we should do...write a scoop together." Then I feel Junko trying to force open my eyelids. I try to overpower her, but I hate. My eyelids cannot defeat the strength of her cold, unfeeling hands. Hands that have no life to them yet can still bleed.

Junko is still the same as she always has. She must have learned the ability to voice act from somewhere. With her analytical skills, and past as Ryoko Otonashi, the Ultimate Analyst, she can pretty much learn any Ultimate relating to talent. Though, unlike my father, no matter what she did, Junko could not learn things like luck and hope. It is simply impossible for somebody like her.

"You son of a bitch, Kaneshiro."

"I'm not Kaneshiro, Aya. It's my goal to find who he is and kill him. He has been getting in the way of a proper game with proper rules! Do you want to help me?" She starts to caress my check. My eyes glare at her as her red fingernails threaten to dig deep into my skin.

"I'll never help you-"

"Your father was very different-" Right as she was speaking, I spit directly into her mouth. That catches Junko off-guard. Even more evidence that this is only a worthless copy.

Something about how Junko looks sparks an idea in her head. She must be using some kind of computer program to change her appearance, but I still recognize her. Her voice acting lessons can only go so far. That carefree nature is what gives her away. Of course, Monokuma is the headmaster of our very own academy.

"Don't speak about my father that way again!" I scream at her. "Hm, I see what's going on here. There are two masterminds, with two different goals. Right...Ayano Kirigiri?"

"How-"

"When I got past the shock, it was easy to find out. The Committee is doing experiments on us, right? But somebody got in way of your plans. You did not know that Kaneshiro Kazuma disguised himself as one of the students and hid in here until it was too late!" Honestly, it was too easy to find out that Ayano Kirigiri was involved in this game. There must be something going on here that is beyond the simple surface level. Just what? I have to look further to figure out.

"Ayano Kamukura, you're such a smart girl, cousin! It's so cute to see you solve a mystery by yourself for once! I purposefully made it easy for you. Gotta have one easy mystery and this barrage of mindfucks. Can't have your brain exploding." Ayano smiles as her disguise get digitalized away. She is exactly the same as when we last talked during the second trial. Not her outfit or look per say, but that same mischievous grin.

Her purple, long hair is messier than usual, with her usual braid being replaced by a sloppy ponytail. Multiple bags are underneath her once brilliant brown eyes, though over the years they have dulled. With none of her usual makeup on, I can clearly see Ayano's plentiful freckles splattered across her face like an art project. Ayano wears a brown business suit that has seen better days, a coffee stain visible to all of those who can see on her jacket. The woman looks like shit yet there is still a strange presence of beauty about her. Something about her face drags other people into her poisonous web of lies and deceit.

"Kirigiri, why are you doing this?"

"To make that bitch Kotori Hiraoka pay. Kaneshiro Kazuma holds her up on a pedestal, while I just want to see her corpse burn over and over and over again." Her eyes drift onto the floor. "This was never supposed to happen, but, look here we are, fucking killing each other because one girl cannot keep in her boner for despair!"

What is the backstory here? The twist is not that Ayano Kirigiri is involved, I have suspected that from the very beginning, but why. Why did Kirigiri create this game in the first place? And, most of all, why the fuck did she betray all of us for Junko? Unlike Kotori, Kirigiri seems to respect Junko, yet I highly doubt she is involved with the True Despairs. Then again, Kaneshiro is assumed leader of the True Despairs, especially because Akita and Hideyoshi are dead, so does he like Junko? If he does, why is he following Kotori?

My head hurts again.

"Enough with that, Aya, you have a murder to solve. I will tell you this, Aya, Kaneshiro is personally involved in this case. Don't you want revenge?" Just as she is about to leave the room, something clicked inside my mind. It is the only thing that makes sense.

"You're the one who injured Yasu and Atsuto, right?"

"Bravo, bravo, Aya, your investigation skills are improving! I didn't like that Kaneshiro decided to hurt my precious Kira. She's mine and mine alone! I liked Yasu, I really did, but they were the perfect bait. So was Atsuto. Both of them together was just amazing! It was only supposed to be Yasu though, so sorry about that. I know how much you love your precious Atsuto. He was the idiot that decided to meet up with Yasu at the wrong time!"

Something about that response fuels an unquestionable rage inside me. Grabbing the nearest sharp object I can find, a needle, I hurl it at Kirigiri. It does not go as far as it lands between the two of us.

"Hm, did you try to kill me! Because there's already a dead body that you forgot about. Miyuki, I owe you a lot for saving my ass, so I'll make sure that your murder gets solved. We already got all the data we need." I am about to question her about her words when somebody opens the Hospital door. Namita is on the other side with Tsukiko, both of them staring at us.

"What? Ayano Kirigiri?" Namita asks out loud.

"Ayano, what is going on-"

"Tsukiko Oda, we're both Ayano. It's complicated. Just call me Kirigiri. All the other ones are dead," she interrupts. "Since I've been found out, I'm gonna talk with Kira once more. Gotta make sure she doesn't do anything stupid. And don't think for one moment I'm staying in this game longer than I need to." Tsukiko attempts to stop Kirigiri at the door, but Kirigiri easily overpowers her.

"Hey, what was that about? And why are you no longer wearing the hat?" Namita looks better than when I last bumped into her. Perhaps Tsukiko gave her some much-needed encouragement? However, Namita takes no time to run over to Miyuki, and caress her now cold cheek. Small tears in her eyes. "Miyuki, I'm so sorry this had to happen to you."

"I just felt like it."

"I think you look much better without it." Giving me one of her soft smiles, Tsukiko touches my shoulder reassuringly. "Not thinking about Kirigiri...do you want to see the new Truth Bullets?"

Thoughts run through my head. Should I stick with Hotaru, Takara, and Hayato are doing, or should I receive the bullets? Seeing them will not hurt the cause, right? Then I can go back to ignoring what Monokuma wants us to do. I am guessing both Kaneshiro and Kirigiri have control over the Monokumas so trying to analyze their behavior is meaningless without any more conclusive evidence.

"Sure."

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #8: Atsuto's Account**

 **During the night, Atsuto Togami admits that he heard a verbal fight between two people in the cafeteria. He did not want to get involved so he went away shortly afterward.**

 **The person he went with was Kira Iwata since she was having difficulty getting around. She also noticed the fight, though she also did not want to get involved.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #9: Students Going Haywire**

 **Hotaru Amemori, Hayato Akimoto, and Takara Miyagi have all decided to not take a part in the investigation. Instead, they are investigating the mysterious occurrences around Naoko Kawabata's death.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #10: Connection to Kaneshiro Kazuma**

 **Something this case is related to one of the masterminds of the game, Kaneshiro Kazuma.**

* * *

Kira needed help getting back into her room? But I helped her to her room when we finished having our conversation. Did Kira get out of her room sometime during the time between that and the murder and got lost. With Kira and Minato, now we have to worry about two of our classmates were in the wrong place at the wrong time more than the others.

"Excuse me, I am going to see what Hotaru, Takara, and Hayato are up to! Bye-"

"Not so fast, Ayano." Blocking my way, I see that Akemi is the next to make his way into the Hospital. "You want to go with them, don't you? There's no way you're leaving this investigation! Come with me right now!" Akemi yanks onto my ear and pulls me out with him. Tsukiko is about to object but something Namita tells her takes away her attention.

"Atsuto, how can you deal with this son of a bitch?"

"I heard that."

"I know."

* * *

What Akemi drags me to is the kitchen. For being a chess player, Akemi surprises me with his physical strength. Somebody like Mitsuru, Miyuki, or Hotaru (even me) can beat him, yet, to the typical thug on the streets, he might pose a challenge. Especially with his keen intellect.

"Kirigiri." Akemi's body tenses up as he sees Kirigiri and Kira having a conversation with each other. Kirigiri's eyes are solely focused on Kira's newfound pair of sunglasses. "Get away from Kira."

"Akemi! Long time, no see! How's life treating ya? Poorly as usual?" she chuckles. The aura of the room suddenly changes as the two of them lock eye contact.

"And you still have your shitty attitude."

"I know who you are, Akemi, so don't try to play it with me. Little Kira already knows and I don't want to ruin the surprise for anybody else. Kay?" Kirigiri then digitized herself, or more likely have somebody else, away from all of us. I am pretty sure that Akemi and Kira now know that this is a computer program. Whether or not they know about the Neo World Program remains to be seen.

"Kira-"

"Shut up, traitor." Without hearing a word, Kira storms away into the cafeteria. She surprisingly does not have any trouble until she gets to the door. Both of us rush to help her yet she opens it up and slams it into our faces.

I may hate Akemi but a part of me feels bad for him. Who knows why Kirigiri views him as a traitor? Kirigiri's thought process is too insane to accurately predict without getting to know her better. And I do not want to do that. I much rather spend the rest of my wife married to Akemi than experience that.

"That bitch!" Akemi, with his eyes watering but refusing to let their captive tears go, punches the door. Blood drips from his hand but he ignores it. "Why must she do this to me!?"

"Akemi-"

"Don't act like you understand, Ayano! Atsuto is the only one who understands!" He rushes out of the room. Is the connection between him and Atsuto somehow related to why Kirigiri does not like the two of them? Considering Atsuto is involved with the Future Foundation, is Akemi another member whose cover has yet to be blown to the rest of us?

"I should just go back to the original plan. Here I come, Hotaru."

* * *

Having an idea on where the trio had gone, I find myself venturing back to the old building once again. It gives me the creeps just thinking about how many atrocities have been committed here in such a short time. Not only is this the place where Naoko died and Yasu got paralyzed from the waist down, this is also the home of all of the overly brutal executions. Nobody deserves to die to the executions except for the masterminds.

"Ayano?" I find myself grinning when I find Minato next to me. They have nobody treating them like some sort of animal. Monokuma is wrong to ever think that we would ever do that to one of our friends. Minato has seen better days, yet they are some of the glue that holds our ragtag gang of misfits together. Their hugs can make even the bleakest of situations just a bit brighter.

How dare this game try to steal all of this light from our fucked up world.

"Minato, have you found something?"

"I decided to not investigate too." A beep comes from the handbook. We both decide to ignore it. It is deafening in this silent forest yet the sense of freedom has me feel alive once again. Monokuma cannot decide all of our actions for us.

"Good, me too." I do not care even when they disappear again. Hotaru, Hayato, and Takara are inspiring a spark inside our group. Minato has not given up to Monokuma yet. Not even they spending time in the torture chair has changed that.

* * *

There is nothing off about the building itself when I investigate the rooms not connected with Naoko. Though I feel a sudden chill when I pass the room where I got stabbed. If that was Kirigiri as well, I would not be surprised, yet I would think she would admit to that. She seems to be the Monokuma that does not want his protagonist to be touched in any way. You know what, I probably should rephrase that thought.

Being alone in this game is losing its fear factor. Perhaps since Kaneshiro has tried to do everything to me already. The only worse thing he can do is actually kill me, but I feel like he is waiting for that. If he will grant me the 'mercy' of death, then he will make it is as slow and painful as it possibly can.

Once I open the door to what used to be a torture room, I see that Yasu and Atsuto have joined up with the trio. The both of them do not seem to share Akemi's thoughts about this case.

"Kid, its good to see you again." Not focusing on the current dead body has somewhat improved Yasu's current mental state. Plus the fact that Mochi is in their lap. He is nuzzled up against them, sucking in their warmth. Even with all that has happened, Yasu is not a shell of their former self, they are still in there, fighting. They might not realize it but they are.

"Ayano!" Atsuto hugs me. "Hotaru, Hayato, and Takara told me you got hurt? Who did it?" He breaks from me and starts investigating my body. I guess it would be bad if my wound decided to open up once again because I over asserted myself with Kirigiri.

"Kirigiri. Ayano Kirigiri."

"What?!" they all exclaim at once. Not all of them are personally involved with her, yet they should know the name of their headmaster. She does like posting adds of herself all around the cities after all.

"She's gone now."

"How? What? Why? _What?_ " Atsuto can barely even say those simple words. "Please tell me she hasn't interacted with Akemi and Kira."

"She has-"

"Atsuto to the rescue again!" Wasting no time, Atsuto exits the room. He leaves behind a bunch of confused stares. Even Hotaru, the one I presume knows most of what is going on, is dumbfounded.

"Let's just forget about that..."

"Kamukura-san, we personally believe that somebody helped Yamazaki-san commit his crime against Nawabata-san," Hayato tells me. His face tells me that he wants to change the subject as much as everybody else in the room does.

"What makes you say that?"

"Pay attention to the clues that were given to us. First, somebody had to drug Anno-san to bring out Yamazaki-san, correct? That is what Amemori-san told me," he explains. "Anyway, with Yamazaki-san's lack of hands, he would have been unable to do everything against Nawabata-san. A person also had to help Yamazaki-san in handcuffs since he did not have the key with him. The accomplice must have placed the hair tie on the ground to throw us off since Yamazaki-san could not have gotten it off. There is also the fact that Kawabata-san fell into despair...something somebody connected to this all has a talent in."

"Are you saying that Kaneshiro had something to deal with this? And...damn...you figured all of that so quickly..." Guess that is what all these helping hands can do together. With them already knowing who committed the murder, and trusting more in each other, they were able to come to a conclusion more quickly. It is not going to be this way during the trial. Any of the people in this room can be the murderer and everybody else knows that. Having a harder trial is one of the bad sides of taking a stand against Monokuma.

"So basically..." I say, "this is the summary of Naoko's death."

* * *

 _Sometime before Hideyoshi must have met up with Kaneshiro and they have planned this out. Using Takayuki, they would lure Naoko into the torture room, on the assumption that she was talking to Takayuki about what she and Kyoto discovered._

 _Kaneshiro then came up from behind Takayuki, who arrived early probably due to Hideyoshi bothering him, and drugged him. These drugs made it so that the Takayuki personality could not experience what was happening or else he would have done something about it, no matter the cost. Naoko arrived soon afterward, but her fate was sealed when Hideyoshi came out._

 _Naoko was not the most physically strong of people, so getting her restrained probably did not take a lot of effort. She gave a fight, at least in her handcuffs evidenced by the scars, yet she could not break free from her attackers. She was handcuffed to the desk where...we can only assume what happened, especially because Kaneshiro was the one who ripped off her clothes since that requires hands and he did the same to Kyoto. Kyoto did tell us his name for a reason._

 _Now secured onto the desk, Naoko was stabbed multiple times. Kaneshiro probably used a mixture of his talent, the immense pain and stress she was under, and Takayuki's apparent betrayal to drive her into the depths of despair. Considering what else can be implied about this scene, this sadly makes a lot of sense. Did not help that Naoko was still recovering from the shock of the second trial along with the rest of us._

 _With Naoko deep in the depths of despair, Hideyoshi must have stepped onto the table and balanced himself with Kaneshiro's help. He then sadistically stomped onto Naoko's throat. Hideyoshi must have then left it there, cutting off Naoko's oxygen supply, and watched as Naoko slowly succumbed to a slow, painful death. I never thought I would say this, but hopefully, the despair made her at least be in bliss as she died._

 _Naoko is now dead so they created a scene. Kaneshiro handcuffed Hideyoshi to the wall to create possibly more confusion along the all of us. He then took Naoko's hair tie and placed it on the floor for a similar effect._

 _No matter how we view this, Kaneshiro wanted us to find this out. That is why unlike the first case, this one was free to discuss afterward._

* * *

"You must love the sound of your own voice, Ayano," Hotaru notes. "Correct! Well, we hope its correct-"

"Correct!" Monokuma shouts. Seeing the teddy bear again makes everybody take a step back except for Hotaru. Hotaru stands her ground as she looks down on our apparent headmaster. "That's what happened! Now continue on Miyuki! She's decomposing and it's almost time for the investigation to be over! So get your asses moving or its gonna be one Hell of a dosy! What does that even mean? That's up for you to decide!" The bear disappears yet again. With the trial on the horizon, one question pops up in my mind once again.

"Guys, what was the motive?" Hotaru beats me to the punch. After all, the two of us were the only ones that did not receive it.

"We all made a promise made by Nakahashi-san to not view it. It was optional for all of us."

"That's right, I didn't care enough to open it. I was sick of everything in this game. Of course, except for you, Mochi! You're the only thing that will never betray me." They smile as Mochi begins to lick their fingers. Like a spoiled kid, Mochi demands more pets afterward, which Yasu willingly gives out.

"Yes," Takara adds-on.

"So the killer viewed it! I highly doubt everybody kept your promise!" Hotaru smirked. She let out an evil laugh that can only mean one thing. "You know what, one of you can give me your handbook and have me see it. Somebody already killed for it, so what's the damage?"

"Hotaru-"

Without waiting for permission, Hotaru snatches Takara's handbook and opens up the new tab for the motive. She goes into the corner. I debate on whether or not to join her, and my curiosity gets the better of me. Nobody else joins the two of us huddling in our corner.

 _Caution: You are about to open the motive. Do you want to proceed? After this moment, there is no turning back, Takara Miyagi. This status scene will not show up again if you decide to go forward with the decision._

There is a yes and no button underneath the message. Although the others, especially Takara, do not agree with what we are doing, they do not stop us. It is clear which option Hotaru picked.

 _Motive Loading...100%_

 _Attention, Takara Miyagi, Ultimate Treasure Hunter, it is our pleasure to have you be a part of one of our Killing Games. At first, we had Monokuma keep telling you this is the fifth, but this was a misdirection. Mostly for people who knew the truth. We had to make sure that we did our homework._

 _There have been hundreds, if not thousands, of games after Junko's. All of them were pale copies. Some of them included the apartment incident and, well, the train that the government covered up. Ask your lovely masterminds about these games for more details._

 _But we would want to tell you that you are currently in a revamped version of the Neo World Program. Don't know what that is? No problem. It is a computer program. That's all we are willing to tell ignorant people like you._

 _Underneath this text is a series of photos. This is truly the last chance to stop reading this and not be part of the motive._

We continue onward to see crisp photos of the bodies that I found on the second floor. They are in better condition yet I still feel the vomit trying to escape my mouth. Hotaru makes a gagging sound and has to balance the handbook so she can cover her mouth.

 _The American Restoration Committee is evil. They're your enemy. Those people make even the True Despairs look like saints. This is not the first time they have used this space for a Killing Game. These poor souls were the victims of the beta test. The Committee did not approve of them being late to their first day of school._

 _That's right, the rest of your fucking class were the guinea pigs for this new version of the Neo World Program._

 _Guess what, Takara Miyagi, along the list of the dead is your childhood sweetheart, the Ultimate Soap Opera Star, Misao Arikida. Sweet dreams, and remember the only way to get revenge is to get out of here._

T-the motive was...revenge? This is strangely like the first motive. And, with the body having an uncanny resemblance to Akita Yamazaki, I highly doubt that was a coincidence. Somebody decided revenge was needed more than the lives of everybody else. More than the life of Miyuki Kobyashi.

"T-Takara, promise me you won't see your motive-"

" _Guess what, my bastard students! I'm looking at you lazy bums that didn't want to investigate! It's time for the trial. Geez, the amount of Truth Bullet you have is just sad. There's no turning back though! Trial time_!"

"Let's quickly look over the new bullets, Ayano." I nod my head to Hotaru's words. Takara waits for us as everybody else takes their leave from the room.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #11: More Rebellion**

 **Ayano Kamukura, Minato Ueda, Atsuto Togami, and Yasu Matsuhita have joined in on the rebellion. They also, with the previous group, solved the mystery of Naoko Kawabata's murder**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #12: Emotional Distress**

 **Miyuki Kobyashi was observed to be in a state of panic before her death. Even before that, she was irritable. Something was off about her.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #13: The Motive**

 **The killer is somebody who watched the motive. Have fun with that information, kids.**

* * *

Sighing, the three of us walk out together to go meet up with everybody in the trial loading room...

* * *

Monokuma has already opened up the door to the trial room, so the three of us go our way down the stairs. I go last as I still find it nearly impossible to go down these flights comfortably. This is the curse of being so tall.

As we make it to the bottom, we see that everybody but Tsukiko and Namita has made it to the trial room. Atsuto, Kira, and Akemi must have all moved to someplace closer to get here more quickly. Also, it seems like people helped Yasu down the stairs considering that they are still in their wheelchair. Mochi has been placed back into their toolbox.

It takes a couple of minutes for Tsukiko and Namita to make their entrance. Namita glares at all of us.

"Why?"

You know what, perhaps not filling her in on the plan of not investigating her girlfriend's death was a bad idea.

* * *

 **Yep. Only thirteen bullets. Please, somebody, save these children from me.**

 **The poll for the killer will be posted tomorrow. It is literally 1 AM. And I just now realized that. Oh shit. Well. I'm gonna sleep in tomorrow. XD Now that I'm done with this chapter, the sleepiness has hit me like a freight train. And this is why you pay attention to the time while you write, kids.**

 **More peeps are trying to get this NicoB senpai to notice this story so thank you all. Especially you ThePLOTHand and RioA. I love you both for doing this. But, seriously, if he actually reads this, I think I'll actually faint. He was one of the reasons why I got so into voice acting so, um, if by any chance NicoB is reading this in the future, thank you. :)**

 **Reviews~**

 **AnonChan1-The Mom Duo being like...what the fuck, guys? Atsuto deserves all the love in the world. As per series tradition, shipping ends with death and suffering. Well, Atsuto is the Ultimate Unlucky Student for a reason. These kids do not realize how little people they have left. Here's Hayato trying more to make everybody like him. We believe in you, Hayato. Namita is...not in the best emotional state right now. Ayano is my baby and I will make her suffer and go through character development. Because that's what happens to my babies. Akita would have developed into less of... _Akita_. And you bet your ass we would have more MinatoxAkita moments. HERE'S MORE REASON TO HATE THE COMMITTEE! [REDACTED]**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-Everything gets [REDACTED]. Yep, this trial is gonna hurt to write...which is why I look forward to writing it and seeing your reactions. Caution: do not read this trial before work again, or your boss will hate these fictional characters even more. Akemi is like...how am I still alive? Um, well, do what you can with only thirteen bullets of evidence. These dumb kids...I love them.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-*huggles Minato with you* Thank you so much. I worked so hard on making a convincing character arc for Ayano. Thank you again! Well, here's some more FoD! With even more of the feel trains hitting you!**

 **ThePLOTHand-It only gets worse from here. The only one with the true aim is the person without hands. Oh my God...now I cannot stop envisioning Minato without that voice. XD**


	50. Trial 4-1

**Trial 4-1: Dirigentes Stella**

* * *

"Puhuhu! Only thirteen~ And that's an extremely unlucky number! And it so happens to be Friday! Coincidence? Probably."

It is a Friday? Probably not, Monokuma is just trying to mess with us. I wonder what date it is. Perhaps it is sometime during November, or we have really lost our time and its December. We do not know for sure that the days in this program work like they do in real life. For all we know, it has been years since this game started, or even just petty seconds dragged out for a sick kick.

"Monokuma, let's just get this shit over with." Namita places herself on her own podium, her eyes resting on where Miyuki used to stand. The rest of us stay where we are. Miyuki's memorial looks like Monokuma just ripped off Peko's. Just who is in charge of these memorials? The Committee or Kaneshiro? Pretty sure that Kaneshiro did something to take control of the system from Kirigiri. So Kaneshiro. How did Kaneshiro do that in the first place?

"If you say so..." I, along with everyone else, take our respected places. Yasu gets help to get to theirs from Akemi and Atsuto. Looking around I understand even more how little of us are left. About half of us are dead at this point. Its empty and cold without the constant cheer of some of the other members. The people alive have less light as it keeps being taken away cruelly by something as immature as a horrible interpretation of a killer teddy bear.

 **Class Trial: All Rise!**

"Let's begin with a basic explanation of the Class Trial. So, your votes determine...Why are you letting me waste your time again!? Find the person who ended poor Miyuki's life and you won't die! If you don't, you're fucked. Mass execution! Fun, fun times-"

"That you would never allow happening." Monokuma and Akemi have yet another of one of their many standoffs. "What? We're allowed to interrupt you during the trial. Not breaking rules."

"I swear to...fine, Akemi, keep being an annoying ass. Seeing you die will be more fun that way." Monokuma does not laugh and keeps a straight face.

"Guys, we need to focus on the trial, not another of your petty fights." Namita scares both Monokuma and Akemi into submission. Do not piss her off, got it. Though I think everybody but Tsukiko has done that.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence: Battle Arena Preparation**

"First, we should discuss how _over half of us decided to fucking not investigate_!" Namita points her finger at Hotaru. " _And I bet you were the one behind it all_!"

"Actually that's not the truth. _It was Hayato_ ," Hotaru responds. Note to self, do not trust my secrets with Hotaru, since she is likely to reveal them during trials. That is not shocking.

"Nakahashi-san, please calm down. We did it in protest. _Monokuma would not allow us to die in the trials, so it is a way to push him into a corner. He will reveal the killer if we do not find them_ ," Hayato explains himself. He is still calm even with all the spite written on Namita's face.

"Still, its _suspicious_ that you decided to do it _on a whim_. Like, hm, I wonder if the death of one of our leaders would be worth investigating! You can't blame me for thinking lesser of you for this bullshit!" Namita is reminding me of how I was like during the end of the first trial. I do not blame her since this is really our fault because of our failure in the communication department. Communication is the key to creating long-lasting alliances in this game. Or else things like this happen.

"Calm!" Takara tries to make himself heard by using his voice, but the whole room ignores him. There is already an intense aura. Everything about this trial is already stressing me, and everybody else, out.

"Perhaps we should listen to what they have to say-"

"Shut up, Tsukiko!" Tsukiko is taken back by the pure venom in Namita's voice.

"Oh my God, Namita, I get you're upset that your girlfriend got killed and these idiots have a death wish but take a damn chill pill. You're only going to make this harder," Akemi sighs. "Why can't anybody be smart here? Even Kira decided it was a good idea to _listen to the person who put us here in the first place_! And Atsuto used to say dumb shit."

"Are you saying what I think you are, kid?" Yasu asks. I see that many eyes are on Akemi. Even if Akemi knew of Kirigiri, how does he know of her involvement in the planning stages? That son of a bitch, he does know something!

"Why can't we just get along?" Minato questions all of us. They may be jaded, yet they still have their good heart.

In the middle of the fight, instead of paying attention, I decided to check over the Truth Bullets again. It would be good to analyze them more deeply in a place where that action will not cause my possible death.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #1-Monokuma File #4 (I don't care if there were like, three deaths last time, Monokuma gets lazy sometimes)**

 _ **Victim: Miyuki Kobyashi: Ultimate Onna-Bugeisha**_

 _ **Miyuki's cause of death is blood loss.** **There is a sword (that belonged to the victim herself) in Miyuki's abdomen that was placed there before death. However, this is not the cause of death. Also, there is an injury in Miyuki's lungs but it has been there for years.** **She also has suffered from blunt force trauma due to severe head injuries. The first of the injuries happened before death, yet the others did not occur until she died.**_

 **Truth Bullet #2-Blood Splatter**

 _ **In the Hospital, there is a weirdly formed blood splatter. It is fairly different to how it used to be due to people falling on it and messing it up. The three who have done this were the ones that found the body: Ayano Nishiki, Atsuto Togami, and Kira Iwata.** **Back when it was not messed up, most of the blood was focused in the middle of the room. A small bit was at the beginning, while there was more leading up to the body. The blood steaks imply that the body was dragged there and the victim put up a fight.** **Most of the blood in the room is fresh. Some of it has been dried, however. The dried blood is some of the blood near the entrance and the blood coming from Miyuki Kobyashi's mouth.**_

 **Truth Bullet #3-Placement of the Body**

 _ **Miyuki Kobyashi's body was placed sitting up in the Hospital. It should be noted that it is on the same part of the wall where Akita Yamazaki died.**_

 **Truth Bullet #4-The Sword**

 _ ** **The victim's own sword is stabbing her abdomen. One of her hands is placed on it, but this has been clearly done post-mortem.****_

 ** **Truth Bullet #5-Ayano's Testimony****

 _ **Ayano Kamukura claims that she woke up during the night and couldn't go back to sleep. She saw that the door to the kitchen was left ajar and light on. Alone, she went to investigate, but couldn't continue because of her wound reopening.**_ _ **She went to the Hospital where she found Miyuki Kobyashi's body. Before she could get anybody else, she passed out because of blood loss. Ayano woke up to see Atsuto Togami tending to her wounds. He left soon after to get others to discover the body.**_

 **Truth Bullet #6-Missing Medicine**

 _ **Some of the medicine used to heal Miyuki Kobyashi's injuries is missing from the Hospital. It is nowhere to be found. None of it is currently in her system.**_

 **Truth Bullet #7-Evidence of Fight**

 _ **In the cellar connected to the kitchen, there is evidence that a fight took place. It is unknown who was involved in this fight.**_ _ **One of the selves is broken. Dozens of bottles litter the floor with their liquids spilled out. There is a lot of broken glass though there is strangely no blood anywhere.**_

 **Truth Bullet #8-Atsuto's Account**

 _ **During the night, Atsuto Togami admits that he heard a verbal fight between two people in the cafeteria. He did not want to get involved so he went away shortly afterward.** **The person he went with was Kira Iwata since she was having difficulty getting around. She also noticed the fight, though she also did not want to get involved.**_

 **Truth Bullet #9-Students Going Haywire**

 _ **Hotaru Amemori, Hayato Akimoto, and Takara Miyagi have all decided to not take a part in the investigation. Instead, they are investigating the mysterious occurrences around Naoko Kawabata's death.**_

 **Truth Bullet #10-Connection to Kaneshiro Kazuma**

 _ **Something this case is related to one of the masterminds of the game, Kaneshiro Kazuma.**_

 **Truth Bullet #11-More Rebellion**

 _ **Ayano Kamukura, Minato Ueda, Atsuto Togami, and Yasu Matsuhita have joined in on the rebellion. They also, with the previous group, solved the mystery of Naoko Kawabata's murder.**_

 **Truth Bullet #12-Emotional Distress**

 _ ** **Miyuki Kobyashi was observed to be in a state of panic before her death. Even before that, she was irritable. Something was off about her.****_

 ** **Truth Bullet #13-The Motive****

 ** _ **The killer is somebody who watched the motive. Have fun with that information, kids.**_**

* * *

"You kids are starting to bore me! I don't give a shit about your dead girlfriends! Just talk about murder already!" Monokuma sighs. "I'll even give you a conversation starter! Why was Miyuki flipping her bricks before her death?"

"Flipping her bricks?" Minato asks. Nobody answers them. At this point, nobody questions the bullshit Monokuma makes up on the fly. He can make pigs fly and only Minato will bat an eye.

"God, you're worse than my parents," Hotaru sighs. She huffs. Something about her reaction seems petty, even though the entire situation is quite tense.

"Wait, Monokuma can start the debates? Shouldn't we be more scared of that?" Tsukiko points out. Out of everyone in the room, Tsukiko is the one who still has her shit together.

"No, we need to focus on Miyuki! Monokuma can be dealt with later!" Namita screams. With her eyes dilating, Tsukiko tries to comfort her friend, but Namita glares at her.

"We need to figure out who put a stick up Namita's ass-"

"Calm!" Takara interrupts Hotaru. Hotaru and Namita focus on each other, trying to see who can scare off the other first. Even Kira can sense their hatred.

"Listen to Takara! Please don't fight each other!" Minato pleads with us. Nobody listens to either of them.

"There's no way these idiots are going to be calm. That would involve common sense." Akemi rolls his eyes. He sits down on his podium and faces away from all of us. Although his feet hang from the edge, he does not sling them.

"You're the true idiot-"

"OH MY GOD, LET ME HAVE MY TRIAL! THIS AIN'T THE PLACE TO FIGHT, MY BASTARD STUDENTS!" Monokuma shouts. Everybody is now focused entirely on him, except for Kira. She looks annoyed that she got interrupted. "Good, now that I have your attention, let me have my fun~"

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"Now I get to do this part! I always wanted to!" Monokuma is way too excited for it to be normal. Sure, he got this way before, yet something feels wrong about this. My skin cannot stop crawling. "Why was Miyuki acting so strange? Instead of her stone betty persona, she blew her shit in everybody's faces! Jeez, she was so rude!"

"Out of everybody here, _Ayano was the last to see her_. Let's ask her about it. Did anything seem off about Miyuki?" Tsukiko asks. Wait, I don't remember telling anybody that, least of all Tsukiko. Then again, knowing Kaneshiro, there is a chance that my memory got erased, but I doubt he would waste it on something like that. The more likely explanation is that Tsukiko is the one unlucky enough to get stuck with the extra information. I hate the extra information more than anything else here.

"She was..." Thinking back on it, Miyuki did seem she was in a hurry, almost like she...was trying to get away from somebody. Was she trying to hide in the Hospital by using the rules instead of getting medicine for her condition? "Miyuki went pass me to get to the Hospital. _She was probably trying to get away from somebody_. Takara, you went after her, did you notice anything either?"

"Hm." Takara takes a moment to recollect his thoughts, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "I lost her quick... _T-there was somebody's voice_..." In a direct contrast to his earlier attitude, Takara begins screaming and holding onto his head. There is no directly next to him, so Hotaru and Hayato have to both escort through the other podium blocking him to try their best to comfort him.

"Sorry about that, he was starting to know too much. He can't spoil the ending this early. We have two more trials to go through." Hotaru and Hayato both give him a look I would never forget. One of pure hate.

"Kids, let's forget about..." Yasu's words stop as they fall asleep in their wheelchair. For once, I am glad that they were in it, for they could have fallen and severely hurt themselves.

"Let's listen to what Yasu was about to say and focus on the trial. I want to know who killed my darling Yuki!" Atsuto cries out. Namita surprisingly does not react to that. Guess she had to deal with him trying to flirt with Miyuki while she was still alive after all.

"Do you remember anything else, Miyagi-san, or...?" Hayato does not finish his sentence.

"So from what Takara was saying, it does seem that Miyuki did _find somebody, or try to, and then displayed erratic behavior that ended with her going to the Hospital_. Then somebody found her in the Hospital and...did that."

"What about _the fight though_? Is that _connected to Miyuki_?" Kira asks. It is a valid enough question. Because, if Miyuki was involved, that would mean that she would have had to leave the Hospital sometime.

"But what is Miyuki's time of death-"

"You're getting distracted! Find out something about her mood and you can discuss that!" Monokuma is also being strange about that. He seems to want us to figure this out and fast. Whenever Monokuma gets like this, it always means bad news.

"What about the motive video?" Atsuto questions. His eyes focus intensely on me as if expecting me to help him with this.

"Why? Why would Yuki watch the motive?!" Namita asks us. "We made a promise to each other! She... _she wouldn't_. Not like..."

Except if it wasn't her choice. Due to the lack of a time of death, we do not know for certain if she died right after I saw her enter the Hospital. It could have been possible that is happened after, much after. And there is something with a piece of evidence that rubs me the wrong way.

The fight that Atsuto and Kira overheard. There is the fact that it did not match up with the state I found the cellar in. Pretty sure they would have said something about hearing a fight at that large of a scale. They would have wanted to get involved if they heard something like glass breaking. What if there were two fights? One where it was only screaming each other, another where ended up in some sort of weird fight.

"I have a theory to destroy yours!"

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"What if there were two fights? Atsuto's testimony and the state of the cellar contradict each other," I state.

"But didn't they say they heard the fight in the cafeteria?"

"It can be easily assumed that it could have actually been in the cellar since they're close to each other. But, even if the fight was in the kitchen itself, it is still something to consider since we do not know Miyuki's time of death," I respond. Plus, if the fight was not important to the case, the two parties would have come out by now.

"We really should have gotten involved." Atsuto then curses underneath his breath. The only reason I know is that of the word shit came in front of us.

"Nothing we can do about it now but win this trial." Something about how Kira worded that disturbs me. Does she view the trial as some sort of game to win? I mean, that is technically what it is, yet none of us should actively want to participate in the game. Even when Hotaru did earlier, it seemed to be more of a defense mechanism than anything else.

"Win?" Minato questions her. She does not respond.

"But who were the two people fighting? Did you recognize the voices, Kira, Atsuto?" Tsukiko asks them. Although she is helping with the trial, she has too much weight on her shoulders, even though she would never admit it. Most of her focus is centered on Namita, who has gone strangely silent.

"I could tell they belonged..." Kira then begins shouting out in pain as well while holding onto her head. Damn Monokuma is abusing the trial system again.

There is nobody alive around Kira, and I can tell that I am the closest one to her. I take a deep breath as I prepare myself for the journey. Going slowly, I make sure I correctly land on each of the podiums and do not fall to my immediate death. It would be beyond embarrassing if after all the shit I went through, a simple misstep caused my death. At least it would be quick.

"Good to know I'm important enough for you to be worried about me, Kamukura." Ouch. Did Kirigiri say something about me as well? Probably. Kirigiri seems to have Kira wrapped around her finger.

Then I catch Kira's body as she faints. Looking over to Takara, I see that he is currently in Hotaru's arms as she works with Hayato to make sure he is fine.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

Huh? I did not even say anything. Monokuma really is putting this trial on speedrun mode. Since it is my turn, I have to think very carefully about the next avenue of discussion.

Should it be the time of death or focusing more on the fight? With the little amount of evidence, those are the only two possibilities to really find anything at this moment.

"Hurry up, Aya! We don't have all day!"

"Fine, Monokuma, let us discuss the time of death." Hopefully, the two conversations will bend in with each other. There has to be something to help us.

"She must have _suffered_." Minato's eyes are downcast. I have a desire to comfort them, yet I am too far away. Kira has to be looked after as well. Having her accidentally fall would be horrible.

"Maybe she died _before the argument_ -"

"Excuse me, but there are facts that contradict your statement!"

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"Look at the second piece of evidence," Hayato begins reading through it again on Takara's screen. Hotaru is still in the back, taking care of him. "The scene had fresh blood that did not come from Kamukura-san. That means that Kobyashi-san had to die recently enough for some of the scene to not have dried. It must have been a slow death as some of it is, or she was previously attacked."

"That means she must have died right before Ayano found her!" Hotaru's eyes widen with realization.

"The time of death had to be at night and the attack lasted longer. Miyuki must have first been attacked in the Hospital when all of us weren't there, most likely at night. Then she tried to go to the kitchen to possibly find us or run away. She must have covered the wound she did get, or somehow it was not bleeding. The person who attacked her, followed her, had a scuffle in the cellar, and then chased her back to the Hospital," Tsukiko notes.

"Maybe that's why the door was open, there was no time! The killer might have tried to close it before yet Ayano being there ruined their plans," Akemi adds-on. "Idiot, the killer should not have murdered anyone in the first place. All killers are scum." Good to know Akemi still has his killer hatred.

"Hm, with Yuki's skills...she would have been able to avoid the attacker..." Namita says, her voice low and quiet. Once again the floating words are the only reason we can understand her. "Until her illness started acting up again."

"Did the killer remove the medicine just for that?!" Minato takes a step back in horror at their own discovery.

"...By the looks of it..." Atsuto bits his lip. "Yuki had a head start but was injured and suffering from her illness. The killer found her medicine and probably kept it on their person and disposed of it later so she would be easier to kill."

"The only reason Ayano is probably safe right now is the killer didn't return to the scene," Tsukiko notes. "And killing her would only bring more evidence. This was not a killer doing it for fun, but for the motive."

"God..." Minato's hand is placed on their stomach.

"This killer is a piece of shit!" Akemi punches his podium. He does not mind the blood now dripping from his hand.

"You say that about everybody except your crush Kira," Hotaru responds. Akemi grimaces at her, but she pays it no mind. "Oh, how poor Cassius must feel. He wasn't a killer but he still got your wrath."

"What? Why, why are you not focusing on the trial? But why Miyuki? Shouldn't there be somebody that was easier to get? And why such brutality?"

 **Free For All: Motive Edition Start!**

"Hm, for some reason, this case is connected to the first one. And I think its because of that motive! Somehow the killer is connected to Akita Yamazaki," Namita states, being slightly more back to her normal self.

"I don't know if you idiots have figured it out, but the killer can't be Ayano or Hotaru then. They saw their own motive, which is something they don't have." Akemi...that was really smart. Two possible suspects down, which is good since if this was the beginning of the game, I would definitely be on the chopping block. We have really learned since then. But is that a good or bad thing?

"Let us be honest here, or the trial will not continue. Who has seen that motive?" Tsukiko inquires the entire class.

"Hotaru and I saw Takara's motive during the investigation. It said that he did not view it yet so he's out of the picture. I think all the passed out classmates are." Monokuma is doing what he did with the second trial again. He is steamrolling it just for his own desired results.

"If anybody says any of those damn names for suspects, tell them they're fucking stupid-"

"Akemi, if Mirabilis was still here, she would purify you," Monokuma interrupts. He then throws something at Akemi. When I analyze it, I notice that it is Mirabilis's wand. That son of a bitch. "Let me do it instead!"

"Fucking asshole!" Minato shouts out. My jaw drops.

"No, focus, dammit!" Namita shouts out. We really do need a swear jar. "We need to focus! We can't fall in Monokuma's trap! He'll just ruin everything again!"

"Calm down, Namita. We won't figure out anything if we react like that." Tsukiko tries to calm her down but is not successful. I can see how tense her shoulders are.

"All of us need to have a clear mind if we want to find Yuki's killer." Atsuto sits down on his podium and looks like he is doing a meditation exercise. It reminds me of Mitsuru... "Let's all mediate."

"Seriously, Atsuto?" Akemi, sighing, however, joins him.

"Um, what?" Hotaru, now letting go of Takara, only gapes at the two boys. Nobody else joins them, though I decide that it won't hurt. I am the next in line.

Think about one singular thing and take deep breaths. Think. What should the word be? Atsuto. He's easy to focus on. Atsuto.

 **Free For All: End!**

"Really? Really!? I have to deal with this now!" I smirk as I hear Monokuma knock into something. Though it is wiped off my face when I feel something collide my head. D-did he just purify me? He really is a son ofa bitch.

With my eyes open, I check to see if Kira was affected. Luckily, the wand missed her. I picked it up, but Monokuma comes over to me with his jetpack and takes it from me again.

"Let's focus, okay? I don't want more yelling at each other." Minato's voice is shaky. Even with all that has happened, Minato has a good heart.

"Ok, why is Miyuki positioned just like Akita?" Namita rushes.

Looking over the evidence, something catches my eye. Why haven't I noticed this before!? Probably because I decided to not investigate. This really would have been much easier if we played along, but now we have one more victory over Monokuma. That is worth it in the end. Plus, we are making decent progress in this case with the limited information.

The mastermind is involved! Kaneshiro has an obsession with Akita! Dammit!

"Its because the mastermind cannot stop getting his dick wet at the thought of Akita." Akemi...I know I just thought that, but you really didn't have to say it that way. I see that both Akemi and Atsuto are up now.

"Wait...what if there are more connections to Akita?" Atsuto questions. He gulps. "W-what if Yuki tried to...kill herself beforehand?"

"No, she wouldn't do that!"

"What if she killed herself because she was slowly dying from her illness? She...she might have thought that would be an easier way out than being killed by her killer." Hayato's breath is sharp. "I know how it is to be in that situation. Not being attacked, but feeling like that is the only way out from all her pain and guilt." He looks down at his shaky hands. Hotaru places her hand on his shoulder.

"Sudoku is also common along samurai like her." Hotaru cannot look at us.

"Shut up, Hotaru-"

"Wake up, Namita, and stop acting like a bitch!" Hotaru flipped Namita off and Namita tries to go over where she is. Tsukiko has to hurry to her podium to hold her down.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"Really? Really!?"

"That's all of your points gone, Akemi! I'm sick of your shit!" Monokuma summons out a gavel out of nowhere. He is not even trying to hide it anymore.

Instead of Akemi being pulled by the chains, it's Hotaru...

"What the fuck, Monokuma!? Not again!" Hotaru's mouth gets covered by chains but she still struggles against them, even more so than usual. I avert my eyes, however, since it feels uncomfortable getting this view of her underwear. Monokuma must have placed her over me for a reason. Especially because it is so out of the way.

"Ok, debate!" Monokuma exclaims. Akemi tries to get his voice heard but his podium starts to descend to the floor. He tries to grab onto another podium, but he is too late. Being the Ultimate Chess Player, he is not dumb enough to risk his life for something like that. Monokuma would just continue after all.

"Um..." Even Hayato is at a loss of words but clears his throat. "We should discuss more in detail about how Kobyashi-san _tried to kill herself_. Why and when?"

A sinister thought then entered my mind. It...it makes sense.

" _She could have watched her motive video_."

"No, she wouldn't-"

"What if she was _forced to_ , Namita?" Minato can barely get their own words out. "She...she had no choice..." They begin to play around with their long hair. Even at the start of the game, they had long hair, but it is getting out of control right now. Minato is lucky they have a ponytail to tie it in.

"No...no...no..."

"When Hotaru and I watched the video, we could open it _without the help of Takara_. Miyuki, already weakened, could have been _forced to watch it_. The killer could have even _lied about giving her the medicine in return_." I feel something stuck in my throat. Seconds later, I release a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"The killer could have wanted her to _commit suicide so they were not_ technically _at fault_. When it turned out Miyuki failed... _they crushed her head against the wall_." A traitorous tear runs down Tsukiko's cheek. She tries to whip it before any can see, but it is clear she failed.

"But...but what about..." Namita thinks for a second. "If that's the case, then _the killer would've removed the sword_!"

"I'm sorry..but that's wrong!" Minato can barely contain themself. They are still not used to breaking arguments. Hayato looks over the scene with a look in his eyes that I can remember. It is the exact same as when he decided to rebel against Monokuma.

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"The killer would have wanted to frame it as a suicide since it was the original plan," Minato says. Their voice and manner of speech is to unlike them to be considered anything but uncanny.

Everywhere is silent. Even with all of this progress, we are tired. Tired of the trials always ending up like this. Monokuma will always be unfair, no matter what we do. This is literally the third time Hotaru was placed in that compromising position.

"...Monokuma..."

"What is it, Hayato? The lack of anything happening is making me bored! Discuss, discuss, discuss! Or I'll pick the topic for you!"

"I'm sick of your shit! I'm not taking part in this trial anymore!"

I can only describe Monokuma's expression as one thing...pure rage.

* * *

 **Dun dun dun. Hayato is really pissing off Monokuma. This is a shorter trial chapter, but that's because the next one is huge. Like, hot damn, there's a lot of content and this is like the perfect stopping point.**

 **Okay, I'm trying something new. I have seen this in author notes of other stories so I want to try it out. I think it can improve my stories. Here's...The Question of the Chapter! Or QotC! I...I don't know what I'm doing anymore.**

 **QotC: Who are your favorite and least favorite characters of FoD? And Yellow, if you answer, you can't pick Akemi. XD**

 **Let's see how this goes. If people like it, I'll keep it. If people don't, then this will only happen once.**

 **Reviews~**

 **Scissor-Snipper-OH! Ayano Kirigiri trying to psyche you out, but that AI is deleted. Well, I think Hayato is getting your idea. Hayato here to not find the culprit and piss off Monokuma! The killer's relationship to Miyuki is still up in the air but, damn, Miyuki got unlucky. Kaneshiro, stop messing with the crimes! It makes solving them hard! Be very, very scared. Hahahaha, that's because I thought it was a good idea to edit past midnight. Grammarly doesn't help me when I make stupid decisions. This is why this is the beta story and there's a rewrite. XD XD XD**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-Cool! :D Well, hopefully, you won't cry again. Kirigiri here to destroy her family name. Yes, we're all Kirigiri. Oh, the next chapter is gonna HURT for me to write, much more for you guys to read. Bye! :D And happy belated birthday!**

 **AnonChan1-AyaKazu is dead, AyaHaru is here to take its place. Minato, stop glitching. Akita really wants to kill Monokuma now in Afterlife Theatre. Kirigiri wants you to suffer. Kirigiri might be a dick but she has a reason for everything. Akemi here to surprise you. The not investigation squad since Takara is the only one left of the investigation squad. *looks at 13 year olds in MoDE* Well, Naoko, you're not gonna be the youngest to die. MOCHI DESERVES EVERYTHING! Namita is in a really, REALLY bad mood.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-MoDE here to make you suffer. This should be renamed Foreshadowing of Despair and the Dark Implications in Our Stars. Thanks. :D I'm here to make you suffer.**

 **ShadedLyht-Well, the kids were doing well until Monokuma pissed them off. Yeah, all the really, really bad things are Kaneshiro's doing, and Kirigiri was like DAMMIT! The final chapter is going to be something alright. Thanks for the OCs for MoDE! Well, thank you all for your OCs. :D**

 **dashunterman-Suffering.**

 **BIBOTOT-Hayato is just doing everything to get on everybody's nerves. Yeah, nobody is sane here, WE'RE ALL CRAZY! I'm glad you really like Hotaru. :D**

 **ThePLOThand-We still need to convince Nico to read this with his voices. :D That would be freaky...Like, hello, this is the Sims and somebody decided to make yet another torture house playthrough. Have fun. GODDAMMIT, DAVE, YOU HAD ONE JOB! Minato is like...I don't know where I am anymore. Well, a possible crossover idea. XD Minato is like...how in the world haven't I died yet?**


	51. Trial 4-2

**Trial 4-2: No Angels**

* * *

"Hayato, what are you doing?!" Atsuto cries out. "I get not being apart of the investigation but this is something more than that!" However, Hayato doesn't even look Atsuto's direction.

"Bring it on, Monokuma, shut me up like Ame...no, Hotaru and Akemi. I dare you." Hayato smirks at Monokuma, and, for once, I think I see the real Hayato on his face.

"Think about what you're doing, Hayato!" Tsukiko pleads with him. The circles underneath her eyes become more prominent.

"No, he won't because you're the killer!" Namita shouts at him. She points one of her fingers at him and I can notice how shaky it is.

"Stop fighting each other!" Minato tries to get their voice heard, but their words go over deaf ears. They grab onto their podium so tightly that their knuckles become paler.

"Hayato. Akimoto." Monokuma sounds barely human. Sure, he is a robot bear, but his voice always had a trace of humanity. Now it doesn't. It sounds like something out a true nightmare. Then again, this situation is the worse nightmare. "I...think you need a present."

"Present?" We all asked him. All of us have the same expression on our faces. Even Akemi, witnessing the entire trial from the floor, looked to be hyperventilating. Too bad he doesn't have anybody to comfort him. I-I never thought I would think that about Akemi of all people.

"Akemi!" Atsuto sees Akemi faint onto the cold floor. He really does need somebody's help. I never dealt with somebody who passed out that way though. Kotori was the one who had to deal with it. Guess I am really lucky that most of my memories have been repressed.

 _"Everything in your body is mine, Ayano Kamukura._ Everything. _Don't think you can hide anything from me. I'll always be a part of you-"_

"Ayano!" Atsuto's voice pulls me from my flashback. The trial room is the same as before, absolutely nothing has changed. We still need to complete what is our top priority, finding out who Miyuki's killer is.

"I will accept whatever you give me, Monokuma," Hayato says. His arms are crossed as he raises his chin.

"You know what, I liked you better when you played along with the game. That was not long ago, you know? I think I need to remind you of how you're supposed to act as an amoral salesperson. Maybe I should create a Hideyoshi robot or something to mess with you again. You literally run a smuggling ring with your totally not dead boyfriend-"

"Shut up, Monokuma, and get on with it. We need to continue this trial. You're wasting time." Namita exchanges her glares between the bear and Hayato. Hayato must have been promoted very high in her shit list.

"Impatient, impatient." Monokuma laughs. Then, without anything to help him, Monokuma makes a wrapped present appear right in front of Hayato. He really isn't trying anymore to hide this is a simulation. "Enjoy this! I sure as Hell will!" The bear then returns to his chair with a bag of popcorn. His claws dig deep to reveal that inside are actually bones. Bones that he willingly eats, his loud crutching echoing throughout the room.

"Maybe we shouldn't open that," Minato voices out.

"Oh, Mini, if he doesn't open that, I'll execute Hayato on the spot. He's the one who wanted to rebel, this is what he gets! Maybe this will teach you all a lesson~"

"This is madness! You can't do this-"

"Tsun-tsun, darling, I can do whatever I want. Those Committee fools thought it best to remove the rules for the headmaster role!" W-wait, they did that!? I thought it weird that the teacher in the Neo World Program could do all of these things, but now it makes sense. Why did they think that was a good idea!? That's the only reason my father defeated the Junko AI! Were they that desperate for power that they would resort to any measure for more?

"Headmaster role? Wait, what-"

"Namita...oh wait, _Nami_ , focus on your girlfriend, then they can get the answers they want." Namita sneers at Monokuma. She looks like a wild animal has just got released from her being.

Right when everybody else is focused on Monokuma instead, Hayato tears into the wrapping of the package. It is Monokuma decals with a plain white background fitted with a blood red bow. Under all the wrapping is a red box.

"Oh, God." Minato covers their eyes. Everybody else, though, is solely focused on the box. I can see out of the corner of my eye Monokuma's twisted smile.

"What's in the box!?" Atsuto shouts out. His body leans over his podium so he can be closer to Hayato.

Hayato takes his time lifting up the lid. His eyes search for clues and keep darting over to where Monokuma is. He then throws the lid off the side of his podium. With the only other sound being the loud chewing of Monokuma, its falling rattles throughout the room.

...

...

...

W-what are we looking at? This...this cannot be real. The contents are shown to us through the use of the TVs. There is no escape from the horror.

Inside the box is a head slowly decaying, filling the room with an unwholesome smell. A smell I am all too familiar to. Flashes of Kazuhiko's corpse litter my mind. Finding him in that corner...Monokuma really is a sick bastard. If this is what he does, maybe I should...no, do not finish that thought. No giving into Monokuma. And definitely don't visit the cafeteria for that purpose ever again.

The head itself has holes for eyes. Instead of the usual flowers, small parts of presumably her own organs decorate her hair. Her once pink eyes are now black (whether that is natural or because of makeup, I do not know) and are stitched together sloppily.

Minato, unable to escape the sight, throws up onto the ground underneath all of us. Even I am holding back the bile in my mouth. Its acidic taste only makes me want to gag more.

"Okay! Back to the discussion! And, oh yeah Hayato, this still has to happen." Hayato is caught by surprise as the chains grab onto him. He drops the 'present', causing yet another thing to fall onto the floor. Just like Hotaru, his mouth is covered, but I can still notice his eyes. It makes me happy that they are not dead or full in despair like the last trial, but he is clearly trying to hide back tears. There is no hiding from what he's done. The bullet hole is still clear as day.

"Wait..." Namita plays with her hair, once again putting it in and out of ponytails.

"No! I shall even be nice and be the teacher that I'm meant to be! I have to guide my students, even during these trials. Guess these are your mid-finals or something. Complete six or win against the others to graduate after all! Have to make sure you'll get an A. So I shall pick the next topic! Remember, pay attention kids."

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"Hm, I wonder what my connection-"

"You know full well what your connection is, Monokuma," Atsuto interrupts him. He has learned from Akemi. We could possibly annoy Monokuma more that way, but I know Monokuma would just take that privilege away. God, I never thought I would think to be able to interrupt others would be considered a privilege. What has this game done to us?

"Let me finish! Ahem, as I was saying before I was so _cruelly_ -"

"No!" Minato cries out. " _H-Hayato is right_... _We need to team up to defeat you_ -"

"OH MY GOD! Hayato, look at what you have done! What should I do about this? Dig up Kyoto's dead body? Since you have the bad habit of shooting people." I then feel my nails digging into my own skin. Kyoto, Mirabilis...why did the two of you have to die?

"Guys, _let's just discuss this_ ," Namita voices, her head facing the floor and face unviewable.

But is it really wise to do that? Monokuma wouldn't allow us to die, especially since I suspect he is sending his own kind of twisted message to the Committee. He would just reveal the killer to us without us having to go through all of this emotional turmoil.

"...I agree..." I look over to Atsuto, who gives me a look of encouragement, "...with Hayato..." Sorry Kyoto and Mirabilis, but he does have a point. He may be an idiot, but he's a smart idiot.

" _Miyuki is alive_ -"

"No, I won't allow you to take control of this trial!" Namita shouts out. Well, there goes that plan.

 **Non-Stop Debate Stop!**

"Believe it or not, I'm smarter than I look." Namita grimaces. She taps her fingernails on the edge of her podium.

"We have known that for, like, months," Atsuto replies. He chokes back a laugh but I can still tell. His face cannot hide his emotions that well.

"..." Her response is to glare at him.

"Let's calm down and continue figuring this out. There are only five of us now, so it's going to be a little difficult." With Tsukiko's observation, I truly realize how little of us are left. Monokuma is not getting rid of us at the rate of the second trial yet there are so little of us left. It has only been an hour or so, and this is what has happened.

"I'm not backing down." Minato holds true to their own beliefs. Monokuma has an unreadable expression as he heads their way. He then grabs onto the lead connected to Minato's collar and starts yanking it. They cry out in pain.

"Don't do that to Minato!" Tsukiko tries running over to them, but another Monokuma pops up and blocks her way. Namita, Atsuto, and I can only watch in horror. I do not want to know the faces Hotaru and Hayato are making.

"Lesson learned!" Monokuma exclaims as he lets go of the lead. "Now it seems that the class is divided in opinion. What a pity. Although this is always my favorite part!"

"Debate Scrum, huh?" I whisper to myself. Never thought it could be used for something like this. This is an opinion, not a different look at all of the evidence.

"Yep, Izumi Kamukura," Monokuma answers as he returns back to his chair. "You know what, I miss Yuki being here. Messing with him was just so much fun. I wanted to see his despair so, so badly."

"And you won't see anybody else's despair, Monokuma," Tsukiko declares.

"Are you so sure about that, Tsukiko? I know how this trial will end and trust me..." Monokuma's face distorts into an even more twisted smile. "This trial will be the end of you."

"No, it won't!" Namita refutes our supposed headmaster as she slams her hands against the top of her podium. "Now stop with your bullshit and start this debate scrum! We're waiting on you this time around. Not so good for a headmaster, right?"

"You kids don't respect your elders enough! After this trial, I'll make sure you'll learn your lesson for good this time," Monokuma threatens all of us. Even knowing he won't just allow all of us to die, it is clear that Monokuma is being serious. This is no longer a game. He will make us pay but we have experienced so much together. That means we have to stick to each other no matter what.

My father would tell me to never lose hope.

The screen for Kira's pad changes. Not wanting her to fall off during the move, I carefully head my way back. Then, with the same screen, there is the option to go with either Namita or Hayato. I choose Hayato. Poor Namita, during all of these I choose against her.

 **Votes In: Debate Scrum Start**

Just like last time, the podiums move into two different lines to show our sides. Namita and Tsukiko are on one side, while Atsuto, Minato, and I oppose the two of them.

"Um, remember the rules? If we don't find the killer, all of us are going to die!" Namita starts the argument.

"Think back to Kazuhiko's trial. We didn't find out who did it, Monokuma told us," Atsuto reminds them. Thinking back to that trial brings back pain but I can feel my heart has at least somewhat healed. Beat that, Monokuma, your game has only made me a stronger person. Perhaps being forced to kill a fake version of him had a backward effect, probably because of Hotaru.

Hotaru...something about her reminds me of Kazuhiko. I cannot for the life of me figure out what.

"I still had him pressed in a corner. No matter what, Kazuhiko would have died." Although they hurt, Tsukiko's words ring true. Kazuhiko sealed his fate the moment he decided to kill Akita.

"Um..." Minato has to think for a little bit. "Couldn't Kazuhiko possibly have talked himself out of it?"

"No, it would have been impossible since there was no explaining that situation without looking even more suspicious. The only person up to such a feat is Hayato, but we all know how good he is at actually killing people."

"But that is then, this is now-"

"Monokuma wouldn't want us to not solve this mystery! That thinking will only cause in our deaths!" Tsukiko's eyes slowly drift to Monokuma, who is now evilly laughing.

"That's right. This time, I. Will. Kill. You."

"..." What caused this change in Monokuma? I highly doubt both of Hayato's rebellions alone would make this happen. Is something happening in the real world?

"This is...our answer?" Namita and Tsukiko both look at each other, a mix of confusion and fear on their faces. Tsukiko closes her eyes and looks deep in thought.

"No, fuck that, this is Monokuma's own damn stupid answer." Namita starts chewing on a section of her hair that accidentally fell into her mouth.

 **Debate Scrum End!**

"You know what, I think I'm going to take Hayato's side now. Something is not right about Monokuma," Tsukiko notes. "I was perfectly fine until you threatened us. Going out together is better than playing a part of this anymore."

"What!?"

"And you could be perfectly buffing," I add on. "We cannot trust a single word you say anymore. Plus we don't know if you will truly set us free when we escape because of your messed up rules." It is good that we got Tsukiko on board, but I do not know if it is possible to convince Namita.

"Guys, what are you doing?! Monokuma might be manipulating us, but we still gotta do this! We can't let the attacker go free!" Namita pleads with us, tears in her eyes. Her heart is clutching tightly onto her chest.

Wait, shouldn't there be an easier way of doing this? Wait, of course! Why haven't I thought of this sooner? Probably because I don't have a handbook or the stress is messing with my ability to think clearly.

"If we want to figure it out easier, we can have people show us their handbooks. Those who have seen the video will be considered suspects," I suggest. "That way, Monokuma won't get the trial he wants and we still can find the killer."

"That's genius, Ayano!" Atsuto gleams and I smile. Truly, I do not know what I would do without Atsuto in this game. He is most likely the only reason I'm still alive, along with Hotaru. They were the ones that saved me from the mastermind.

Looking up at Hotaru, and trying to ignore the angle, I see that she too is smiling and focusing on me. Hayato still seems shocked about the whole finding Mirabilis's tortured head in a box thing.

"Fine." Monokuma sulks like a kid who did not get what they want on their birthday.

"Here's my handbook." Atsuto and Tsukiko show theirs at the same time. They go over their motive video where it still has the warning beforehand. Minato has trouble getting theirs out of their pocket, and Namita stares at it with blank eyes.

Minato then gets theirs and it shows that it also has the same warning message. The only one left is...

"Congrats, you have found out who killed Miyuki Kobyashi, the Ultimate Onna-Bugeisha! Its Namita Nakahashi, the Ultimate Event Planner, her very own lover!" Before we can ask any questions, we find that the stands are being lowered to the ground once again.

"Namita! What?" Tsukiko tries to get over to where her friend is, but another Monokuma blocks her way yet again.

"Well, I think the cat is out of the bag now-"

"And, you know what, I really don't want the plot to be spoiled! We gotta wait to figure out everything!" Monokuma is giggling yet there is a certain sharpness to his voice.

"This is just like Kazuhiko! You fucking dick!" I scream to Monokuma. I could see dark spots entering my vision.

 _Yeah, deal with it, Sugar Kane! I'll say it right here and now, Kazuhiko is the Blackened-_

"Ayano, are you alright?" That is when I realize that we have all made it to the ground. Minato and Atsuto have huddled aside me, with Tsukiko and Namita being close by.

That is when it comes to me that Monokuma did not even give us the option to vote. We could have all voted for the wrong person, but Monokuma won't allow that to happen. He is not giving us any options for an easier way out. It is either we play with his game or more of this happens.

But, then again, when have any of us played the Killing Game like it is supposed to be played?

Kaneshiro must be so frustrated that nobody is acting the way they are supposed to even though he is supposed to be the Ultimate Brainwasher. Thinking about that makes everything in body feel so much better. All of us may die yet we are not slaves. And, no matter what, I still have Atsuto. And Hotaru is also another good person to have by my side.

"Yes, but, Namita, why? Why-"

"We can't have anything like that! Its been awhile since I've done this but tada! Here's a new rule!" After so long of not having rules forced onto us every second, hearing those words makes my stomach drop.

 **Rule #18 (new version): No discussing the events of the fourth Class Trial period.**

"What?" Tsukiko can barely form words as her hands press onto Namita's shoulders. Namita is not able to look her friend in the eyes.

"Please just tell us what happened. Please," Minato tells her as the rest of the three of us make our way to the duo.

"Kaneshiro Kazuma."

"You're revealing too much, Namita. Remember what I told you~" Monokuma voices from his chair. Once again, he gets out the bone popcorn box. Right now, though, nobody is paying attention to that. We form our own sort of circle around Namita.

"Kaneshiro?"

"Tsukiko, even during times like this, you remind me of a teddy bear, you know? People might not know that but I think everybody here can get to know you better." Namita finally creates eye contact with Tsukiko. It is like the two of them have forgotten the rest of us are still here.

"Just call me Kiko. At least once, okay? Before you..." Tsukiko is unable to finish her own sentence. She is then hugged by Namita, who I notice has tears in her eyes.

"Hey, I know you shouldn't forgive me, but trust me I have my reasons for what I've done. I'm truly the worse person to be your friend, _Kiko_. I knew something like this would happen yet I didn't do anything about it!" Namita slides down Tsukiko and onto her knees. Tsukiko, with tears in her own eyes, comforts Namita by petting the top of her head.

"Please, just promise me you'll kill that fucker Kaneshiro Kazuma, okay?" Namita hiccups as her eyes turn into a shade of red. I thought about trying to join in the effort of comforting her, but the two of them deserve to have Namita's final moments together. "Remember the plan."

"I will."

"Shit, I just can't do anything right anymore, can I?

"This is all good all now but...Let's give it everything we got...It's _**PUNISHMENT TIME**_!"

Instead of allowing Namita to be easily taken by Monokuma, Atsuto, Minato, and I look at each other and give ourselves a nod. We then join in on the hug, surprising Tsukiko but not Namita. Our bodies protect the two of them from all angles.

"G-guys, what are you doing? I betrayed you all!" Namita cries out. Snot starts coming out of her nose but none of us care. This is hardly the time to concern ourselves over such small things considering the decomposing, tortured head of one of our friends is literally on the same level as us right now. Maybe I should grab Mirabilis's head before Monokuma can do anything else to it. I do not want to think about what he is currently doing to the rest of her body.

"You're our friend!" Minato comforts her. "We'll never abandon you."

"T-t-thank you." Namita cannot stop the tears. Although the way she killed Miyuki was...brutal, I am sure she has her own reasons. We can think of that later, right now we are proving yet another point.

"You really are doing this!? It doesn't even matter! Why don't my students give up?!" At that moment, we see that the ground beneath all of us opens up. We all fall down.

* * *

 **Rebellion Over**

 **Namita has been found guilty by the court of Monokuma**

 **TIME FOR PUNISHMENT!**

* * *

Without having a moment to think about anything, I feel myself get pushed into some kind of elevator or something else that goes up. It goes so quick that my chest begins to tighten. I hope that whatever is happening does not make my wound reopen.

My eyes widen as I realize where I am. Right in the middle of an execution. The last time something like this happened it was just a dream, but this is our reality. Is Monokuma trying to kill all of us!?

I examine my surrounding to observe what is around me. It reminds me of a set of one of the old TV shows from before the Tragedy that Kotori was super into. There are two long tables with the main one in the middle covered with bright colors that honestly make my eyes hurt. The only other thing of importance is the board in the middle of one of the end walls. On one of the long tables, Namita is nearest to the board, followed by Tsukiko, Atsuto, Minato, and I. Behind us is the word hope, opposite of despair.

It takes all of us but Namita in surprise when some sort of robots fill in the other table. For those five, it is Miyuki, Kazuhiko, Cassius, Takayuki, and a girl I didn't quite recognize.

Right before any of us can call Monokuma out, the four of us on the end get covered with some sort of box. What frightens us is that this box is slowly filling up with water. Namita tries to free us, but that is when she notices to the floating stand she is attached to. She cannot stop herself as she gets pulled to the table in the middle.

 **Found Family Feud: Hope Edition**

 **Ultimate Event Planner Namita Nakahashi's Execution: EXECUTED**

Miyuki is placed on the opposite side of Namita. I can see her hands shake as her eyes dart around the room. Monokuma appears between the two of them dressed up in a nice suit. Just like most executions, nobody talks but the music surrounding us is overwhelming. Was this always here and so loud!?

Namita is caught off guard as Miyuki slams her hand against the button. Monokuma laughs along with the music as he shoots Miyuki and the rest of the people on her team in the head. Though that is not the end of it...

While all of this is happening, all of us in the box try to find our way out. Lucky we are all tall and do not run into the fear of drowning quite yet. All of us join up together to try to break out...

Namita is distracted by all of us as the front of her suddenly changes into some sort of disturbing slide with six possible ways to go down right next to each other. She falls down the first one and cannot stop what is about to happen to her. Her eyes closed for a split second, and, when they open once again, she realizes that she is still going down yet there is some sort of sick twist to each one of them.

The first acts as a twisted water slide of blood and have a trial of saws ahead, the second is instead filled with oil. Meanwhile, the third looks like it is about to break and the fourth somehow has loops all over the place that cannot be good for the human body. The fifth, however, looks strangely normal.

Just as Namita is about to exit from our field of vision, Monokuma knocks on the reinforced glass that is trapping the rest of us. He then points at the board from before, which now shows footage of Namita. People we cannot see laugh as she gets injured by moving to the next slide right as the first saw caught a bit of her jeans and damaged her leg.

Namita screams out in pain as the oil enters her open wound. Thinking on her feet, Namita takes off her jacket and covers the wound. She observes the third one to find a place to enter that would not end with her falling to her possible death.

Due to some of the liquid almost getting into her mouth, Namita quickly prays before taking a literal leap of faith. The slide breaks from underneath her, but Namita holds onto the slide next to her. Her eyes focus on what seems to be an endless abyss.

Trying to make sure she does not fall into the loop, Namita traverses the next slide. She is breathing loudly and has clearly seen better days. One misstep and it might be her end after all.

As Namita makes her daring journey, I notice that the water is almost to the top of the box. Tsukiko, although being around five feet and eight inches, is having trouble keeping her mouth above the water. She is constantly taking breaths just in case the worse case scenario occurs. Minato tries to help her but has little success, our bodies exhausted after all that has happened even after all the adrenaline.

Namita makes her way to the last slide and takes a breather as her body falls down yet again. She tries climbing up the slide, but her body is way too tired. Her hand stays on the side even as the intense speeds no doubt cause it to feel a lot of pain.

She cries out in shock as the slide suddenly comes to an end. Namita is barely able to stop herself before she gets hurled into the endless abyss. Monokuma finally leaves us still stuck at the table...thing...

Then, the water fills up the cage faster than usual, leaving us all submerged. Minato was not able to close their mouth in time, so they begin to breathe in the water. Tsukiko, Atsuto, and I try to help them but I find myself not being able to hold it much longer. The next one who opens their mouth is me. Truly, I would never forget this moment. A moment where I thought I would die in this painful way just because of Monokuma's pettiness.

The water cannot stop entering my body and I almost give into panic. Having no air is a worse experience than I realized. It feels like something is sitting on your chest with no way to actually move it. Looking up, I see Atsuto and Tsukiko have joined us, but their mouths are still closed. Their bodies slam into the glass.

We all are shocked as the glass around us suddenly falls down. As air enters our lungs again, we all begin to breath heavily. I spit out more water than I would like to admit. But our happiness and confusion are replaced by concern as we notice that the board...or should I say screen?...shows only static.

"Namita!" Leaving behind a path of water in her wake, Tsukiko hurries to the last slide. She is stopped by Atsuto. Minato and I help him calm down what can be our only leader left. We would be even more screwed if Hotaru out of all people becomes the leader that we need.

"Idiot, think before you act. You aren't strong enough to help Namita." Akemi then appears from behind us. We look over to where the observation station is to find that there is now a hole in the fence. Yasu is placing down a pair of pliers from their tool box with Mochi in their lap.

"What is going on here?"

"We only have three hours to escape. Yasu can tell you while I get Namita." Then Akemi slides door the last slide before any of us can ask any sort of questions.

"It seems like your plan worked, kid," Yasu says to Atsuto while the four of us make our way to them. We have to help ourselves up considering Yasu's strength can never truly be the same.

"What is going on here?" Tsukiko asks them as she coughs. The air is still a blessing to our tortured lungs. At least on this fake island, there is no air pollution that plagues the real world. I never knew that air could be this clean outside of Committee regulated areas before.

"Yasu, Akemi, and I created a plan while Ayano was out cold," Atsuto explains himself. "We never thought we would be put in a situation where we would have to use it."

Thinking about when that happened, I still need to know the events that transpired then. I have never got the time to get the full feeling of things, only bits and pieces.

"Yasu would pretend to be passed out for the trial and Akemi would annoy Monokuma to the point where he is escorted out of the trial," Atsuto continues. "Nobody paid attention to Yasu. During that time, they worked on hacking into the system of the Neo World Program. Monokuma changed it but now its a whole less complicated. Almost rushed." Wait, Atsuto, Yasu, and Akemi all knew about the program? Is this related to the diaries and journals that Atsuto always reads?

"What?"

"We can explain later! The important thing is that we get out." Yasu has a newfound fury in their eyes. Atsuto must have truly given them their hope again.

"Be glad I saved your ass, _murderer_ ," Akemi tells Namita as they both find their way up to the safe room.

"This is not the time, Akemi. We need to get everybody else in the trial room." Atsuto hurries into the main room for the trials. Having nothing else to do, we follow after him.

* * *

In the main room, Minato and Akemi carry Kira and Takara on both of their backs. The main question is how to get Hotaru and Hayato.

"Yasu, can you get control of the podiums back and get us up there?" Tsukiko questions. She seems completely lost but still has her reasonable head on her shoulders.

"No." Yasu hides their face with their messy black hair. Mochi then hopes onto their shoulders and then onto their head. They have no trouble balancing the rabbit.

"Just go!" Hotaru shouts out. During all of the madness, she has removed the chain that was around her mouth. Hayato nods his head along with her.

"Hotaru..."

"There can't be a Killing Game with two of us! Just go!" She is so steadfast in her convictions. Sure, Hotaru is an alcoholic prankster, but she knows when to become serious.

"Maybe...maybe I should stay-"

"I won't lose you too, Namita!" Tsukiko grabs onto her friend's hand and squeezes it tight. If it was any other situation, I would say that she was holding on too hard, yet this is understandable. Namita may have killed someone but she's still our friend. Somebody we will survive this game with.

"And we already lost Minato. Great! Just great!" Akemi pulls his hair. He punches one of the walls until he bleeds.

"We have to go now! We can get Minato when we're all free." Atsuto closes his eyes and cannot look at Yasu. Yasu, meanwhile, looks like somebody just shot an arrow through their already fragile heart.

"But we should not leave anyone else behind! And they have Takara-"

"I know that, okay? _I know_ ," Atsuto lashes out. Tsukiko backs away from the face now suddenly in her personal space. "Just...sorry...but we need to go now! This is the only shot we have! If we make it through, we can get everybody else out. If we don't..." He does not have to finish his sentence as his eyes drift to Monokuma.

"But what exactly are we doing?" I ask him. I do not want to question him, but my mind desires answers. And my mind wants revenge against Kaneshiro for what he has done to everybody.

"We're escaping through the forest. Those Saviors or whatever found a weak spot in the programming," Akemi explains. "Yasu was able to get ahold of them while Monokuma was distracted by..." He looks over to me and then Hotaru.

"Wait, isn't one of us the mastermind? What should we do about that?" Namita brings up a good point. The only one one-hundred percent off the hook is her since she was about to be executed. Monokuma wouldn't be willing to kill himself for a slim chance of surviving. Junko might have possibly, but this is clearly not Junko (if this turns out to be some remnant of her AI, I would go crazy). This one is a paranoid coward.

"Look in the pods when you get there! The one who isn't who they say they are is the mastermind!" Hotaru recommends. She coughs afterward. Her throat must not be doing that good, but, then again, my throat isn't either since I just barely survived being drowned. Please tell me that water was not the same as the type in the pool.

"Hotaru, thank you. For everything." I give her the best smile I can muster. Considering the success of our last escape, or lack thereof, we should be prepared for the worse.

"Now go! Go!" Following Hotaru's orders, we all run out of the courtroom. We may not know how this will turn out, but we should try. Try for the ones that are no longer with us.

I'm sure Kazuhiko is proud of me right now.

* * *

 **This was originally supposed to be longer but then I'm like...dude, that's way too long. Like the original version of this chapter reached 9,000 words so I was like...well, I'm making this multiple. So, congrats, you guys finally get a multi-chapter After Trial segment.**

 **And, since the QoTC is a little bit popular I want to do another one.**

 **QOTC: Which has been your favorite execution in Forest of Despair and why? What about your least favorite?**

 **That will be fun. XD**

 **Reviews~**

 **dashunterman-Well, you were right about that. XD Hayato truly is the Ultimate Smart Idiot.**

 **AnonChan1-Well, you gotta remember one thing, that Hanako and Ayano Kirigiri are still alive. Atsuto and Akemi are the #YasuProtectionSquad. Well, Namita is in the situation of having just killed her girlfriend (I wonder if anybody can figure out why and how before the next chapter). And now Takara is God knows where with Minato. No, I won't give them a break. MINATO OUR BABY KNOWS HOW TO SAY FUCK. Everybody in this fanfiction has cursed, Mirabilis is not proud (But, then again, so did she). I mean, this is the Suicide Forest, what did you expect? HAYATO YES! Atsuto would add Mirabilis to the #YasuProtectionSquad but her head is too busy being stuck in a box. Yes, be part of all the shipping~ Well, um, if they don't make it out, Namita is deader than dead. Akita is gonna to fuck with the mastermind in more ways than one (oh dear lord, Req, what have you done?). REBELLION! Screw you, Monokuma, the rebellion ain't over!**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Well, Monokuma ended the trial early again, so the students are trying to get out again. Seriously, Monokuma, you should keep a better eye on Yasu and Hayato. Trial Four: The Trial Where Everybody is Pissed. Yes, Hayato is still the Ultimate Smart Idiot. Hotaru is just like...I stole Kyoto's spot and Ayano's heart. Don't let Akita hear you say that, she would go ape shit. XD**

 **ThePLOThand-Actually, I'm working on the first part of the MoDE prologue right now. I never said it was early August. I'm honestly surprised you're the only one who has made that joke. XD Now I need to show this to Sanity and make her groan. It is a hidden spoiler Discord where I reveal the plot of FoD and DiOS. ;) Only a few chosen have made it and now I broke RioA by it. Poor, poor Rio. You just needed an A, Miyuki! AN A AND THEN YOU WOULD BE A DRAGON MAID! Mirabilis is here to purify all of you by using her head in a box (sorry not sorry).**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Yeah, here's more yikes! Thanks. :D**

 **ShadedLyht-Don't worry, I don't care. :D You can review whenever you want or not leave one, it is your decision. Yeah, the cast has really lowered...probably because I killed, like, five people last time (its not like Req, you did kill five people last time). It was really a combo of everything that made Minato snap. Poor, poor Minato, I want to give them a hug. Hotaru is just like...seriously Monokuma has been screwing with me since the prologue. Well, the arc is nowhere near over, but the killer is revealed. Congrats, you were right! Namita, that's not how you should treat your girlfriend.**

 **RioA-Don't worry, Rio, you can suffer with me with these naive souls that don't know the plot yet. Oh, these poor, poor souls.**


	52. After Trial 4-1

**After Trial 4-1: I Dreamed A Dream**

 **(This chapter is so fucked up, I'm so sorry. Trigger warnings everywhere)**

 **(And, please, for the love of God Tobi, don't read this during or before work, you're gonna get fired XD)**

 **(Like, seriously, this whole after trial is messed up enough to make me truly wonder how sane I really am to think up shit like this. If you don't want to be triggered, scared, or anything, ask me about the warnings in the PMs and I'll tell you. _I'M SERIOUS_. If this chapter seems too much for you, I'll send you another version of this chapter, along with the next when its written, with only a summary of the graphic scenes.)**

 **(Like seriously, guys, I was crying all during writing these scenes that I already know will be disturbing and trigger a lot of people. But its all plot important and nothing else can happen without it so...you just gotta deal with all these warnings)**

* * *

There is a massive pain in my heart. Not because of the mass amount of running we have to do, that's easy. Though, as the one in front with Akemi, who still has Kira on his back, I have to make sure that everybody else is following us. Atsuto volunteered to control Yasu's wheelchair.

No, I feel so horrible for leaving Takara, Minato, Hayato...and Hotaru...

Even with two of them left, I highly doubt Monokuma would have left them both alive. He would keep pushing and pushing until one of them snapped. And they would be the winner of the game. They would have a crown stained with crimson. Their hands would always be stained an ungodly color. And their sanity would be long gone.

But we had no other choice.

It was either that or face Monokuma's wrath. Just a few minutes ago, he was trying to kill us without this escape plan in motion. Thinking about the consequences of losing makes my skin crawl.

Hopefully, we run into Minato and Takara somehow. Then it would only be...no, do not think that way, Ayano. Goddammit.

There is a tense, uncomfortable silence as the leaves crumble underneath our feet, being the only sound except for our harsh breathing. Akemi seems to know exactly where he is going. He must have some kind of brain in there if he can navigate the suicide forest.

"Where are we going, Akemi?" Tsukiko asks, breaking the unbearable silence.

"Remember that day when Monokuma was out of commission? Well, Atsuto and I did the smart thing and investigated. We found that the reason why Monokuma doesn't want us to go out of the five-mile radius is that his control is weakened. Those Committee idiots cannot get anything correct!"

"Wait, what?" I thought they would have told me about something like this but I was mistaken.

"D-did we all forget to tell her that?" Atsuto questions from the back. Once again, everybody is not talking. "That's...really awkward."

"Yasu also made a boat. You know, just in case," Akemi adds-on.

"Wait...what?" So Yasu is finally using their talent more? Where did they get the materials for it? I get that the tools are in their box, but everything else. And, for that matter, how haven't those tools been used for murder yet? It is not like Yasu would be very hard to overpower...Ayano, you're thinking like that again. Stop it.

"Enough with that. Namita, you fucker, explain yourself." The quiet is starting to become boring and repetitive. But it continues for what seems to be hours and hours on end. Seconds turn into decades. I truly do not know how long it has been when we all finally make it to the shoreline. It is the same place where we were taken to during Cassius's trial. I wonder if Hanako somewhat blames the all of us for Shinichi's death. She would be right since we were the ones to pressure him to drink that poison.

"Yasu, how much longer until Hanako breaks the code?"

"Thirty minutes," Yasu answers with their voice low. "If Monokuma gets activated again, we take the boat to delay him." They must be hyper-focused on the task on hand since it is rare to see Yasu like this. Then again, our lives are on the line here.

"Well, I guess this would be a good enough time for Namita to spill the beans. Right, Namita?" Akemi then walks, right after setting Kira down right next to one of the trees, to Namita and looks her directly in the eye. "You're just another killer. You could've resisted Monokuma and Miyuki wouldn't be-"

"No, it's not that simple!" Namita interrupts him with tears in your eyes. "Did you really think I killed my fucking girlfriend because of a stupid motive?! No, no I didn't! I didn't want anybody to die, that's why I proposed we didn't watch it! I couldn't stand seeing Yen like that!" She cannot meet Akemi in the eyes.

"Why should we trust you? You're a two-faced bitch-"

"Akemi, calm down. We need to listen to Namita's part of the story-"

" _Kiko_ comes in to save her damsel of distress. How predictable-"

"Akemi! You're ruining everything-"

"Shut up, Atsuto, I need to do this!" Akemi then pushes Namita onto the ground. Tsukiko and Atsuto come running to the scene but Namita says that it is alright.

"Namita-"

"We got to make sure that everybody comes to term with their emotions. There's no getting to him now," Atsuto replies. What is he planning? And why does Akemi have such a pure hatred for killers? I think that this comes from a much more personal space than not agreeing with the ethics.

"Kid, that's..." Yasu's words stop. Their newfound confidence has dwindled.

"People like you are the reason that this world is so cruel. Thinking that your petty needs are more important than human life!" Akemi then punches Namita in the face. She does not flinch. The only thing she does is move so she is facing the direction of the water. Her eyes water as her eyes rests onto the sunset.

"Hell, even with all that has happened, Monokuma can't take away the beauty of a sunset."

"...A killer like you shouldn't enjoy things like this!" Akemi grabs onto Namita's hair and begins to pull onto it. Tired of this, I try to intervene, but Atsuto stops me.

"Akemi is stronger than you think. Getting involved is only going to get you hurt," Atsuto whispers in my ear. But, along with Tsukiko and Yasu, I am still tense. I wished that Kira would wake up again. As somebody who is a killer and close to him, maybe she could help. Then I remember that whatever Kirigiri told her destroyed her friendship with Akemi.

"Screw that!" Tsukiko then comes charging in with Atsuto distracted by me. As Akemi separates himself from Namita and prepares for another punch, Tsukiko steps in front of her. She holds her arms out.

"Get out of the way, Tsukiko."

"Come to your senses, Akemi. This is exactly what Kaneshiro wants! We must stay together! All of us haven't come this far so we can fall apart right before we get saved!" Tsukiko pleads with him. Akemi grabs onto her shoulders and pushes her toward the trees. Her head comes colliding with the tree, and Tsukiko passes out. Yasu and I run toward her to make sure she is alright.

"See what have you done!? This is all your fault!" Instead of pointing to Namita, Akemi is looking directly at Atsuto. True, Atsuto is another killer he is friends with.

"Akemi-"

"Don't do that to me!" He then punches Namita again, who does not seem to mind one bit. Her face, however, is turned away from us.

"What-"

"How come everybody here is an idiot and murders people just because Monokuma wants it!? Kazuhiko, Kira, Hayato, Atsuto, Takayuki, and now you, Namita! I'm sick of it! My life is surrounded by assholes like you! Death, death, death! Do you care what your victims think!? Akita may have been a crazy bitch who acted like she was off her meds yet she had a caring side! Shinichi was trying to overthrow a corrupt government and taking care of his little brother by himself! Who knows what happened to him now that Hanako is also on the run!? Naoko was too timid to be taken seriously but always worked her ass for these trials..." Akemi takes a deep breath before he continues, a shaky hand playing with his black hair.

"...Kyoto was a real annoying piece of shit. Mitsuru had a gang too so she probably killed a lot of people. But Miyuki...Miyuki was one of our leaders and worked to save people, even that piece of shit Ayano Kirigiri! And your girlfriend! But, guess what, she's not here because you killed her! Brutally as well-"

"Listen-"

"I'm not gonna listen! You listen to me right now, you dipshit!" Akemi begins a broken, disturbing laugh. His logic and reasoning are tossed out of the window. " _ **HAHAHA**_! You're all the same! Forgive them, Akemi, they didn't mean to kill your mother and brother. Because what other reason would you shoot at your compiling hostages? No, they have too much power in the Committee, so, off they go, free! _**HAHAHAHA**_!" Akemi's eyes go crazed as he begins to smile. "Maybe I should just kill you. There are no consequences here! As an Ultimate, the Committee would probably just let me go. They don't care about any of you-"

"...Oh, I see what's going on. Don't try to trick us like that-"

"What are you talking about, Namita?"

"See, we're all human here. It's time for you to calm down now." Then, suddenly, Namita hugs Akemi. He freezes as her arms wrap around here. "You're right that I'm a scum but don't take it out on everybody else, okay? Everybody here stands together, even me, somebody who has betrayed you all. A liar that doesn't deserve redemption."

"N-Namita?" Akemi tries to fight back the embrace but Namita's grip only deepens. "I don't want this! Stop it!"

"Hm, we may be the same age but you're still a child. Most, no all, of us are still children. Ayano might be eighteen yet still a child to this world." Namita takes a deep breath as she comforts Akemi. "You might be the most childish. Are you truly living in your past?"

"..." As Namita says that, Akemi freezes completely. "...How?"

"Well, I was able to read Miyuki, and she is...was...a much better actor than you. But, you know, if you stop hurting others, then that's okay. Stop lying to yourself. We can all tell that you're hiding underneath that brave exterior." Namita then breaks from the hug and slaps Akemi on the face. Seeing that is too satisfying.

"Nami...ta..." Another shocking turn of events happen. He buries his head in Namita's shoulder and starts crying. The both of them fall down onto the grass underneath.

"Knew it. Can't have you falling into despair that easily. We have survived this far together and holding onto our hope." Then Namita rises up from the ground and helps Akemi up. "Yasu, how much time do we have left?"

"...Oh...twenty minutes." Yasu must have zoned out during the whole ordeal. Their eyes are glassy.

"Heh, that's more than enough time to explain myself and have Akemi calm down. Sure, he's not crazy right now, but his mental state...needs improving." Namita then takes a deep breath as she comes closer to Yasu and me. Her eyes drift to Tsukiko but cannot stay on her. Atsuto comes afterward. "Guess that the truth has to come out somehow. If I don't tell it, I'm sure that the Saviors or Committee would."

"You don't have to-"

"No, I want to. You guys deserve as much for saving my life..."

* * *

 _Well, I decided to go to the cafeteria because I couldn't fall to sleep. Something seemed off to me and I was restless. The cafeteria just so happened to be the place closest by. But, when I was going there, I noticed that the door to the Hospital was slightly opened. I think I see blood so I rush over there to find something I didn't expect..._

 _Um...I found Yuki with her sword in her stomach, blood coming out of her mouth, and whatever those spirals are in her eyes. I immediately go up to her so I can help with the carnage. What happened though after that was that...he came...Kaneshiro Kazuma._

 _Truly, I don't know what happened between Yuki and Kaneshiro. I just know that whatever it was, it left Yuki in despair. Maybe he did something to her video or something? I'm sorry, I don't know. But, here he was, looming over me and telling me something. I don't remember what. I don't even remember his face. I can't even tell you whether or not he was actually a guy. All that I remember is a feeling of overwhelming dread and agony._

 _Then, in some sort of miracle or curse, I don't know which, Yuki somehow turned to normal. I don't know, somehow those goddamn spirals went away. She begged me to kill her. To put her out of her misery. Kaneshiro just watched over the conversation like some sort of creep. Yuki closed her eyes and then those fucking spirals overcame her beautiful red eyes again! And then she placed her hands around my neck but didn't have the energy to do anything else. It was like she was pleading with more to kill her! Then...I don't know! The next thing I knew, things went dark and there was blood on my hands! And Yuki was dead! I killed her and can't wash the blood off my hands! Oh, God, and Kaneshiro was over there. I can't remember his face but I knew he was smiling. The fucker was smiling! I don't want to know what he did to Yuki, and I'm pretty sure he did something to me!_

 _Just...please...get the image of Kaneshiro out of my mind!_

* * *

"Namita?" At the end of her monologue, we see that Minato has come back to us, with Takara still on their back. They stroll over to us, and then Yasu grabs onto their hand, not wanting to let go.

"Ten minutes," Yasu informs us. They, however, still look down. "I can't believe we left Hotaru and Hayato behind."

"It had to be done. Plus, it's what they wanted," Atsuto responds while crossing his arms and biting his lip. Everything about how he is holding himself is betraying his words. Something is clearly on his mind.

"We should lighten the mood or something. Freedom should feel better than this!" Tsukiko then gets up again. She must be feeling better now, but we should still give her medical attention.

"Don't strain yourself, Tsukiko. That's a nasty injury you got." Atsuto then begins to tend to Tsukiko's injury. I look over to Akemi, not knowing what exactly to feel. He still does not seem like himself. A part of me wants to debate on whether or not that is truly a bad thing or not.

"Here." Yasu then hands Mochi over to Namita. Namita, careful, begins to position herself to hold Mochi. He relaxes when Namita finds the perfect spot and starts to pet his nice white fur. She gets help from Yasu, who actually sounds way more hyped about Mochi than the escape plan. It is hard thinking about that only yesterday Yasu tried to take their own life. This forest really does live up to its name, even though nobody has yet to have a successful suicide. That makes me happy, especially as one of the survivors.

Even with a bittersweet end with this, I cannot envision my life without all of the people around me. Sure, some...okay, just Akemi...get on my nerves, yet we have created our own version of a messed up family unit. All of those who died would want us to continue on. I don't know what we will do, other than get massive amount of much-needed therapy when we get out of here, but we should do it together. Perhaps I can join the Saviors to make sure Hotaru and Hayato get better. Kira might not be the biggest fan of that plan, but we should break the hold that Ayano Kirigiri has on her. Together, as our own sort of family.

"You know, when we get out of here, we should stick together. And make sure that we can save Hotaru and Hayato." I smile.

"Maybe we could have our own bunny farm," Yasu adds-on. That might have never been in my future plans before, but, right now, it sounds ideal. Something to help ease the stress of all of our lives. And the thought makes Yasu happy and we all know that is what they need right now. Seeing that small, pure smile on their face makes my horrible day just a little better. Being saved would make this whole day seem kinda worth it in the end.

"We would probably be on the run from the Committee. How are we gonna protect them all?" Akemi asks. Like usual, he thinks he is being helpful and realistic, but really, he's not. He should be renamed to the Ultimate Mood Killer.

"Yasu's box seems to be endless. We can fit them all inside," Atsuto jokes. It is good to see that he still has his sense of humor considering all that has happened.

"Bunny farm it is then! I can't wait to see them all! Especially the babies! And you guys can meet my band-"

"Tsukiko, calm down, you still need to heal." Much to Atsuto's annoyance, Tsukiko is in her cute mood. She and Minato remind me of teddy bears. Is that normal? I do not know and I do not care. She is one of our moms, it makes sense that she acts like one. The one that is a little harsh on you but clearly loves you dearly. That describes Tsukiko well. Don't know how she will manage a band on the run though. But she's an Ultimate, I'm sure she'll manage. Crazier things have happened.

...Like that one story that father told me about Aunt Toko and Komaru seeing a ghost or something. Pretty sure that is not real but my father, as logical as he is, still seems to believe in ghosts. Maybe that is how Junko seems to never die.

"I like bunnies! Hopefully, I can see them a lot!" Minato joins in. They almost wander off again but Yasu's hand stops them. Maybe that is one of the ways Akita helped them during the time she was alive. Akita would be proud to see where Minato is right now. Alive and about to be free of this game. They have grown so much, become more mature, and generally has become more jaded but with more purpose. If she were here, Akita would still make jokes at their expense but have to same clear loyalty to them. People could not get the two of them off each other. I'm sure Minato still loves Akita like I do to Kazuhiko, yet they have truly learned how to move on from their past.

Last but not least, there is Namita. She does not have a response, just a somber smile. A smile of knowing that by all accounts she should be dead but is still here with us. Maybe she should talk with Kira and Atsuto about that feeling.

Ding!

To the surprise of us all, the handbooks the other students have gone off. They all go to read whatever it is on pure instinct. I am about to go check to see what is happening but something feels off about me. The others cry out my name before all I can see is black.

* * *

Walking up again, I find myself on a Hospital...or hospital...bed. It is different from the one from the Killing Game. This looks like an actual hospital other than a promoted clinic.

"You're awake! Thank God!" A woman with severe bags underneath her eyes comes to meet my vision. I immediately place her as being Hanako Tezuka.

"W-where are we?" My voice is hoarse and hardly able to come out. Guess that is what happens when you have not used it for so long. My body feels weaker than it did before as well.

"My headquarters. Don't worry, sweetheart, the Saviors have this covered. The Committee is in disarray right now thanks to the Despairs attacking them. We were able to get you guys out of Hope's Peak before they could lay a hand on you." Wait, I have been so focused on the game, I forgot to think about the outside world. What impact did this game have on that? Although some of us have a lower profile, there are celebrities here. I highly doubt Tsukiko's fans took her disappearance lightly. Kazuhiko told me about the tapes at the beginning of the game but I highly doubt those tell the truth. Trusting Kaneshiro Kazuma only makes you a fool.

"What a-about the o-others?"

"You were the only one we could save from the program," Hanako then begins to bite her lip. "I don't know, something went wrong. A code was sent in the last second that made everything fail."

"Oh." How could Monokuma do something like that? I highly doubt that Monokuma has that amount of coding knowledge. He is only Kaneshiro Kazuma, right?

"If you don't mind my asking, sweetheart..." Hanako looks away but then meets my eyes once again. "What happened to Shinichi? Kaneshiro only sent me the video of him dying."

"I'll...answer if you tell m-me how you were able...to resi-sist despair," I tell her. She then nods her head.

"I don't know," Hanako truthfully answers. The look in her eye is impossible for somebody who is lying. Even the Ultimate Liar would be able to create such honesty. "I just remember how horrible it made me feel. But I never felt any despair-"

"Warning, active shooters in the building! We've been found out. Escape while you can! Wait, no...no, please spare-" There is a gunshot and the woman speaking never said another word. Over the intercom, more sounds of gunshots and screaming can be heard.

"Shit! I have to protect my people! I'll send somebody to protect you!" Hanako shouts as she tries to run out of the door. But a figure now blocks her path. I notice he is male and something about him seems familiar.

"Hanako Tezuka, the Saviors only became threatening underneath your rule. I allowed you to live before, much like other rebel groups like the Remnants of Music, but now you have too much power. You really should have known what you were messing with." Whoever the figure is, their voice is both emotional and lacking any. Just hearing it sends shivers up my spine. "I will take the lives of you and everybody else in this building except for Ayano Kamukura and the other game participants if you decide not to come with me-"

"Never!" Hanako then spits in his face. "I know what happened to the real Akita Yamazaki. I won't make the same mistake." What does Hanako mean by that? And who is this man? And why does he have to kill everyone to get me!? The screams and bullets still overwhelm the building, and I already know I cannot forget them. The sounds of a group of people being mercilessly slaughtered just because I was saved from the game.

"We don't have time to make you come to our side. Guess I have to do with killing you here," the figure says. Hanako is about to react before the person takes out a gun and puts a bullet in her head, ending her life instantly. Her body drops to the group with the blood spilling out of her head and the life leaving her eyes. "Too bad, I actually liked you. You were an actually good person but got in the way of my goal."

"N-nobody talks like that," I tell him. Out of all the possible things to come out of my mouth, I am surprised that is the first one. If I was a normal person, I would be screaming and pleading with him not to kill anybody. But I know that will do nothing. Nothing about this guy screams mercy.

"I do. Now, Ayano Kamukura, you need to be punished. You can't be the protagonist and leave the game! All your poor friends left behind because of your selfishness. They're in the other room, waiting for you to become part of the game again. Don't you want to be part of your real family again?" The stranger waltzes over to me and then begins to caress my cheek softly.

"Go to Hell."

"You still have that rebellious spirit in you. I should do something about that. People keep trying to leave the game I worked so hard on and that's no good-"

"Kaneshiro Kazuma!?" I now remember his presence back when I was running away from him in the shrine room.

"It took you this long to figure out. Didn't you literally look up a photo of me before? Its been a couple of years but come on. That was after that godforsaken train, I couldn't have looked that different!"

Examining him further, I see that Kaneshiro is a male of normal height. He has long brown hair that reaches all the way to his knees that is wavy and not well kept. His eyes are a pure black that I only remember seeing Kotori have a couple of times. Over his mouth, there is a white face mask that stands out from the rest of his dark appearance. I would want to look down further, but my head seems to be fixed in this position. Or my eyes are too focused on his own, too unnatural to be truly considered anything human. Perfect for an absolute monster like Kaneshiro Kazuma.

"W-why?"

"Why? Ayano, sweetie," Kaneshiro states, intimidating Hanako, "you gotta wait for the last trial for my motivations! This is a mystery and the readers at home won't like me spilling the beans this early! We're only 300,000 words in! Your suffering will continue for much longer for that." Just like Monokuma, Kaneshiro has the habit of breaking the fourth wall in the real world. That is one way to tell that he is the real thing and not some wannabe.

"Just l-let the others g-go..."

"No, no, no, that's not how it works, Ayano! The world cannot be saved without a few sacrifices!" Wait, is Kaneshiro joking? If he thinks he is saving the world or whatnot, he must be a madman. I don't care whatever your motivations are, or if this will create peace for the rest of eternity or something stupid like that, this is going way, way past the line. Even the most hardcore utilitarianism believers would be iffy about this. And they certainly won't enjoy it like Kaneshiro is doing.

"Fuck you."

"Now I have to think of the perfect way to make sure you get in line. If you do, maybe the others will follow. Really should have made you more of a leader type. Oh well, the lights are still a new invention. It will take a couple of decades to perfect them." Then Kaneshiro snaps his fingers. It is so jarring to see him correctly do it after failing so many times as Monokuma. But, when the snap comes, the whole building is silent. "And now all of her people are dead. Even the poor, innocent children. Hanako, you fool."

"You. Monster."

"Hey, weren't you part of the group that forced her beloved Shinichi to drink that poison? He truly died a rat's death." He then gets off me and picks up Hanako's corpse from the ground. "She didn't think this through because of your stupid actions. You find a note on the table and decide to follow it. And you peer pressure the only two with common sense to join you! Really? Now Hisan is also dead because the only person who was taking care of him died and Hanako was too busy trying to save you. Must have been a slow, painful death, starving to death on the dirty floor of an apartment while his mother got murdered by another one of her pickups for some reason. Don't really know, just because probably."

"You...You're lying!"

"You want me to show proof? Alright." Kaneshiro then pulls out his phone and searches it before finding whatever he desires. The image is too horrific that I look away and instantly repress it. Vile fills up in my mouth but I refuse to let it out. "Did you really think everything was gonna be okay after you all left? Of course not! I wasn't bluffing when I told you that all the people you love are dead! I can show you another photo!"

"Please...no..."

"Oh, you said please! But you got to try harder than that!" He then grabs onto my face again and forces me to look at his phone. I try to close my eyes but they don't want to follow my own commands.

...

...

...

"Silence? You're truly heartless, Ayano. I think you view yourself as the hero, but we all know that you're a scared little girl just trying to survive a game. Kazuhiko would be so disappointed in you."

...

...

...

"Did I break you already? Where did all of that spark go?"

...

...

...

"That's what I thought. Now you're a good protagonist. And don't good girls deserve to be rewarded with something?"

"W-what?" Broken out of my trance, I see that Kaneshiro has taken off his mask. What I see is some inverted version of one of the villains that Kazuhiko showed me of the old comic series Batman. That villain had a smile, but Kaneshiro has a frown.

"See, with this, you can break out so easily. That can't happen. Even the death of your boyfriend didn't make you break. I was so close until somebody decided to mix up those tapes." Wait, mix up those tapes? Was I supposed to watch the despair video then? Who would have done such a thing though? "So I gotta try something else. They don't call me the Ultimate Brainwasher for nothing."

I do not like the sound of that.

In a fit of panic, I try to lift myself up, but I only find myself falling onto the floor. There is something wrong with my legs but I do not know what. For some reason, they won't work. So I do the next best thing, try to crawl my way to safety. Blood gets all over my outfit, which I notice is now replaced with a standard hospital gown.

"Ayano Kamukura, you just won't quit. That's something I would normally like about you but now isn't the time for hope. Surely you understand, right?" No, asshole, nothing you say makes any sense. Before I can make it to the door, Kaneshiro slowly makes his way to it and closes my only means of escape. There are no windows in this room after all. "Good. Then you will understand why I'm doing this to you. Everything is your fault after all. If you didn't urge Kazuhiko Hiraoka to kill Kotori, then none of this would have happened. Everybody would be happy and alive, not suffering because of your selfish actions!"

"I'll never give into you."

"Let's see, everybody has said that so far, including Akita and Hideyoshi Yamazaki! And you saw how those two ended up! Poor Atsuto was so sad, and now I'm doing this to another one of his friends. What a tragedy." He then steps his foot on me. Whatever shoes he is wearing must have a heel since one is definitely digging into my skin right now.

"Those are different people."

"That's right, because, for all of my effort, I just cannot make that damn bitch Hotaru fall into despair! She just won't give in! Even with all that I have done to her, including this, she just won't stop standing back up. She's starting to get on my nerves! How can somebody as useless as a dart thrower be my greatest threat!?" Kaneshiro then grabs onto my hair and begins to pull on it. Seconds later, he drops it.

"...Hotaru..."

"Oh, you like that girl! And, by my calculations, I think its more than a little like. Kazuhiko would be even sadder! He literally just died and you already found a rebound! But, then again, I don't know, maybe you can be considered a rebound for Kotori-"

"I'm not a rebound!" I shout out, unable to hide out my anger any longer. Kaneshiro sits down on the floor to be at my level and does his favorite thing, grab onto my chin.

"Then a homewrecker! That's a good word. Kotori decides to bring you in and you take her man-"

"It wasn't like that and you know it!"

"Yeah, yeah, because I lived there. Of course, you wouldn't know that because of a good little heaping of Committee memory altering," he answers. My eyes widen as my brain tries to get getting something back. I scream when it finally does.

"Promise me, Aya, we'll get out of here together. Even without Kindra, Kaneshiro, Sae, or Chiyo."

"You remember now! Great! Kindra would be so happy!" Kaneshiro then...

...

...

...

I feel Kaneshiro's lips pressed up against mine in the most awkward position imaginable. His lips are rough and the stitches on his mouth uncomfortable. I try to get away from him but my body slowly becomes weaker and weaker until I find myself unable to move.

"Get off!" In a sudden burst of adrenaline, I am finally able to overpower him. Everything shuts down moments after even though my whole being is wrapped up in one emotion: fear.

"You're going to regret that!" Kaneshiro then pushes my body up against the wall. Having feeling again, I try to kick my way to freedom but nothing seems to work. Now I am breathing heavily, knowing exactly what would happen if I do not get out of this situation right now.

"Please get off." Trying a different approach, I see it has no effect. I try to make my heavy breathing knock me out but something is keeping me still at this moment. A moment where there is truly no escape. Nothing will save me here.

"Another, please? You're learning your manners again. That's a good girl." W-why does him complimenting me make a rush of excitement run throughout my body? Damn, I truly am disturbed.

...Maybe, if I just give in...maybe he won't...No, Ayano, that's what he wants you to think. Why are you thinking like this? It is like something is wrong with my mind and body. What the fuck is Kaneshiro doing to my mental state!? Is this the true power of the Ultimate Brainwasher?

"Fuck you."

"And another fuck you right after that. That's it, you're getting really punished." I yelp as he begins to drag me across the room. My hardly functioning my legs try to stop him but it is nothing compared to his strength.

"No, no, no!" I am forced onto the hospital bed. Confirming my fears, I feel the hospital gown covering my body get ripped off. My eyes dart around the room to see anything that can help me. All that I can find is useless medical equipment I cannot get to without having to go through Kaneshiro first.

"And, for extra effect!" Suddenly, a version of the music that plays during the Monokuma Theatres bursts through the speakers. Kaneshiro gets his phone again and places it on the nightstand right next to the bed. A video begins playing that is nothing other than static. My eyes are drawn into it like a moth to the light.

...

...

...

And then _it_ started.

* * *

The trial room. I remember this place well. Guess I must be back. Everybody else is here. Nobody escaped. All of this is for nothing. We truly should just listen to Monokuma. Kaneshiro knows best.

"Everything is pointless. Figures. All that pain for nothing..."

"A-Ayano?" Hotaru asks from her same place up on the ceiling. "...Not you too..."

"What is going on?" Atsuto questions her. His eyes dart between the two of us. Nobody can keep their eyes off me. Figures, I'm just another pawn to Kaneshiro's game right now.

"Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan was punished for leaving! That's the greatest law to break around these parts so she got the punishment she deserved." Monokuma is still on his throne, with him still chewing on the same bones. "Don't worry, she was the only one to escape so only she gets the punishment! All of you get another one! And let's not forget Namita's execution!"

"E-execution? Still?" Minato cannot keep their words straight.

"Yep! You can't just think trying to escape would stop that from happening! Nope, nothing will save any of you from this game! Especially now those rats known as the Saviors are gone."

"T-the Saviors? What did you do to them?" Tsukiko inquires. She is holding tightly onto Namita's hand as if she is afraid to let go. But she should know that letting go sooner makes the pain less.

"Guys, I truly do like that you tried to save me, but I've accepted my fate." Namita, however, does not look convinced by her own words. She is noticeably shaking. Even Minato can tell she is telling a lie.

"Yeah, sure, that's important but, guys, pay attention to Ayano! Please!" Hotaru pleads with them. None of them head her words except for possibly Hayato, but his mouth is still covered. Perhaps Takara too, but he cannot talk that much.

"Now...without further to do...let's give it everything we got...It's _**PUNISHMENT TIME**_!"

" _ **HAHAHA**_!"

* * *

 **...**

 **Just know that I'm sorry. Don't say I didn't warn you. Yeah, um, this is clearly a happy story where nothing goes wrong, and everybody is alive and healthy. And I don't disturb myself and my readers with my own imagination.**

 **So, um, QOTC.**

 **QOTC: What has been the saddest moment in the whole Committee Saga for you? Any stories, including Killing Game's Serenade, counts.**

 **And, um, yes, I'm supposed to be sleeping. But then I decided not to. XD**

 **Also, remember when I told everybody that Ayano is heterosexual? _I lied._**

 **Reviews~**

 **ThePLOTHand-Yep, this story has a lot of foreshadowing like that...hopefully...Hopefully I'm being smart. XD Of course, they're in the real suicide forest and the Saviors' headquarters was only a program! Poor Cassius. Well, Namita is gonna be executed _again_. This whole fourth chapter really isn't a happy one for all the women in the cast. Considering two were...um...you know.**

 **AnonChan1-Um, here's more suffering! The Committee is run by a bunch of corrupt morons. MIRABILIS NEEDS HER OWN PROTECTION SQUAD! A lot worse...oh dear lord. Namita got manipulated by Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro is a dick. Monokuma really wants that rebellion to be over. If Namita died during the execution, she would have died knowing she caused all of their deaths. Yep, those two were, and the others really didn't do a good job. REBELLION HAS ENDED BADLY JUST LIKE LAST TIME!**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Poor parallels ended Namita's life. _YOU'RE RIGHT ABOUT THAT_.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Namita is here to break all of your hearts. This fic is not done with all of these twists. I'm surprised you're the only one who answered with the Committee. XD Thanks, here's the suffering!**

 **ShadedLyht-Yeah, we still have a whole lot of fic to go through. As you might expect, chapter five is gonna be another long one. The last person is up for that sweet theory material. Poor Namita had a mental breakdown and got manipulated by Kaneshiro. MIRABILIS IS HERE IN OUR HEARTS...and in a box.**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-Just...just read it after work. XD I don't want kiddies to know how you will react to this chapter. YEAH HAYATO GET THAT SWEET, SWEET CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! Poor Hotaru is getting targeted by the mastermind. Tsukiko is not gonna be happy at all next chapter. I WILL ALWAYS PICK THE OPTION WITH THE MOST AMOUNT OF SUFFERING! Nope, we're not gonna get off this coaster quite yet. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHA~ Cassius has the best name out of all of history. Well, Ayano got out...for a couple hours...and then everybody is like NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AYANOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**

 **I'm such a horrible person to Ayano. XD Kill me.**


	53. After Trial 4-2

**After Trial 4-2: You And I Were Fire**

 **(Just know the disturbing themes continue but it's not as bad as last time...I hope)**

 **(Yes, we will have a breather for the beginning of chapter five)**

* * *

Dammit.

Kaneshiro, you dumbass, what are you planning? Gonna brainwash people to praise your stupid hair so more? It looks like it got rejected from one of those old bands from the 1980s.

"Now...without further to do...let's give it everything we got...It's **_PUNISHMENT TIME_**!"

Stupid Monokuma with his stupid voice surrounded by these stupid people. I can envision the smile Kaneshiro has on his face. Enjoying our suffering. Probably getting a voyeurism or something.

" ** _HAHAHA_**!"

T-that's not good. Snapping out of my own petty thoughts, I see that I'm right about Ayano. Damn Kaneshiro got to her too. I actually liked her, just like Akita. Kaneshiro is having fun with his selfish motives and seeing us suffer. Sure, we need to be selfish every once in a while, give in to temptation and all that jazz, but this is too far. Though it will become part of the past too. I just need to focus on myself at this moment.

"...Ayano?" Minato is shaking. I can notice that from my place near the ceiling. This _comfortable_ place I totally look forward to coming back to each and every trial. Thanks so much, Kaneshiro. Show my underwear to the whole world, why don't ya?

"It's too late, dumbasses! Focus on Namita!" I shout out. I bite my lip, feeling the betrayal eat away from my psyche. Once I can remember who Kaneshiro is, I'm decking him...with a fucking baseball bat. Those stupid lights. That bitch Kotori probably made them since Kaneshiro has such a hard-on for her. Feeling his blood on my hands will be the best feeling ever.

Even with my own words, I cannot stop looking at Ayano. At the way, she is subtly shaking, both out of fear and excitement. Of how her eyes are the uncanny shade of grey that I hate so much. That damn grey that happens when somebody is on the tip of the deep end. Not knowing whether or not to swim up or let themselves drown.

"Hotaru-"

"Just do it-"

"Firefly, what do you think you're doing? Why won't you damn break already!?" Monokuma asks. Most people would not notice the way that his voice almost cracks. Too bad I'm not like most people.

Then I see that once again, everybody besides Ayano and Minato create a protective circle around Namita. Minato is stuck in place, unable to get their eyes off of Ayano.

"Oh, Monokuma, you should know that I love getting underneath your skin~" Then I stick my tongue out at him. Next time I will find a way to put a whoopee cushion on his throne. Might end with me getting executed, but it would be worth it.

"Firefly, I swear to God...and all of you...I need to teach you a lesson! You know what, the execution can wait." Sure, I should be happy about Namita not dying for at least thirty more seconds, but I know when Kaneshiro plans to do something horrible. Somebody must have pissed him off in the real world for him to be lashing out like this. Who was the fucker who put a whoopee cushion on Kaneshiro's chair? Probably me. After all these years, my prank finally worked, only for me not to see it and this shit to happen.

"Oh, Kaneshiro, I'm stuck up here, I think I can learn my lesson from here." Time to use my silver tongue to actually improve my situation. Kaneshiro does not realize yet that he is not the only one with one. And, unlike him, I don't make it my goal to ruin as many lives as humanly possible.

"Hotaru?" Finally, Hayato frees his mouth from the chains. Both of us would like to be free, but, then again, being free this moment means falling to our untimely death. I would like to live to see another day thank you very much. Mostly to spite Kaneshiro. Because fuck Kaneshiro.

It is nice to see Hayato finally get the stick out of his own ass. Getting called Amemori-san was annoying. We look at each other, exchanging glances, and then focus on the chaos underneath us.

"Kid, what do you mean?" Yasu asks. They gently force Mochi back into their box. Atsuto tightens his grip on Yasu's wheelchair. He looks like he is going to sprint out of there any second.

"Guys, just let me-"

"We won't give up on you, Namita. Never." Tsukiko places her hand on Namita's shoulder. Both of them stare at each other and Namita closes her eyes. Her teeth began to nibble on her lips as she begins to play with her ponytail.

"Monokuma, just try your hardest. We only keep fighting back because of your unfair rules. You're clearly no idiot, but you don't realize the reason why your game is failing so much is that of you," Akemi criticizes our 'headmaster.' Something seems different about him. Hm, I wonder what happened when everybody else was away. He also has the stick removed from his ass.

"I'll...finally...teach...you...a...lesson..." Monokuma then begins to scream something in what I assume is Japanese that is so loud that my eyes begin to water. I fight the chains more to cover my ears. Stop throwing a temper tantrum, Kaneshiro, you're an adult, not a damn toddler.

As my ears begin to bleed, I finally get my hands free and cover my ears. The ringing is like I am standing right next to the bells of the old, ruined Notre Dame. Monokuma finally finishes his childish actions I reposition myself to make sure that I don't get a Darwin Award.

"I got your attention, right, my precious bastard students? Well, time for your punishment-"

"What punishment-"

"This!" Monokuma brings out some sort of control remote and presses one of the many buttons on it. I quickly take this time to try to memorize it. It must be important, even if I haven't seen it before. The remote looks strangely familiar to the ones in old children's media that Akita liked showing me.

What surprises me is that nothing bad happens. All that happens is that there four different places with what looks to be beef on them. Even though we have had food, there is a distinct lack of any sort of good meat. I could feel my own mouth water. It looks like something that my family would make for their restaurant, not the shit we are given in this game.

"Atsuto, Tsukiko, Akemi, and Yasu...eat up."

"What's the catch, Monokuma?" Tsukiko asks. All of them look at the meat with suspicion. Tsukiko herself raises one of her eyebrows and crosses her arms.

"None at all. Just eat up, or you'll die," Monokuma responds. Going slowly, the people called inch their ways to the meat. Namita and Minato then moved closer to each other, with Minato now being the one to give her a hug.

The only sound then is the four of them eating whatever godforsaken meat they were given. Since Monokuma was not nice enough to give them any folks, knives, or the such, they only have their own fingers. With every bite, every chew, the growing fear of figuring out what it truly is growing.

"Hotaru, what do you think Monokuma is planning?" Hayato whispers. It is sort of loud, however, considering we are not that close to each other.

"Nothing good. Of course, that's a given since we already had dead heads in boxes, mass execution, and whatever the fuck he did to Ayano." I answer. With the current setup, there is only so much I can make a theory out of. But, considering Kaneshiro's toddler tendencies, it must be something cheap and emotionally traumatizing. Too bad I'm too used to Kaneshiro and know how to deal with him. Dammit, Ayano...she must've listened and absorbed his words.

"Monokuma...we finished your task, now what?" Atsuto questions him. He cleans off anything remaining from the meat on his pants.

"Now I get to tell you what that was..." Out of nowhere, Monokuma summons a pair of drums and begins drumming. He is enjoying this way too much. "Drumroll, please. Oh wait, I'm already doing that-"

"Get on with it, Monokuma," Akemi interrupts him. He takes a glance at Kira and Takara, who are both still currently out of it. Maybe that is for the better. Those two have already been through enough shit.

"What you guys just ate was... _Mirabilis_ ~"

The room became so silent that you can hear a pin drop. Kaneshiro, that fucker, should have guessed that. He is willing to do anything for people to feel despair. Something about making people feel his despair or like that. Deal with it, Kaneshiro, there are people who have gone through worse shit than you. Like, per say, your victims. I hate petty people like him. Well, I can be petty at times, but, hey, at least I don't act like a bitch about it and take it out on others. There's a difference between being selfish and being sadistic.

"W-w-w-w..." Tsukiko cannot finish her words before she throws up on the ground. Yasu joins her, looking even greener than what I presume is our default leader now. Atsuto and Akemi look green, yet they keep it in.

"Come on, we all know that you four are the real troublemakers. Well, and Ayano, but I'm pretty sure she's not gonna do anything against my orders anytime soon. And I had to do something with Mirabilis." Monokuma, you could have perfectly allowed us to bury her body. I know Kaneshiro well enough to know that if he felt the need to take away Mirabilis's body, it had to be for something bigger than this.

"Monokuma, you did not trick everybody, including Mirabilis herself, into causing her own death just for this. This is clearly something you just came up with," Hayato shouts down to Monokuma. In response, Hayato suddenly gets free from his chains but begins to fall. I quickly get out of my own chains to grab onto his hand just in time. The both of us swing on one of the chains, with one of my arms barely hanging onto it.

"Hotaru, thank you," he tells me as he tries to not look up.

"No problem, my damsel in shining armor," I laugh. Hayato begins to blush as he attempts to hide his face. He can be strangely cute when not in his awful salesman persona.

"Wait, I need to see if they're okay," Namita says to Minato as the two of them break apart. Minato, however, still focuses on Ayano, who has not moved ever since her creepy ass laugh.

With five of them not focusing on him, two passed out, and two currently hanging by a thread, Monokuma feels confident enough to throw Ayano something. I cannot make it out from up here but it does not give me good feelings. Well, nothing about Kaneshiro gives me good feelings, but this is even a worse feeling. Like something is inside me is screaming what will happen next but I cannot comprehend its warning.

"Monokuma gave Ayano something! Look out!" I warn them. But it is too late. Of course, it is too late, because Kaneshiro thinks this is some sort of damn story. A story where he is the writer and we the characters. The characters unable to change their fate as their destinies are written down on paper, or typed up on a computer screen. There has to be something fun, but Kaneshiro is boring. The same old despair over and over again.

Hell, I need a drink. That's the only thing that can make this place any sort of fun.

"Puhuhuhu~ You're too late." Using the drums from before, Monokuma starts playing with them, making their haunted melody travel throughout the whole cursed room.

"Monokuma, what are you planning?!" Namita inquires but there is no answer but the newfound creepy singing playing out of the speakers. It sounds like one of those tracks with kids forced into old horror movies to make them seem scarier. Except, you know, now its actually threatening.

" _ **DESPAIR**_."

"Like that helps a ton, Monokuma." I roll my eyes. Doesn't he realize that is literally everything that happens during this game?

"You know, when everything is still being set up, let's have story time." Monokuma then points at one of the screens and it comes down to slightly above our level. "Once upon a time, there was this little girl..." A picture of what I presume to be a young Namita is on the screen. Her tan skin and grey eyes give it away. Like a typical little girl, she is dressed up in a nice pink dress. Turns out Namita's ponytail habits started at a young age. Even then, what has to be over a decade ago, she has those damn ponytails traveling up her arms.

"What-"

"Any interruptions and you'll be executed! Ahem, now that we're back on track, there's some really boring shit that happens with like father drama and her best friend Yen but nobody cares about that. That's what the free time events are for! And, well, let's not forget that Namita here ain't no saint, it should be no secret between you all since you're like a family unit or something that Namita was involved with drugs. No, no, no, she didn't take them herself, otherwise, she'll be out on the streets since that turns Kirigiri off right away, but she just drugged people at her parties here and there. And that Yen girl helped too. Not so innocent now, huh? Willing to do anything to climb up the ranks of the world?"

Well, everybody has to do something to become an Ultimate. Literally, the only one here that probably didn't do some sort of messed up shit is Minato. And they accidentally did messed up shit instead.

But, when I look over to Namita, I see that she is in a state of shock. Just having her secret revealed so easily like it is nothing. However, nobody is really phased by this anymore. It is sad to admit that figuring this out does not change anything.

"Now for a much more despair-inducing story!" The image changes to a girl I instantly recognize as Miyuki. Because nobody else would be that short yet scarred. A little girl wrapped around a white bundle is shown in her arms, who does not appear to even be above one. "How despairing first love can be! Because, you see, in the forests of an abandoned part of Japan, there were these two warring families, the Kobyashi and the Hayashi..."

As much as I want to hear this, I know Monokuma is stalling and it's making me uncomfortable. There's literally no other reason he's doing this. This isn't like Shinichi where we needed that information, this is only telling us personal information about the lives of our classmates.

Just what is Kaneshiro doing this time? The execution is already out, so what else? It totally has something to do with what Monokuma gave Ayano earlier. So what was that? All this thinking is starting to make my head hurt. And that only makes me want to drink harder. Anything to take this edge off.

"...and, because teenage love makes people idiots, Miyuki thought it was a good idea to do a Romeo and Juliet thing with Aiko Hayashi. And that ended up with the Hayashis killing all...two-hundred and thirty-six of her family members. Trust me, village life is so damn weird now. So, like, Miyuki had this epic battle with Aiko to protect her baby sister, the only person left, and had to kill her, but got severely hurt in the process and blah blah blah. Look at that, the origin story of why Miyuki's lungs were so not healthy. And blah blah blah, some boring shit about traveling cross country. Ran away to Tokyo, left her sister in an orphanage, saved a lot of people's asses. Blah blah blah! Its go time, Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan!"

"Yes, master." Without any time for us to respond, Ayano removed Minato's scarf and inserted something into the back of Minato's chain around their neck. It takes everybody a moment to realize that it is now off.

"Shit!" Tsukiko rushes to Minato's aide with everybody following after her. Yasu pulls something out of their toolbox, a small saw. Not even gonna question how they have all that stuff in their toolbox and Mochi without the rabbit getting hurt. These actions get more and more annoying as the game goes on.

"Puhuhuhu. Somebody not related to the mastermind took off Minato's collar! That means... _ **execution**_!"

Shit. If they knew about that, they sure didn't tell me. Monokuma giving Minato that action happened when I was out of the picture after all. Dammit.

"...Ayano, I don't blame you-" Minato's own words are interrupted by a disturbingly familiar sound. The sound of chains coming down. Now with us, Minato is up on the ceiling but is held differently from us. One chain holds up one of their four limbs. And then they slowly start getting further and further.

Dammit, Kaneshiro, I'm gonna deck you even harder with a baseball bat and then kick your balls for this.

"Minato! Ayano, how could you-"

"For the despair!" Interrupting Tsukiko's question, Ayano's eyes begin to swirl that same old damn swirls I hate so much. Yasu, unable to take any more, faints in their wheelchair. Namita, Akemi, and Atsuto decide to help out Tsukiko doing...whatever the four of them are now planning.

With them being useless in one of the two of these situations, I guess it is time for me to take charge. I hate doing this but these idiots sometimes cannot govern themselves correctly so I have to step in. Figures.

"Hayato, I'm gonna push you up this chain. Don't let go, got it?" I tell him. Hayato nods his head. That was easier than I thought. So, with all my strength, I pull the two of us somewhere safer, and Hayato begins to hold on for his dear life. Dude really needs some more muscle.

I take a deep breath and jump onto one of the chains close to me. One wrong step and I will die...

...This is the kind of action I like!

The adrenaline moving through my veins brings a smile to my face. I don't care what anybody says, this is too damn thrilling not to be having fun! And I'm way too busy trying not to die to notice what the others are doing. Probably trying to calm down Ayano. Knowing them, I probably have to do that too. But let's not live in the future or past, now is now! Time for Hotaru Amemori to rescue Minato Ueda using only her pure awesome skills!

"I'm coming for you, Minato!" I proclaim. Once I reach near where Minato is, I stop. I really should have spent more time thinking this through.

Damn this is just like those apartments. Should have thoughts things through, Hotaru, or else you wouldn't be in this situation. This is no time to be thinking about the past, however.

"H-Hotaru...argghhhhh..." Minato is starting to be in pain. I might have not been that close to them, but it still sucks seeing them in this situation. Still better them than me though.

"Minato-"

"Ahem, Hotaru, I see that you're the only one doing interesting crap right now since you have been promoted to protagonist! Congratulations!" My skin crawls when I hear Monokuma refer to me like that. I have seen enough protagonists die to know that it is a cursed role. And I might love myself, but I am a far call from a hero. If I am the hero these people need, then they're screwed.

"Monokuma, why are you using her name and not Firefly-"

"Shut up, Namita, and let Hotaru listen to my words very carefully. For your first act as the protagonist, you have a decision to make. Try to free Minato from their death, or save Hayato from his demise." I am about to question what Monokuma means when he points his paw at where Hayato is, which sends the chain shaking. He is barely able to hold on as he also collides with the other chains around him.

I will not act like this was a hard decision. Minato is already marked for death, so the only answer to go with is Hayato. It does pain me a little, but that is how life works. Better one person dead than two.

Moving back to where Hayato is, I only spare one glance behind me. Minato...smiles at me...

And, with that same smile on their face, Monokuma finally decided that enough is enough. It surprises me how Minato did not scream once during the entire thing...

"I'll be with Akita now..." Minato tells me in a strained whisper...

...As all of their limbs are torn off and their lifeless body falls to the ground...

Guess Monokuma cannot let the tropes of the game die. The gentle giant must always die during the fourth case. And the fourth case must always involve some sort of self-sacrifice. Rebellion is just an added bonus. Not needed but, hey, it can be some sort of twisted callback to the official first one of these games in this format. I am so dead when the fifth case comes around. Whether or not somebody kills me, or if I finally snap again, only time will tell.

"That's all fun and games but...now the true pain begins...It's **_PUNISHMENT TIME_**!" Not expecting anything to happen to me, I am caught off guard when Monokuma himself drags me off of the chain I am holding onto for dear life, makes his way down with me, and throws me into a room like I'm some sort of rag doll. The room itself looks like it is some form of torture room, however, the chair itself is way beyond busted at this point.

Well, Kaneshiro, if torture actually worked on me, then I would already be your bottom bitch. Too bad for you that I'm Hotaru Amemori, the Ultimate Dart Thrower!

As bad as I feel for Namita, she deserves it for giving into Kaneshiro's demands and killing her girlfriend in that kind of way. But maybe deserves it is too hard on her. Or maybe I'm jaded by all of this game crap I have to go through. I'm just a dart thrower, leave me alone. And I have already experience Namita's execution. Its gonna be the same one as before, just only this time without the mass execution and being saved at the last second.

But it sucks that three people died in one day. And one of them has some of the blame on me. If the others start hating me for this, then they're the idiots I think they are. Getting past this trial won't be fun. Making that decision might have sealed my fate of the fifth victim. Somebody being like, for Minato or something like that.

My thoughts are interrupted by the scene going on. Before the execution, a little animatic of Monokuma dragging Namita away is played. Weird, I don't remember that happening for any of the others.

* * *

 **Rebellion Over**

 **Namita has been found guilty by the court of Monokuma**

 **TIME FOR PUNISHMENT**

* * *

I automatically know something is very off by the way that this clearly isn't the same room the other one started in. Don't tell me Kaneshiro was crazy enough to plan at least two executions for Namita. Time to watch us somehow break out of this one and have to make Kaneshiro prepare another one. Only i

There is a wheel in front of Monokuma and Namita that reminds me of yet another old show, a game one that I think was called Wheel of Fortune. As Monokuma begins to spin the wheel, the name of the execution is shown...

 **Whodunnit: Despair Edition**

 **Ultimate Event Planner Namita Nakahashi's Execution: EXECUTED**

My eyes are glowed to the scene, waiting with a morbid curiosity with what Kaneshiro has planned next. The wheel stops on one of the spots, but I notice that all of the spots are blank. Monokuma, as a master of games, I can tell you that is not how this is supposed to work.

Namita is forced into a formal wear gown by Monokuma. The gown itself is a nice evening dress that is dark blue in color, has no sleeves, and a mermaid-style skirt. I would spend more time thinking about how good she looks if Namita was not about to die. Monokuma may be a sadistic dumbass, but at least he knows that he shouldn't make the same mistake twice. Even though he does make the same mistake three times. Don't ask me how that works. Its the same answer as Yasu's bottomless pit of a toolbox.

Now in what I presume is the next game, Namita is in what appears to be a fancy dining room with two other guests with both of them having a Monokuma mask on. It is obvious, however, that one of them is Miyuki. There is dinner on the table they are seating at, but I strongly advise not eating considering what happened like ten minutes ago. At least Minato died without being forced into becoming a cannibal. And so will Namita. What fun.

Catching Namita off guard (for an event planner, that seems to happen a lot), the both of them point their fingers at her. Namita is unsure what to do as the two girls pick up their knives and head toward Namita. That is when she decides to act like a normal person and run towards the door I just noticed in the back. Was that always there, or did Monokuma just add it through his computer God powers just to mess with Namita? Of course, Namita did just witness one of her friends being slowly ripped apart, so that might make her emotionally unstable at the moment.

As Namita tries to open the door, she realizes it is locked. Because when can we ever get nice things? Doors are our enemy here at the computer version of the Suicide Forest, it pays to remember that. The two fingers reach Namita and she does not have fast enough reflexes to dodge their blades. One of them entered her left arm, while the other her right leg. She screams out in pain as she falls onto the ground.

Then the blades both dig into Namita's heart, ending her life at the same time. Well, that was rather tame compared to the other executions! Come on, Kaneshiro, you can think of something better than being stabbed through the heart. Haha, I get the joke, can we go home now?

But, even with Namita already deader than dead, the two fingers continue to stab and stab at her for what seems to be an eternity. They didn't stop stabbing until she is basically a pile of viscera. Well, we aren't gonna bury her anytime soon. Let's just hope that Monokuma doesn't decide to be a bigger dick than usual again and take away Minato's corpse to feed us later.

* * *

 **Hahaha, well, um, things have happened.**

 **So, yeah, hopefully, I'm writing Hotaru correctly, ShadedLyht. Its supposed to be a surprise that she becomes one of our lovely narrators.**

 **Thank you so much, Cepheid Variable Star for sending in Namita Nakahashi. Now, like her girlfriend, Namita is deader than dead. Because no DR ships can live happy in the Committee Saga. Even Naegiri, the only happy ship, was destroyed by me.**

 **And...for the anon reveal of who sent Minato Ueda...thank you so much, AnonChan1 for sending in Minato Ueda. Our precious cinnamon roll was too good for this world.**

 **Reviews~**

 **QueenofChocolateWinx-Yep.**

 **ThePlotHAND-...For the win. I was laughing evilly while writing that execution...but I do that with every execution. *evil laughter***

 **AnonChan1-Poor every single one of these kids, they were trusted in my hands. And look at what I've done. Ayano finally used one of her ideas of murder! Akemi needs a hug and a slap. At least Namita got to pet Mochi before she turned into a pile of viscera. Ayano just can't catch a break. Oh, trust me, Kaneshiro has his reasons, although they're not good reasons. Kazuhiko decided to kill Kotori because of what she did to Ayano, which has Kaneshiro blaming her for it. Ayaharu is one-sided canon, at least that's one good thing out of this chapter. Yep, Ayano is a Despair rn. Well, um, Ayano kinda killed our resident cinnamon roll Minato. HERE ARE SOME MORE SAD MOMENTS! I swear to God the first part of chapter five is a breather. Blame the Committee for everything.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-HERE'S SOME MORE SUFFERING! Now to see how different he looks in MoDE~ Oh, it's gonna be fun writing MoDE and laughing like an evil maniac. Thanks! As always, here's some more suffering!**

 **Scissor-Snipper-The first thing you see, Requiem making yet another mistake. You know what, I probably should stop editing at 4:00 AM, that would probably fix things. XD Akemi is here for the huggles and the slaps. Turns out Minato was to be trusted. :3 Character derailment is fun~ Yes, feed me with more of your theories, it's my fuel source. Ayano has lost her shit. Poor Ayano, a victim of character derailment (yes, I know its not actual character derailment, let me make my jokes in peace XD). I'll be joining you in your screaming. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-Well, I broke Tobi again. Good to know. *huggles***


	54. After Trial 4-3

**After Trial 4-3: Let No Man Pull You So Low As To Hate Him**

 **(Of course this chapter is still disturbing)**

 **(And please, don't read this before or during work again, Tobi. Or anybody who gets triggered by this kind of content.)**

* * *

Namita's body was still being stabbed by the robots as I find myself wandering out of the torture cell. Enough of that shit. She is literally only a pile of blood and bones, what else could Monokuma want? Other than to fuck with the others more.

When I reach the trial room, I see that horrible display on all of the screens. The only ones here standing are Ayano and Hayato. I guess the others are stuck in the other room. It must have so much more space than before. Fitting, like four, I can't be bothered to do the math, people in there is much easier than eighteen.

Hayato is staring with teary eyes the corpse of Minato Ueda. Yeah, I caused that somewhat, but I don't exactly feel sad. The others should have listened to me and paid attention to Ayano.

Speaking of Ayano, her eyes are glued to the screen with drool coming out of her mouth. God what did Kaneshiro do to her? Well, she's not as bad as Akita was, or God forbid Hideyoshi, so...maybe...I can do something.

Look at me, being optimistic. I thought I learned my lesson, but something inside me is screaming to help Ayano. Kaneshiro's victims are usually beyond saving...though Ayano...Ayano survived having her boyfriend executed in front of her eyes and then appearing in the room since Kaneshiro is the most deadly child in the universe. Romance might be overrated but even I know that will fuck with somebody's head.

"Ayano Kamukura...please listen to me..."

That catches Hayato's attention. Wrong person but whatever. He gives me a soft smile and a thumbs up.

Well, if there's somebody who understands what's going on with Ayano, it's Mr. Character Arc over there.

"I swear to God if this works, I'm throwing the mastermind over the fucking edge of the main Committee building...Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan."

"Oh, Hotaru-"

"That's it, I'm killing whoever Kaneshiro is." Some part of me should know who he is...I should! I saw that son of a bitch in real life. With his stupid hair and stupid eyes and stupid scars.

"Hotaru, we shouldn't kill anybody else-"

"I. Don't. Fucking. Care. Hayato."

"Even if you kill master now, it's too late. Things are already on their way!" Ayano hiccups while she laughs. Although it sounds more like a wheeze. It would be creepy if I haven't heard it ten billion times before. People in despair are so boring, just like hope.

"On their way? What do you mean, Ayano?" Hayato asks her. He slowly comes closer to her as I do so. We both, however, decide to keep our distance. Perhaps it's a good plan to not give Ayano any ideas.

"When _it_ happened, master told me important things!" Ayano begins to cry as her smile widens. "None of our pain fucking matters! No matter what happens, all of us are going to die not as ourselves!" The hiccups become more in number, as if she is struggling to breath from all the demented laughter.

"Not as ourselves? I have to ask the same question. We do not quite understand the meaning of your words," Hayato says. He is trying to keep his cool and act like a tough guy, yet anything can send him off the edge.

"My master-"

"Stop calling Kaneshiro your master! You're more than he'll ever be!" Forsaking all logic (since who needs that?), I run up to Ayano and grab her shoulders. She is taller than me so it is harder than I would like to admit.

"But-"

"I'm gonna bitchslap you if you continue," I interrupt her. My eyes find hers, grey but not with swirls. It takes all my willpower not to wipe the saliva off of her face. It's gross.

"Listen to Hotaru, Ayano. Everything will be alright." Unlike a lot of his old words, I feel like Hayato actually means that.

"You don't understand-"

"Bitch, I've known Kaneshiro ever since I was five feet tall! Don't give me that you don't understand bullshit!" I yell at her. "I mean, I did warn you! I'm gonna be that bitch and say I told you so. Don't listen to him I said! And everybody in this damn game still does that!"

"Yes but you still don't understand-"

"Ayano, even if we don't understand, we can still be here for you," Hayato sighs. "Sure, we have our differences, but I want to help you, Ayano. I may have killed your best friend, and you may have hit me, yet we can still makes amends. We might not be able to truly atone for what we have done...but we can still live on despite of all of our sins."

That might have been the sappiest thing I have ever heard but, hey, it's true. And Ayano actually seems to be listening to us. But something about this _is_ way too easy. I smell a rat.

"...I'm not gonna be Ms. Sunshine Positivity like Hayato over there but listen to me..." I take a deep breath. This is so not like me. What about Ayano makes me act like this?! Don't tell me I'm doing something as stupid as falling in love. This ain't no fairy tale and there's no time for romance when we're all fighting for our lives. Ayano, Kazuhiko, Miyuki, and Namita have all proven that.

"...Whatever Kaneshiro did or say to you, know that he's full of shit. Probably constipated. And you're not alone. I can swear to whatever you want that he has done the same thing to me. He wants to get in your head like some sort of super virus-"

 _Kaneshiro grabbed onto my hand and yanked me over to him. Even with all of my strength, I could not break free of him. He is a damn cheater with this program bullshit. My body relaxed even though I was starting to panic._

"Yet the master is always-"

 _He pushed me onto the wall as I felt the only covering I had fall off. I rushed to cover whatever decency I had left but cannot before Kaneshiro pinned me to the wall. Not again, I wanted to scream, but Kaneshiro gave me no ability to. What happens next can be predicted by anybody who is over the age of five._

"Wrong." Goddammit, people under Kaneshiro's brainwashing are so damn stupid. "How many times must I tell people? Don't take his words to heart. He's called the Ultimate Brainwasher for a reason." I sigh. Her eyes are still that boring, ugly grey color. Hey, her original eyes are nothing to write home about, but they're better than this.

"Ayano, I get how it feels to be in this much despair, but...how will Kyoto feel? No, forget that...how would Kazuhiko feel?" Hayato looks away for a second when the realization washes over Ayano.

"Kazuhiko." Just missing me, Ayano falls onto the floor with her eyes reddish-brown and wide. Her mouth is agape like she had just witness something horrible. Oh wait, she did.

"Puhuhuhu~ all according to keikaku. Really all of you are too predictable-"

"Then how do we keep catching you off guard?" I grin at him. Kaneshiro's fursona should be smarter than this.

"Not anymore, Firefly! I finally will destroy all your spirits!" Monokuma laughs the same laugh as the rest of the damn game as he teleports out of the way.

"Are you okay, Ayano?" Hayato asks her as he joins her on the ground. He catches the girl off guard as he hugs her.

"I...I..." I don't even have to turn around to know what's getting her attention.

"It will be alright, Ayano. We will all work together still. Third time is the charm, right?"

"I killed Minato-"

"Yes, just as I killed Mirabilis. We have to move on from our past mistakes. I was under the influence of Hideyoshi, while you under Kaneshiro's. Our whole lives can be spent seeking forgiveness once we make it out of the game for their sake."

"..." Ayano's only answer is crying into Hayato's shoulder. The red in her eyes begin to overpower the brown.

Hayato's words might be the key to defeating Kaneshiro. The pen might be stronger than the sword, but let's see how well it fares against another pen. Ha, mom, I can be smart!

"You still deserve to rot," Akemi tells the two of them as he passes by. He is the first one out and he quickly leaves the room. His steps try to look confident but drag.

"Do not listen to him, Ayano. He always has not liked murderers."

"I thought Namita talked him out of that," she replies. Her voice reminds me too much of Naoko now.

"She what?" I questioned her. What in the world happened when Hayato and I were still tied up?

"Ayano...just know that I'm still here for you. Thanks Hayato and Hotaru." Atsuto comes out of nowhere, changing the subject. He is still helping Yasu out, who looks like a zombie. Turns out eating the long dead corpse of your friend isn't fun.

"We will still have to continue together," Tsukiko states as she is the last person there. I can see that her eyes are red like Ayano's. Finally, she is showing a little more of her true self. About time. She doesn't look any of us in the eye though.

Atsuto and Tsukiko help Yasu up the stairs. That is when I realize they have left Minato's body for us to deal with. Wonderful.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" Kira screams. Oh yeah, she and Takara are still here. I don't want to be the poor soul to catch them up on the current events. "W-w-what happened!?"

"Minato...I'm sorry..." Without knowing the situation, Takara places Takayuki's jacket over Minato's body. God it will stick after everything is over.

"Well, I'm outta here! Have fun, Hayato!" I smirk. "Oh, and Namita was the one that killed Miyuki. Bye~"

"Hotaru-"

This is the quickest I have ever run up that staircase. Or any to be exact. And I lived with abusive assholes who chased me up the stairs. So I should have a race with Sonic next. That annoying blue hedgehog.

Ignoring all my responsibilities like most of the world today, my first stop is to the cellar. Good thing nobody is there to stop my bad decisions.

The whole place is still a mess. Now that I think about it, we never did figure out what happened here. Guess I have to figure it out by myself since discussing that crap is against the rules. Being pulled apart from chains is not the way I want to die thank you very much.

"Still gonna die soon," I accidentally voice out loud. Oh well. Not like I care if people figure out I think that way. The most it would cause is really awkward questions. People say I have a way of talking myself out of shit situations. Maybe that's why Monokuma hasn't littered me with holes and feed me to the rest of the class yet. Though there's still that creepy ass doll in that shrine place.

I find something with a label written in Japanese. Sake? Yeah, that would be real great about now. This edge is too much. And I rather not turn into one of those emo kids who blast First Light everywhere. Still surprises me Tsukiko is an Ultimate.

 _I woke up in a cot with a massive pain in my head. There I see somebody I did not quite recognize at that moment. W-where is that memory of his face? Don't tell me he's doing memory shit too._

 _He grimaced at me as I realized I could not move a single muscle in my body. Damn programming. And then the creep has the nerve to kiss my cheek._

 _"Before we return you to the others and properly start this game...there must be something I must do to you, Hotaru. Believe me when I say it's for the greater good."_

Bullshit.

Not wanting to experience that shit again, I begin downing the liquid. My face drops when I realize it's just water. Kaneshiro must know about my drinking habits by now. Damn him. At least allow me this one escape.

 _His mouth then moved to mine. I wanted to scream but it was muffled by the overwhelming urge to puke. Maybe then he will stop, or maybe he is into that kind of thing._

It is so hard to breath.

Dammit, Hotaru, stop thinking about it. I throw the useless water away to grab something else. It has the label of beer. However, it's clearly not beer. Did Kaneshiro really reprogram all the ducking (wait a minute, that's not the right word, whatever) alcohol? Damn him.

 _I began to try to move harder but I was running out of oxygen. There was no stop in sight. Not even tears could escape as there was no control over my own body. Breaking down that door with my head turned out to be a really bad idea._

"Hotaru Amemori, listen to me." I was about to call the girl in front of me Ayano, but she has black hair and actually red eyes. Plus she is not a broken wreck at the moment.

"Who are you?"

"Izumi but that's not important. You and the audience need this information," _Izumi_ proclaims. I don't trust her one bit. "The lights."

"The...lights? What are you on? They're perfectly normal."

"I got hold of one and have it so it can fix your memories. This can only be used once however so don't blow it." Izumi then takes out what looks like a flashlight from hundreds of years into the future.

"Memories?!"

"These are still new so they can only rewrite some of your memories. They're mostly used to make you forget what just happened. It will take fifty years or so to perfect the technology to the point of creating new lives and personalities." Izumi continues on as if that should be normal information. Which it clearly isn't.

"What. The. Hell?"

"I'm not asking for you to understand, I'm demanding you to remember. You know who the mastermind is. Nobody else does except for they little snake-"

"Wait, what do you mean snake?" Instead of providing answers, Izumi shines the light into my face. She clicks it on and it overwhelms my vision.

 _The face clears up...So that's who the mastermind is!_

I got to warn the others! With a newfound purpose, I try to move but find myself not to. Dammit. Well I'm super dead next chapter.

Looking over to Izumi, I see her slowly being erased from existence. That is until nothing is left of her except for the memories of others. Damn. She should have explained more!

But...then I find myself moving without any say in the matter.

Fuck.

* * *

 **Well, this after trial is finally over. Wasn't that fun? I swear to God chapter five isn't as dark...at least in the beginning ;)**

 **(Hahaha, kill me since there will be so much drama XD) (Chapter Five: These Kids Should Learn Better Communication Skills)**

 **So I've been updating less often because of health issues and family matters. And, yeah, MoDE and DiOS are on hiatus now. Sorry about that, but FoD is almost done and I want to focus on one story at the moment.**

 **Oh and the audiobook is gonna be a thing. Probably sometime next year. Yippee. :D**

 **Reviews~**

 **AnonChan1- Here's more suffering. Hotaru isn't having fun during chapter five. Good thing Hayato is there to make everything go according to keikaku. IM SORRY TOO MIRABILIS. Never trust me, I'm always up to no good. YOUR BABY IS DEAD BECAUSE YOU TRUSTED THEM WITH ME. Here's some of Hotaru's past during the game. She has had fun. HERES MORE OF A REASON TO HATE KANESHIRO! Never trust me, Anon, _never._ Kaneshiro should be renamed to the Ultimate Victim Blamer.**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too- Don't worry, I broke me and everybody else too. Well here's some more warnings, Tobi. Cinnamon rolls should not be trusted with me. Hotaru may not be dead but that might not last long. RIP Tobi, you can tell people about my sadistic stories to vent.**

 **TheRoseShadow21- Suffering: The Chapter. Remember the good old times when the most people had to worry about was being mindfucked by Akita's dreams? _I don't._ Yes, they did just eat Mirabilis. Time to make another meme out of my typos. Thanks so much.**

 **Scissor-Snipper- Emotional trauma can do such a thing. The Ultimate Plot Twist: Anon was Anon. Well Monokuma is back to having fun again. You betcha chapter five is gonna be _fun._**

 **ShadedLyht- The unanswered bullets are the main plot. ;) Thanks, I worked hard getting into Hotaru's mindset. Akita was _Akita_ alright. The plot~ Look here, Izumi is here to answer some of your questions. But she's deleted now. **

**CommanderofInsanity- Everything happened when you were gone. Try your hardest to save the remaining children from me~**


	55. Chapter ?-2

**Chapter ?-2: I Live, Therefore I Must Die**

* * *

 _Dear Journal,_

 _This will be the only section in English. My name is Shinichi Fujimoto, the Ultimate Translator. I want myself to be remembered but know that I will be long forgotten in the long reaches of history._

 _The Committee is up to something. That I am for certain. What? I cannot say. Hanako found these weird lights that seem to have something to do with messing with the memories of the people that see its flash. It targets certain areas of the brain to rewrite memories or erase them._

 _With Kaneshiro Kazuma's still unexplained connection to Kotori Hiraoka and the Committee, I know for certain that he has something to do with this._

Kaneshiro, in a fit of rage, tears the paper in half and throws it in the swimming pool. Of all the pieces that had to survive their original destruction of Shinichi's journal, it just so happened to be that one. Good thing that the Saviors are no longer a threat. There have been bumps in the road, yet the end result should remain the same. No matter what, Kaneshiro will make sure that his plan succeeds.

"Master, that Cassius idiot didn't do a very good job-"

"I know that." Perhaps depending on the lord was not the best way to go, but Cassius served to be a useful pawn. All of them have, except for one. Hotaru Amemori.

"What should be our next course of action? I'm pretty sure Hotaru knows who you are by now."

"Well, that shouldn't be a problem. She should've known that us Despairs don't like playing fair," Kaneshiro sighs. He finds the pool disgusting but so is everything in this place. Even the water in the showers is less than desirable. "But somebody has clearly read Shinichi's journal. They might've not have understood it all but they're still a threat. The biggest threat."

"What should we do about them?"

"We wait for them to reveal themselves. The thing about this group of students is that they care too much about each other, just like the ones on that damn train, but Kazuma has been dead for five years, they should've learned that already." Kaneshiro pulls out a picture from his pocket, one with a mix match of people from all different walks of life. Then he throws that in the pool as well, watching as the water slowly does its work on the already abused paper.

"Master-" Before the other can say anything else, Kaneshiro grabs onto their hair and pushes their head underneath the water. It does not take them long to overpower him and get back on their own two feet. "I won't die that easily, master. Now I will be heading back, and you should too. We worked hard for them to trust us and I don't want us to fuck it up this early."

"No, let me remain here, return yourself." Kaneshiro stares at his distorted face in the pool. He did not like that he had to change his appearance for the program yet it had to be done. His underling glances back at him with a sad face, yet continues onward.

Then, with a shaky hand, he pulls out another photo. This one of a girl. On the bottom left of the photo, there was a signature that is neat, like it had been practiced many times. It reads _Hanami Fukushima_ in nice, readable cursive letters. Kaneshiro turns it to the back where there is a poem written.

 _Our days might be numbered,_

 _on this train of mourning,_

 _yet I meet you..._

 _And that makes it worth it._

With nothing but darkness in his eyes, Kaneshiro throws the photo in the pool.

* * *

 **A ha! Another extra chapter! To hype up the fifth chapter~ Yeah! This is really, _really_ short but it has a lot of info. AND HYPE!**

 **Reviews~**

 **ThePLOTHand-Because MoDE exists and something has to happen. Join the nothingness, we have no cookies.**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-Babies are here to comfort us all. Here's a short chapter solely based on our favorite piece of shit, Kaneshiro. That's why Hotaru was the protag, because we needed something to not make us all fall into despair. RIP Hotaru, the sinnamon roll shall be missed. I'll become the next boogie man for the kids. If you're not good, you've to become one of my characters. Thanks for the good vibes. Writing this story is my breather. XD But the screams will be hard to hear since they're still in the Suicide Forest.**

 **AnonChan1-Never. Hotaru is here to save everybody from despair. Chapter five is the hurt/comfort chapter of this fic. Kaneshiro's henchmen just love calling him master. Because Kaneshiro is a bad, bad man. Kazuma is looking at him and being like...wtf. Hotaru needs love for being MVP. Hayato and Tsukiko are Forest Mom and Dad now. Well, I know who the mastermind is. There's actually a big, big hint if you figure out the fridge brilliance. BUT YOU WON'T UNTIL ITS TOO LATE. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Kaneshiro is having fun. THEY ALL DESERVED BETTER. EVERYBODY SAY FUCK YOU TO KANESHIRO!**

 **TheUnkindledHunter-*speaks in Anakin Skywalker* Yes, I do. I can send help in the form of Etsuko. They'll update more next month, they're not gonna be like KGS. Poor KGS fans. HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY! Thanks~**

 **KananMari-Such in DR tradition. I should also say don't eat while reading my stories. Oops. XD Thanks, it will be fun working on the audiobook next year. I think I should complete FoD before it starts. Thanks so much.**

 **SanityRequiem-Yes, yes I am, me.**


	56. Chapter 5-1

**Chapter 5-1: Let You Down**

 **(This chapter might not be as disturbing but, damn, its really, really sad)**

 **(This is gonna be a normal thing for now on, isn't it?)**

* * *

There is an overwhelming pain in my chest that was not there before.

My hands shake as I try to close my eyes. Hayato basically demanded me to go to my room and for him to talk to Kira and Takara. He is a lot more assertive than usual.

The darkness plays with my eyes. Blood appears on my hands. I try to wash it off, but, just like that popular play, it stays there, seeping into my skin, my very being.

 _You're nothing more than a murderer._

 _You deserve to die._

 _Minato and Namita should be alive, not you._

 _You're nothing more than a murderer._

 _Everything is your fault._

 _Your fault, your fault, your fault._

 _This Killing Game happened because of you._

 _You created Kaneshiro Kazuma._

 _Kaneshiro is your fault._

 _Everything he has done to you is justified._

 _Now you're just another one of Kaneshiro's sluts._

 _Kaneshiro._

 ** _Kaneshiro._**

 _ **Kaneshiro.**_

I cover my ears, trying to get rid of the awful sounds, yet they still pound in my ears. Everything is cold but too hot at the same time. Tears escape from my eyes as I give up attempting to block everything out. My hands instead grab onto a pillow that I hide my face in. Its fake softness does nothing to comfort me.

None of this pain matters. Everything is meaningless ever since we were accepted into that damn class of Hope's Peak Academy. Even if Kazuhiko and I bothered to go to the board meaning, we would have just been put in the game before this one. Maybe then, though, Kaneshiro would have never reentered our lives.

We might be ourselves now but I highly doubt that will continue for much longer. Kaneshiro will win this game, and, when he does, our lives will be entirely ruled by him. Everybody's lives will be solely dedicated to our master, Kaneshiro Kazuma. Except for perhaps Hotaru, she has an uncanny ability to resist Kaneshiro. Not listen to him? How the Hell are you supposed to do that when he's doing _that_ to you?

Everything about me still aches. Even in my damn virtual form. Damn that Kaneshiro.

Anyway, the key for his game is those damn flashback lights. We would be able to fight against them in the real world, but, here, he has an endless supply to keep screwing us over with. Just how many memories did he rewrite already? What is true, and what is false? What is the line between fantasy and reality?

Is Kazuhiko even real? Is Izuru? Even Kyoto's existence can be called into question. Am I even real? What if all I am is a fictional character, created for some sadistic fuck to vent out their frustrations on? With people checking in each chapter just to see what else goes wrong in my life? All I am is a puppet, created to bend to the will of others. No free will, only nothingness.

What about this life is even worth living anymore? I don't want to struggle anymore, to continue living not knowing what will happen tomorrow. If there is such a thing as Heaven, I wonder if I would even go up there, probably not. I did kill an innocent person for no reason whatever. But, by some miracle, I end up in the Heaven described to me by Kotori, as some messed up way to break my spirit, I will stroll up to God and ask what the fuck!? What did any of us do to deserve any of this? Sure, I help kill somebody before, but I did nothing wrong as a child. Not even my birth parents wanted me, choosing rather put me into the ocean and fucking drown. Why did I experience the miracle of Jabbawock Island, my version of Heaven, just for everything to be taken away from me!? How in the world didn't I drown in the ocean right there and then? That is desirable compared to this shit.

The euphoria of despair is much more desirable than the pure emptiness and loneliness of the nothing surrounding me.

Nothing matters in despair, just the pleasure of destroying everything about your being. Just like nothing matters in hope, just the pleasure of not tearing yourself or others from the inside, focusing rather on making everybody equal.

But none of those are for me.

Then again, neither is life. That is the only thing proven to me throughout this game. Nothing about me matters. All this suffering I'm going through will change nothing. The world will continue its natural cycle. A cycle in which the only way to be anywhere near remotely happy is to accept your fate or become one of the corrupt people at the top.

Wiping away the tears in my eyes, I make my way over to my bathroom and stare into my mirror. Everything about me looks like shit. I place Kazuhiko's hat back on my head, using it to hide my face. The unimportant face of another one of Kaneshiro's bitches. Somebody who will not be in the history books, much like her father before her. And, even if I somehow did, the Committee is so full of shit that they will warp me into somebody that I'm not, yet another person choosing to be a servant to them other than rebelling. After all, the rebellion groups will all share the same fate as the Saviors. Killed and then immediately forgotten by all of history. We have already been removed from the internet, all they have to do is wait for all the people that knew us to die and then some of their lines afterward. Then we never existed, like billions of people through the pages of time.

Nobody will be up at this hour. Especially because we have just gone through the most emotionally taxing trial yet. Only if I was like Kira and Takara, unconscious for the whole thing. Unable to go through the massive amounts of suffering. Not knowing how it is like to have Kaneshiro force you to make your existence his own.

Placing my hand on the mirror, I close my eyes for a second before heading out to the kitchen. That does seem to be the most reliable place to do something like this in.

I am sorry, everyone, but please understand, that I cannot take this anymore.

* * *

Just as I thought, everybody else has passed out due to the emotional trauma of the day. Three classmates more important than I meet their ends. And all the things with Mirabilis makes me want to puke again.

Speaking of puke, I wonder if anything happened because of what Kaneshiro did to me. The whole possibility of having a kid, especially his, or getting an STD, is unappealing. Not that it matters. If I have a kid, then it would be a mercy to them that I don't bring them into this world. All they would know is pain and suffering.

So, I enter the kitchen and turn on the lights. Nobody else is here. Peaking into the cellar, I see that there are still pieces of broken glass on the ground. I pick one of them up, and, automatically, my hand begins to bleed. Good to know that there is actual blood on my hands now. The blood itself is strangely warm and makes a strangely hypnotic sound when it drips onto the floor. Drip, drip, drip.

Before I could press the glass against my skin, I hear one of the doors open. Shit.

"And then..."

"..."

This the beyond awkward.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Ayano, what are you doing with that piece of glass?" Hayato asks. He moves slowly closer to me and I have to fight the urge to get away. That would be awfully suspicious.

"Cleaning."

"You're a really bad liar, you know that?" Kira then sits down next to me, making sure that none of the glass gets anywhere near her with her sense of touch. "I guess I was cleaning during Kyoto's party too then."

"That is not going to fly with two people who have tried something like this-"

"You know, for this being the Suicide Forest, there has been a lack of any of them going through," Kira comments. "Ayano tried to kill herself before, and then I tried, then you Hayato, and Yasu, and now we're back to Ayano." She then grabs the piece of glass from me, cutting her hand in the process. She does not flinch at the sudden sight of her very own blood joining mine...probably because she is blind. Kira still has to realize she is bleeding though. That her blood is becoming a part of this whole mess. Dripping like a twisted version of an ice cream cone. "Don't, Kirigiri will think of something."

"Kirigiri?" Takara questions. He stays in the back, not knowing what to do. I notice that he also has Takayuki's jacket back on and I realize how bad it really smells in here. Although the smell is horrible, it looks warm and comforting. Like Takayuki is still here, guiding Takara somehow. Just like Kazuhiko with my hat.

"She'll come for us-"

"We said the same thing about the Saviors, and look at where that has gotten us." At this point, it's debatable whether or not the Committee can even stand a chance against Kaneshiro. Nobody can stand up against the force of the Ultimate Brainwasher. The world created a monster and it's too late to fix anything. Best to not be of this world when it truly goes to shit. Humanity is screwed.

"Do not say things like that Ayano, we still have a chance at defeating Kaneshiro. We just need to think it through a little more-"

"No, you don't understand, Hayato. Even by some miracle, we all find ourselves out of this goddamn program, we're in a building surrounded by despairs!" In a fit of emotion, I find myself getting up and grabbing onto Hayato's shirt. He stares into my eyes, with his own wavering. "And they'll subject us to a fate far worse than death!"

"Calm!" Takara tries to separate Hayato and me, but he cannot find the strength. Kira joins in, but they are both on the weaker side of the students left.

"Takara, Kira, get somebody else. I can take care of myself," Hayato demands. The tone of his voice is so foreign yet soothing at the same time. But, when I look at his hands, I see the same blood even though he has not touched the glass. Both of us are tainted now, isn't that right?

No matter what, neither of us can escape our pasts. This is not a world where somebody can just travel back in time and change what they please. And this time the deaths in the program matter. There is much more on the line than an annoying coma that you can get out of by the program performing some secret test of character. We're both nothing more than filthy murderers. At least Atsuto killed to help us, and Kira tried to kill herself for the better good, but the two of us are garbage. How are we still alive? Neither of us deserves it that much.

"Ayano, listen to me, we can all make it out of here together, all we have to do is try. Our protests against Kaneshiro always end badly but I am determined to make this one go differently."

"We are going to leave here eventually when Kaneshiro gets bored of us. Only two more deaths to go. Eight of us will survive, with us finding the mastermind so probably seven, and then we become slaves for the True Despairs." I sigh, dying would be better than being forced to be the plaything for the despairs. Knowing my luck, I would be assigned to Kaneshiro, and it would be more of the same every day. No escape. Just endless torture until you die and get thrown in the trash.

"Even if that is true, we will think of something. Find a way to escape, or call for outside help. We will make it through this, Ayano, and Kaneshiro will pay for what he has done." I drop Hayato but we keep an eye on each other. Hayato is a weird, mysterious man. One day he is off murdering my friends, then he tries to stop me from killing myself. His once creepy voice now triggers some kind of relaxation.

"Are you so sure about that?"

"All of us survived this long together, I will make sure that we will defeat Kaneshiro. Even if that means none of us get to live past this, we cannot let a monster like him threaten more of the outside world." Hayato's back is straighter than I thought humanly possible. Although I am taller than him, he towers over me.

"Ayano!" Before anything happens, Atsuto appears with Takara and Kira behind him. Akemi then tries to get in but Kira shuts the cellar down on him.

"Atsuto?"

"I can't lose you too!" Atsuto then hugs onto me tightly, like a child whose parent is dropping them off at school for the first time. His fingers dig into my back as he places his face in my chest. He starts crying and staining my shirt with his snot.

"It's alright-"

"What about this is alright!? You're the only family I have left!" We both fall to the ground, with me moving us so we do not fall onto the broken glass. It is then I realized that everybody else left the room. Right now, it's just the two of us. The rest of the world is hidden behind the two doors.

"..." But, no matter how much I think, I cannot answer his simple question.

Nothing about this is alright. Atsuto does not deserve any of this, but he keeps getting dragged into tragedy after tragedy by Kaneshiro. He truly is unlucky. There is nothing else to describe the constant misfortune surrounding him. But, even after everything that has happened, like Hotaru, he keeps moving forward. Both of them know how to not give into Kaneshiro due to their continued contact with him. Perhaps they are the key to getting out of here, yet there is a chance that they'll die soon. The two of them have the largest targets on their backs after all. And there is still that possibility of the traitor still being alive that Monokuma mentioned a long time ago.

Even after I have supposedly given up, ideas fill up my mind. There is the smallest bit of hope even in the deepest sea of despair can ignite change.

"Why do the people close to me do stuff like this?" Atsuto can barely get his words out. "They either die or try to kill themselves! Why can't we just be happy?!"

"That's how the world works-"

"No, it isn't! The only reason the world is that way is that of that thinking! We need to believe in the hope that my uncle told me about," Atsuto takes a deep breath as he gets up again. There is a bright red blush on his face when he realizes where he had been. He wipes the snot from his nose with his suit sleeve. "Matoko said...wait, Matoko...?"

"What's wrong with Matoko?"

"T-that's not right! It's...it's Makoto!" Atsuto's eyes widen with realization. Something inside his head must be clicking but why? "And...Kazuma K-Kaneshiro?"

"Kaneshiro Kazuma?"

"No, t-that shouldn't make sense. Kaneshiro is a last name and Kazuma a first, not the other way around." Atsuto is breathing heavily and I wrap my arms around him. I rub the back of his head as his breathing returns back to normal. We break apart once again.

"What does all of this mean?"

"Kaneshiro has already been brainwashing the whole world in subtle ways. Goddammit!" In a fit of rage, Atsuto punches one of the shelves holding all the liquor. He does not make a dent as he holds onto his hand with tears threatening to come out of his eyes again. These shelves must be strong if Atsuto is hurt by them, considering he is able to lift Yasu up with ease.

But this is disturbing if Atsuto just realized something big. Kaneshiro seems to have already messed up the minds of not only Japan but the rest of the world with seemingly small matters. What is the purpose of changing people's names around in small ways if this is the next step? The jump is very big between somewhat devious to a complete monster. Something happened. Just what? There are so many horrible things that have happened that it can be anyone, and that is only talking about what is known, there is a large chance that it is unknown, hidden away by the Committee.

My mind is complicated between caring or not. I know everything is meaningless but that hope at the bottom of my heart is back, yearning for me to get me and everybody I care about out of here. Though I will put their lives above mine, considering I'm the person that is the killer. What were Minato's final words before I caused their life to be so brutally cut short? Only Hotaru heard and I have no idea where she is right now. Probably sleeping.

Kaneshiro wants me around so killing myself would probably piss him off. Though I highly doubt I am going to be left alone anytime soon. Thinking back, Shinichi saved me from suicide before, I wonder how he is doing. If there is an afterlife, would he be back with his mother figure and brother? Or would he be stuck in a theatre for all eternity with his sanity always constantly on the line? Wait...where did that last thought come from?

Stuck in my own thoughts and blacking out for what seems like seconds, I fail to realize that Atsuto has fallen asleep. His face is peaceful as he is pulled into the land of dreams. Atsuto is still quite the child. Maybe I should stay around a little while longer, just to see that he makes it out okay. Kaneshiro will not lay a hand on Atsuto for as long as I live.

"Time to go to bed."

Carefully, I pick Atsuto and carry him bridal style. I am unable to enter any of the other rooms, so I walk slowly to my room. And then the halls were lifeless once again.

* * *

I place him on the soft bed. Well, it's not that soft, but it is better than the floor. Not wanting to be awkward, I sit in one of the corners of the room. My eyes refuse to close as they focus solely on the peaceful body of Atsuto. He will be safe from Kaneshiro, no matter what it costs me. Kaneshiro will not touch a single hair on his head.

What seems like hours later, I finally decide it is about time to close my eyes. Everything about me is heavy yet my body is ready to bolt any second.

 _Ayano Kamukura, you just won't quit._

 _He literally just died and you already found a rebound!_

 _Then a homewrecker! That's a good word._

 _Great!_ Kindra _will be so happy!_

I try to open my eyes but they are stuck. Now I am stuck in another dark abyss but it is not without anything inside. It's another hospital room. By this point, I never want to enter another hospital room again. Everything about my body is heavy once again like there is a thousand pound weight dragging me down. Down, down, down. Down until the only light I see is a little spec. A spec antagonizing me, promising me empty promises of freedom.

Something pushes me to the wall, making me not able to escape yet again. No escape. Same with the bed. No escape. There's no escape. Even for my breath, stuck in my throat as my face turns a mix of green and blue. A sick mix of pleasure and pain, accompanied by guilt and self-loathing.

"Listen to me! Ayano, Ayano! What's wrong?"

I curl into myself, not wanting to feel any more of these twisted emotions. Just nothing. Nothing has none of these feelings. Everything in the universe leaves you. Leaves you so you can be nothing more than an empty shell. Though an empty shell is too boring for Kaneshiro to use as a puppet. Just nothing. Accept there is no escape and live the rest of your short days doing nothing. Its better than getting your hopes up just to have them destroyed yet again. Over and over and over again. Until there is nothing left of the original person.

"What's going on? Why aren't you answering me?"

...No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. _No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. **No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape. NO ESCAPE!**_

...The only escape is through death...

"Ayano!"

 _You're going to die having lived a worthless life._

 _Everything about this is meaningless._

 _Kazuhiko would be so disappointed._

 _If you want the pain to stop..._

 _Join me._

Just like that, my eyes snap open, with Atsuto grabbing onto my shoulders. I can tell that my breathing is rough and my heart rate too fast. Atsuto must have turned one of the lights on because the familiar darkness of the night does not surround me. It is too bright for my taste, but I do not comment on it since Atsuto seems to need it right now.

"Thank God..." Atsuto falls onto the floor with a sad smile on his face. "You're back."

"You should get back to sleep-"

"I'm not letting you sleep on the floor," Atsuto interrupts me. "I know, we can sleep in the bed together as we did as children. Your father would tell us any bedtime story that we wanted."

"...You do realize that you're saying that we, a man and a woman, should sleep in the same bed together, right?" It takes a second for Atsuto to turn bright red once again. He sits up once again, playing with his hands much as a child would. "We aren't exactly children anymore."

"Um...well, I'm not leaving you alone!" Atsuto covers his face.

"Fine."

"Wait, what?" Atsuto's hands drop to only show his confusion. After what I tried to do some time ago, I highly doubt he would let me go that easily. And, to be honest, I'm just really tired. He probably did the same to Yasu when they tried to kill themselves. Atsuto has this unbreakable connection with Yasu, as he takes it upon himself to protect them. It has been that way for some time now that I think about it.

"Just like when we were kids, right? No big deal." Getting onto my feet, I fall face first onto my bed, not really caring about my weird position.

"..." Atsuto climbs onto the bed and gets as far away from me as possible. He even curls up his legs. Everything is silent as we both try to drift off to sleep.

* * *

 _ **Monokuma Theatre!**_

 _Finally, we're back to our regularly scheduled program. Sorry for all of the mishaps, we were having...technical difficulties with an engineer of ours._

 _Anyway, the story for the day...wait, night, yeah, all you dirty tots are actually sleeping...is one of true tragedy. One about the sacrifice one man must make to have the world become a better place!_

 _It all started with a salmon. A salmon who somehow figured out how to breathe out of water...but turns out, he ain't special, because the water was pumped full of some sort of bullshit sci-fi chemical. So all the salmon started to breathe out of water!_

 _And, with that, they overtook the human race and forced them in the waters! And they all drowned._

 _The salmon then all got eaten by bears, which then took over the world and found true peace._

* * *

"Look what we have here~" I am suddenly woken up by somebody shoving me off the bed. When I open my eyes, I see that it is Hotaru, with that familiar grin on her face. "I didn't know you liked Atsuto in that kind of way."

"It's not like that!" Atsuto yells out as he throws a pillow at Hotaru. She then smiles so more as she throws the pillow back at him with much more force.

"Ha, as much as I would like to play right now, I was given a job. We're all being summoned to the kitchen by Tsukiko. You guys were not awake, and here I found you two sleeping together. I'm gonna guess you stayed up very late." She whistles as she leaves the two of us alone.

"...We should probably go..."

"If we do this again, we're staying in my room." Atsuto then hides his face once again.

* * *

"We have to think our next steps very carefully, it is very likely this will be the last chance we can take a stand! Monokuma will pay for what he has done to Miyuki, Namita, and the others!" Tsukiko exclaims as we enter the kitchen. With Takara's notebook, she is doting down all different kinds of ideas. But doesn't she know that if she plans this way the mastermind will for sure know?

"Our current plan is stupid," Akemi sighs. "Maybe we should plan to escape not when there's a trial going on. Because that worked so well the last two times it happened."

"Right now, however, we have no source of weaknesses. That should be where we investigate first. This is a virtual world, right? Maybe we can find some bugs in the system." From what I can see, only the three of them are focusing on the plans. They are so involved that they probably have not noticed the two of us entering the room. Hotaru isn't even here anymore, so she must have bailed.

"I will check up on Yasu..." Atsuto still is blushing. Now I am worried about whether or not his face will always be red now. But, speaking of Yasu, I see that they are by themselves, staring off into space, with Mochi nuzzling them and trying to get a reaction.

Takara and Kira are talking to each other about something. I cannot hear what they are saying, as the both of them are whispering. Its good to see that the two of them are the ones least affected by the events of the last trial. Those two really don't need any more drama in their lives. The same can be said about everybody else who isn't Hayato or me.

Feeling alone, and not wanting to intrude on other conversations, I just sit by myself, thinking. Thinking about everything that has happened in my miserable excuse of a life.

It is strange to see everybody else become more and more rebellious as more and more shit happens to them. Not even eating their dead friend or having yet another one of them executed is enough to bring them down. Or maybe they are broken inside, only pretending to rebel because of a weird habit. Rebelling can be a way to deal with boredom. Because, whenever there is nothing major going on, the main word to describe this place is overwhelmingly dull. There is almost nothing to do and the things that you can do become tedious after awhile.

There is even no escape from the boredom. If Mirabilis was still here, I would watch that anime with her some more, but watching the same thirteen episodes over and over again would quickly null the fun out of it. Yet there is a part of me that yearns to figure out more about Sakura's journeys to find all the cards. Sure, it is a given that she will complete her quest eventually, but there is this certain charm to it that pulls me in. I want to see Sakura succeed, to see a world where everybody can be happy.

"Hey!" Breaking me out of my train of thought, I see that both Kira and Takara have walked up to me. They both are nice to me even though I just killed Minato less than twenty-four hours ago.

"Hm, what's up?" I ask them. Kira must be acting as Takara's mouth, while he becomes her eyes.

"We have a plan for something~" Kira sits closer to me than Takara. Takara tries to keep his distance while Kira does not care about that sort of thing.

"It...be fun?" Takara says while not knowing how to properly word his thoughts. "Make...people...h-happy?"

"Why is that a question? I thought you were on my side!" Kira pouts. However, she does not focus on Takara, instead choosing setting her sights on me.

"What is going on?"

"Good question, Ayano!" Kira then moves closely into my ear and starts whispering. "We're gonna play some matchmaker. New romance will brighten up the mood."

"Matchmaker!?"

"Quiet," Takara tells the both of us. Kira is a loud whisperer, and the only reason she has not been caught yet is that the two other groups are too focused on themselves.

"Who?" Although I do not like the sound of this, as it seems like every couple that gets made in one of these games is doomed for tragedy, I want to be with Kira and Takara. There is a chance that Hayato did not tell them what I did to Minato, or left out very important details, and having a friendship without that sort of baggage sounds...nice.

"Glad you asked, for I have a grand plan in place just for the two of them! I may not be interested in romance, but Ayano...Kirigiri told me a thing or two about it." Kira's smile reminds me too much of Hotaru's.

"...So...?"

"Those two." Kira points at one of the groups. Takara glares at her, making a remark about how it is not polite to point. But I do not mind, so I see where Kira's finger leads.

She is pointing at Atsuto and Yasu.

"Operation Atsusu Commence!"

* * *

 **OPERATION ATSUSU COMMENCE GUYS!**

 **When there are actually shippers in your story. Kira, I love you. Kira ships the best ships.**

 **Also there is now a poll to vote on who Ayano should free time with next. Because this is a chapter filled with drama and more free time events to tear all of your hearts open. Why? I'm an evil person. :3**

 **Reviews~**

 **ShadedLyht- Communication is how they could have solved everything back in chapter one. Be honest, guys, because, if you have, NOBODY WOULD BE DEAD. Wait, that's not true, but a lot less. Hotaru needs huggles, for I did horrible things to our resident sinnamon roll. Well, here's some Hotaru this chapter. ;) She's still alive guys. Here's some more despair! If Kaneshiro was killed, the game would be over (Kazuhiko had the right idea, he just killed the wrong person). Feed me with your theories~ Here's next time :3**

 **AnonChan1- Shinichi being here like, I'm still very plot important even though I've been dead for over 100,000 words. Yes, its a photo of the MoDE cast, not in detail since I still need everybody. XD Feed me with your theories since they give me despair and hope. You should always be very, very scared. Kaneshiro spends too much time on the brainwashing tag on AO3. I WILL NEVER STOP LAUGHING! BWAHAHAHAHA! YES FUCK KANESHIRO!**

 **TheRoseShadow21- Oh.**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too- The plot is still like...I'M HEREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~**


	57. Chapter 5-2

**Chapter 5-2: Mångata**

* * *

How horribly is this going to play out?

Do they even like each other in that kind of way? Well, they are more than friends, that much is certain, but lovers? That is so absurd it might actually work.

Though it will end in tragedy. That is just how our lives are. Once somebody tries to find happiness in some sort of relationship, half of that bond dies, leaving the other in pieces. There's no escape from their eventual fate. Just like there is no other way to end Romeo and Juliet without the both of them taking their own lives. Its how the story plays out, the same ending every time. The only thing different is the actors forced onto the stage. Actors who the spotlight burns where they try to call out for help as their sorrowful existence is ignored.

Before that inevitable tragedy, however, there will be happiness, hope. A fleeting moment of pure bliss that is followed by the darkest of clouds. But that euphoria is worth it. That little piece of heaven, that feeling of being on cloud nine. The warmth of another human being that wants you to be happy is irreplaceable.

 _Then a homewrecker! That's a good word._

It always disappears.

...

No matter how many times you try it over again.

It just disappears in a blink of the eye. Gone as fast as it started.

Nothing happened for the rest of the day. I try to remember it, but honestly, it is a blur. All that was important to me was that Kira and Takara think its a good idea to play matchmaker of all things like we're middle schoolers. I do not like thinking about the possibility of having somebody thirteen years old or younger being in one of these mind games.

* * *

 _ **Monokuma Theatre!**_

 _This just in! Turns out some of those damn humans from the last chapter actually survived. What a waste of potential. And those sci-fi bullshit chemicals gave them the ability to breathe underwater...somehow. Don't question it! These are dream sequences, they're supposed to make no damn sense even with all they're fucking symbolism! Literally! Haven't you ever read about that Carl Jung (Monokuma, its Sigmund Freud, not Carl Jung) guy? Dude was off his rocker and probably had mommy issues._

 _Like, this apple...wait, you can't see this apple! Too bad! This apple that you can totes see now is, like, something sexual. Because everything is sexual for that fool. Even that freak Teruteru is like, calm there tiger. Or bear. Whatever it is...its a metaphor for some lovemaking with your father or something._

 _Psychology is weird. Like, in the beginning, it was just a bunch of old white guys bitching about how the others are wrong. That weird ass Junko can affirm that. Bitch be cray cray. Good thing she's in space now._

* * *

Another day. Yippee.

Might as well go to the cafeteria. Although I might not feel like it, I really do not want Hotaru barging into the room and making everything awkward again. Perhaps I can convince her to have a sleepover in my room...no, that's absurd...Maybe I should thank her and Hayato for pulling me out of despair. Now that I think about it, not doing that before is kinda rude, yet neither of them seems to mind much. They are probably pretending for me.

Just as I am able to go into another tangent in my mind, I hear somebody knocking at my door. Definitely not Hotaru since she would not bother.

I lift myself up from my bed and rush over to my door. When I open it up, I see that Kira and Takara are there. It must be earlier than I thought since Monokuma has not given out an announcement. By my guess, its probably still dark outside, even though it's always dark here. Though I am sure that all of ours (except Kira's) eyes have adjusted.

"Shhhhhhhhhhh...Ayano, guess what?" Kira is smiling. Although the both of them have serious bags underneath their eyes, they have clear smiles, like children being taken to the amusement park early in the morning. Guess I have to take the position of the adult.

"What?"

"We're going to-"

"To see t-the...sunrise," Takara interrupted her. "Too loud."

"Yeah, that!" Kira is still not paying attention to Takara, but it does not look like anybody else is awake beside us. Does that also mean Kaneshiro, and by extension Monokuma, are still asleep? Kaneshiro is human so it can be assumed that he still needs to meet all of his essential needs.

"Alright, I'll come with you-"

"Yea! I told you so, Takara!" Kira shouts. Even though she cannot see, she still wants to go. I wonder why. Maybe just to feel the warmth of the sun once again. We did not have time to notice the little things the other times. Like the smell of the ocean, or the wind in our hair.

"How are we getting there?"

"Remember...I k-know the way..." Kira then grabs both of our hands and runs the opposite way from the door to the patio. We have to direct her to go the right way.

Being with these two almost made it so that I didn't notice Minato's grave. Almost.

* * *

Although walking in the middle of the forest should be terrifying with no light, there is a sense of ease. The silence, instead of its usual forebodingness, now is calm and gentle, as if guiding us to our destination. No danger is here, only the darkness. This darkness, however, is not trying to devour our whole being.

The only thing we have to worry about is how uneven the ground is. Ever since Kira almost landed head first in a cave, we have put her in the back. Takara is leading the two of us.

Even with all the delays in our journey, the three of us make it before sunrise. The moon is almost out of sight, but its lingering fragments reflect on the rough waters, creating a truly breathtaking sight. In the water's rare moments of peace, the light coming from the moon looks sort of like a roadway, a roadway from Hell to Heaven. And, of course, the wind is chilly and somewhat overbearing, though it is better than the bitter lack of it we have experienced during our time here.

So the three of us sit down on the grass. For a moment I close my eyes, trying to envision myself anywhere else but here. Perhaps one of the old beaches before the Tragedy stuck in the state of California. Kazuhiko told me once about this place called Half Moon Bay, which had been destroyed during the events of the Tragedy thanks to the constant battles in California between hope and despair. It was known for its beauty before then. Also, it's surfing due to its big waves. And... _pumpkins_...

"You got the goods, Takara!? And this time you better not have given me coffee!"

"No...coffee..." Takara then pulls out three pieces of bread from Takayuki's jacket. They smell bad now but otherwise look to be in good condition. Does not stop me from waiting for the other two to take a bite of theirs to taste mine. Its somewhat stale but I have stopped caring about taste a long time ago.

"Bullseye! No coffee~"

"We...w-we should talk..."

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Kira Iwata and Takara Miyagi?**_

 _ **Yes/No**_

* * *

"What else is there to do? Stare in the meaningless void that is the fake sea and think about all the mistakes in our lives? Nah. Let's have some fun!" Kira exclaims. "Because I can't see shit! Everything is the void!"

"Then...w-why did you...suggest to c-come...here?" Takara takes in the view with a solemn look in his black eyes. He tugs his legs into his chest and lays his head on them.

"Back when I was a kid...before...that's a story for another day..." Kira fixes up her sunglasses. "Anyways! My parents would take me on walks by the beach. We used to live in Okinawa before moving to Kyoto." Okinawa, huh? So Kira comes from one of the places outside of this city. The Committee is trying to seize more control in areas of Japan still not under their government, and Okinawa was one of the first cities they got.

"Okinawa..." Takara comments. "...i-is beautiful." There is a deep blush that overrides all the color from his tan face. "I wanted to take Misao there." Wanted? Please don't tell me Takara took a look at his motive video. "...She always wanted to go to the beach..."

"Oh, she a girlfriend?" Kira purrs. Hotaru and Kira should really make up a matchmaking club. I remember Hotaru was able to guess Namita and Miyuki's relationship, now Kira can see the potential sparks in Atsuto and Yasu's. However, Hotaru would view it as a joke, while Kira would try her hardest to make everybody happy...while proclaiming that she's not doing that. And goes crazy if somebody dares calls her short.

"Yes," I answer Kira. Unable to stop myself, I smirk. Takara hides his face in his legs.

"A-A-A-A-Ayano!"

"I think I broke him, Kira."

"Well, that's what he gets for getting me coffee that one time!" Kira huffs out her chest. "And don't forget I remember that one time you called me short! _I'll never forget that_!" She slowly tries to make her way to Takara but heads the direction to the forest. Takara himself redirects her.

"Takara, you have dug your own grave-"

"You're not out of the water either! Kazuhiko called me short too many times! Don't think I've forgotten what was in that article!" Kira puffs out her cheeks. "I challenge the both of you..." she pulls something out of her blouse that I wonder how she is able to fit inside there, "...to a board game!" Looking at the game she pulled out, I notice that it is something called Clue. It looks like a murder mystery, which is quite ironic considering our current situation.

"Where did you find this, Kira?" I ask her. It is rather dusty. Board games went out of style during the Tragedy, and only a few were made afterward. The Committee did not care enough to ban such a small practice.

"The library! It was hidden~"

"I found it-"

"Shut up, Takara! I found it!" She then tries to open up the box, but Takara ends up having to do it for her. Kira does not mind this fact, having a content smile on her face. Everything gets set up.

"Okay! Time for the rules! So, like, you play as one of these characters and solve this murder. You...you know what, let's make our own rules. Start with three cards...that seems reasonable...and roll the dice. All these rules are in Japanese! Let's learn while we go!" Looking through the characters, Kira settles on the young adult woman in red. "Why are only two of these characters wearing jewelry? You know what, this whole class needs a whole lot more jewelry."

"I...this one..." Takara picks the character that is also a young adult and in purple.

"..." I just choose the characters that are closest to my hand, which so happens to be the maid. We all then place our characters on what we think is the start sign. It too is in Japanese.

"So what do we do? And can we read those cards?"

"Don't question it!" Kira silences me as she places three cards from three different piles inside a folder that she places in the middle of the board. Looking at the board more closely, I see there are many rooms and spaces. The spaces must be what the dice are used for.

"What?" Takara just stares at the cards that Kira gives him, and then she does the same with herself and I. I am about to lay them down when Kira stops me.

"Don't show other people your cards! I gotta beat ya fair and square..." Kira then coughs. "So you wanna figure out who killed this old geezer by going into the rooms and gathering evidence. I think there's supposed to be more pieces but this is all we got."

"How are we supposed to solve a murder? I am sure that we aren't being forced to. Why not wait until the police show up?" And how are we supposed to do this with cards? How does any of this make sense? Even if we have things like the murder weapons, I am not sure how average people off the street can solve murders.

"We're being like rained in or something. The police won't arrive until its too late, and you know how useless they are! We just gotta find the person who killed the geezer and kick his ass!"

"Can we...s-see the body and r-review the evidence?"

"Takara, the evidence is in your hands! You gotta find the killer, room, and murder weapon before anybody else! I think you like guess things by entering the room, and, if you're like, right, then somebody shows you their card. I don't know! Japanese is hard!"

"Shouldn't we work together? Even if one of us is the killer, more heads together would help us solve the case if this game is anything to go by," I point out. Nothing about this game makes sense. "How about we collect testimony and examine each room carefully-"

"Because any of us can be the killer...you know what...You two are impossible! That's it! I'm gonna win the game!" Kira then takes the envelope and opens what is inside. "...These can't be right. What the fuck!?"

"What?"

"Puhuhuhu~ It was me, in the library, with an over glorified shot put ball. That's fun for a future plotline." Monokuma appears by our side. All of our faces fall. This is possibly the end of us all, and we have not even made it to sunrise yet. The moon is now gone, leaving us all in the darkness. Kaneshiro has the power to change everything in this program after all. "Oh, and I framed the protagonist so goodbye...I get the feeling it shouldn't be the maid."

For this fleeting moment of happiness, all of us will die. Not that I mind my own death. But Kira and Takara want to live longer, and I will not stand to see another innocent person die because of my decisions. Minato...Minato's death was all my fault. There is nobody else to blame but myself. And, if we die here, then it's the same. I am a bad luck charm that brings death wherever I go. Even back on the island with my father, the massive amounts of death only happened after I got there.

"Eek!"

"Relax, kids, I ain't gonna punish you, that would be so boring. Consider this a warning." Monokuma has an unreadable expression that looks to be too human to be on a bear. Out of everything I have seen, that has been the scariest. "But let's just enjoy the sunset for now. It's a field trip."

We find ourselves being forced to the edge of the cliff and sitting down. Our legs dangle from the edge, threatening us to dare to make us fall. Monokuma would probably find a way for us to survive and suffer longer than we already have. His word is law in this Hell. A law nobody can stand but all must follow.

But, even after all of this, the sunrise is beautiful.

The same sunrise as back in the islands, with the sun painting the waves a wonderful mix of yellow, orange, and red. It overpowers the serene moonlight road until it becomes nothing more than the past. Nothing from the past remains but our twisted memories. Though not even our memories are trustworthy. After all, Kaneshiro has complete control over them. Nothing is the same, but everything is. We truly are nothing more than his damn puppets. Doomed in an endless cycle for his entertainment until all of us die.

"Its morning now fuckers, time to get back to the plot!"

* * *

We return back to the main hallway with Monokuma leading us. I almost expected for us to be pulled by some kind of lead, but I think Monokuma got enough despair out of Minato. Minato...if they were here, and not me, then everybody would be so much happier. They deserve to live so much more than me. Only if there was some way to let me switch my life for theirs or anybody else for that matter. Even Akita, having her alive and questioned would solve so many mysteries.

Though, like that game, we are only characters to be played with and thrown away once Kaneshiro grows tired of us. Then, years later, be played again as nothing changed. Much like a fiddle, a fiddle that cannot break under the constant stress of time.

"That's it, I'm going back to sleep." Although Monokuma proclaimed it was morning, I still doubt it. Or maybe I am just too tired. Sleeping seems better than staying awake. At least asleep in my dreams nobody actually dies. Only bits of my barely there sanity.

* * *

 _ **Monokuma Theatre!**_

 _Well, apparently last time I was supposed to continue the story but got sidetracked. Great. Like I really want to continue the story. People can figure it out theirselves, God._

 _Oh wait, gotta get in character~_

 _Puhuhuhu...that wasn't good enough. Upupupup...I ain't Japanese. We're using all the English translations for this story. Pupupup...Now I know something is wrong with this damn script. Hyuk, hyuk, hyuk...only an idiot would make Monokuma laugh like this!_

 _You know what, give us damn time to write these, Ayano, and stop going to damn sleep! Get on with the plot already! Like, remember that memory you got with Kaneshiro. **RESEARCH THAT! GOD I'M SO BORED!**_

 _Jesus Christ, can't you put Bob back on duty? Oh wait, you can't because he's dead! Stop killing people-_

* * *

That was...weird. Though I guess that person has a point. It might be what Kaneshiro wants, but Kazuhiko entrusted Kindra with me. Just what is our connection to everybody? And who is Kindra? Kaneshiro said she would be happy to have me or something so I do not think it has a good answer.

 _Take care of Kindra_

Kazuhiko said it would take too long to explain before Monokuma executed him. Though I do notice that she does not seem to be Japanese. Perhaps there will be more information in the library. Also will be nice to finally know how Sae Emiya and Chiyo Jinya fit into this overly long puzzle.

The library then. If Kaneshiro wants me to figure out this certain mystery, then there should be a book with the answers or at least a clue.

But...I have a feeling I should check somewhere else. Someplace I have not been in a long time. It is on the tip of my tongue where I should investigate but I make my way towards the library.

* * *

Instead of the emptiness I was expecting, I see that Takara is with Kira, with both of them working on one of the tables. I wonder where Atsuto, Hotaru, Yasu, Hayato, Tsukiko, and Akemi are. All of us should keep tabs on each other if we want to figure out everything. If eyes are constantly on Kaneshiro, he is bound to mess up somewhere.

"Hey, Ayano, we're dragging you back in! Monokuma won't interrupt our plans in matchmaking!" Kira smiles. "Only if we had the Ultimate Matchmaker here. But, trust me, you gotta distract Yasu. We got our plans with Atsuto." Wait, why are they putting me with Yasu? I like Yasu and all, yet I am sure that the others know how close we are.

"But I was planning-"

"Nope! You promised to help us-"

"I didn't promise to anything."

"Too bad! You're helping us!" Kira exclaims. Takara stares at me and mouths something. It seems to be something close to I am sorry.

"Alright." Maybe it is the best to wait for later to investigate the matter. I do not want anybody walking in and finding my behavior oddly suspicious. Kaneshiro has conflicting feelings and unpredictable behavior. Although he wants me to figure things out right now, that can change at any time.

Or, you know, he decides to do _it_ again because he's bored and I'm a bad girl.

"So, like, do something or...something. Something!" I take that as my time to leave. Sure, I do not know where Yasu is at the moment, but I believe I can guess. Yasu is in their wheelchair so they are most likely on the first floor. They could have somebody helping them. And that somebody is most likely Atsuto, Akemi, or both of them. Time to go searching for all of them.

* * *

First I go to the kitchen, where I find Tsukiko and Hayato together, probably going over more plans. The both of them have seen better days. Their eyes have bags underneath them which tell me that they have not been asleep for a long time.

"Have you seen..." Do not want to sound suspicious. They might know something is up if I ask for Yasu. "...Atsuto anywhere?"

"No, the only other person that has entered the kitchen is you, Ayano," Hayato answers. "...Why exactly are you looking for Atsuto?" Even with that request, Hayato seems to know something. Then again, Hayato might be worried about me considering what I tried to do early yesterday morning.

"I...um...wanted to talk to him?"

"Ayano, you're such a bad liar," Tsukiko jokes. She motions me to sit next to them but I stay in my spot. Kira may be blind and small but I do not want to face her fury.

"We...had...something to do-"

"What is this about having something to do with me?" Just at that moment, Atsuto and Akemi come walking in the door with Yasu as well. This is something I did not plan for. God, I did not think through this plan that well, but I am noticing I am being a lot more impulsive as time goes on. This is not a good thing.

"Um...well...bye!" Before anybody could react, I run out of there with Yasu. Yasu is the most confused out of everybody. They, however, do not seem to mind my sudden actions. Mochi climbs up my arm somehow and rests onto of my shoulder. I did not know how big my shoulders really were until now.

"Kid, um, where are we going?" Yasu questions me. I think for a second since we cannot go back into the library for whatever Kira and Takara are planning. Or should I say, Kira, with Takara being her unlucky slave? Probably that.

"The...um...workout room?"

"Are...Forget about it," Yasu replies while they start subconsciously scratching at their wrists. Mochi then hurries down and makes them realize what they are doing, causing them to stop.

"Let's...just go there..." Kira and Takara owe me one for all of this. I could feel the blush in my cheeks slowly fade away in time as we quietly make our way to the other room.

Now I truly wished I had Mirabilis's CDs so I could show them it. I'm pretty sure Yasu would have enjoyed it.

* * *

In the gym, there is nobody there. Everything is cleaner than the beginning of the game yet it is clear that nobody seriously uses this room. All the people that would have possibly done that are now dead. Hotaru is the last person with a strictly physical talent and she is the type of person who does not train or practice. She is most likely one of the lucky few that was born with their talent.

"Let's talk, Yasu!"

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Yasu Matsuhita?**_

 _ **Yes/No**_

* * *

"...Okay...?"

"So, um, how did you get your talent?" I ask. It's a simple question really. Since I have figured out asking about parents can lead to not so great results. For Yasu, I have a feeling they would lead to one of those results. Everybody decided that surviving the Tragedy meant you were given free reign to act like a douche. Because, hey, at least you are not a despair.

"I worked in my father's shop," they answer. With all of the interaction I am having today with them, Yasu is doing better, at least on the outside. "They really didn't like it but I did it anyway. Told me...nevermind."

"Alright."

"But...um...I loved proving them wrong! Somebody like me can be an engineer, so, kid, if somebody tells you not to do something, fuck em." Yasu then pulls something out of their box and I look at it. It is some kind of grappling hook.

"What is that for?"

"You'll see, kid. Jump on." Thinking for a second, I jump onto the back of Yasu's wheelchair. Yasu then aims their hook and shoots it at the opposite side of the room. There is nothing in our way since most of the equipment in on the sides of the room, not the middle like us.

The second I was expecting nothing is going to happen, I feel the two of us zoom across the room. Adrenaline goes through my system, but it is not out of fear like so many different times in this cruel game. It takes only seconds to zip across the room and I find myself wanting more. So does Yasu, as they do it again and again and again.

However, Yasu stops when the both of us are starting to feel a bit dizzy from the constant back and forth. I almost land face first onto the ground but correct myself before I do. We both begin to laugh, not knowing the reason why but not able to stop ourselves. People would not guess that we were two suicidal misfits just looking in our innocent fun. Just two teenagers trying to find their place in the world.

"...Kid...I mean, Ayano...how did you get your talent?"

"Oh, I used to hack many things to help Kazuhiko write stuff for his articles." Before that, Kotori built upon the skills my father taught me for her own personal gain. Must have realized I had a natural knack for hacking, and it helped her with her experiments, mostly with not getting noticed by the public by silencing vocal critics on the few social network sites still up. "And...I may or may not have uploaded an AI into this program."

"Cool...Wait, did you read that book I gave you?"

"..." Shit, I totally forgot Yasu had given me a book to read. In my defense, I have been really busy trying not to die. And then trying to die. "I...um..."

"It's alright, a lot of things are happening. Can't believe its been, like, a month since all of this began." A month? It has been that short of a time. For me, it has felt like years, years of neverending torture, of wishing to just get out of here already.

"A month? Can't believe I've done so many bad things in the course of a month!" My sense of time has been so distorted. I have gone too accustomed to the constant cycle of sleep, wake, suffer, and repeat. Minutes blend into hours that turn into days. It's all honestly a blur.

"Listen to me, Ayano...you're a good person..."

 _That's what I thought. Now you're a good protagonist. And don't good girls deserve to be rewarded with something?_

 _Another, please? You're learning your manners again. That's a good girl._

 _Good girl. That's bad. Being called good is bad. Bad, bad, bad. Nothing good comes from it. It's all pain and suffering. The want for things to return to its natural state of nothingness. The state of the universe before everything came to being._

 _Good girl, good girl, good girl._

"Ayano? Can you hear me, Ayano?"

 _Good girl, good girl, good girl._

"Ayano!" Pulling me out of my state, Yasu hugs me with tears in their eyes. Mochi also begins to try to comfort both of us, with him nuzzling against me.

"Yasu?"

"Thank God...you're back..." Yasu then faints onto me. Maybe their obvious narcolepsy is a topic for another day. For now, I let them rest of my shoulder. They are so stressed when awake, but, like this, they are so peaceful, so relaxed. Like this whole thing is not happening and ruining our lives.

"...U-um...Oh no, I fell asleep again! I'm so sorry!" Yasu begins to apologize many times and every time I would have to reassure them that they did nothing wrong.

"...This might seem out of the blue but what are your thoughts or romance, Yasu?" Before Kira's crazy plan, I want to make sure that it would not rub Yasu the wrong way. Some people are just not interested in romance and that's okay. Especially in the game where it can be predicted that at least one of you will die because of your decisions.

"Romance? What?"

"Yeah, romance."

"...Romance?"

"Romance."

" _Romance_?"

"Yes." Should have probably made that question flow more seamlessly into the conversation, but now I am curious. Yasu is somebody who can be hard to read at times.

"Oh, so like in books?" I want to facepalm but keep a straight face. Yasu truly is perfect for Atsuto, both of them are clueless. Although it is clear that Atsuto, or at least his personas, are interested in romance. "I like the romance in the Wheel of Time. Sure, it takes a while but it pays off wonderfully. Only if the original author lived to finish it all. Because, c'mon, we all know who truly belongs with Rand."

"...Whose Rand?"

"Read the book and you'll find out-"

Then, at that very moment, Kira comes knocking down the door with Takara and Atsuto in tow. I sure hope she will not be punished by Monokuma for that.

"Time for our plan to be put into action!"

"Oh my God, all of you are idiots." Right after them, there is Tsukiko and Akemi, who are both out of breath. They sigh as our group runs toward the library.

* * *

Going into the library, I am surprised what Kira and Takara have done with the place. With Takara as her eyes, Kira still has an eye for all things beautiful. That is one of the things she understands as a jeweler.

There is not a lot to work with so the two of them made do with what they got. All the tables that are not the main ones have been pushed away. The main one has a bed sheet with a nice dinner set up on it. A dinner setup of bread and water but it is nice nevertheless. Somewhere, Kira or Takara found candles and lite them up, leaving those to be the only light in the library.

"Oh." Yasu stares at me with a sudden realization as they are wheeled to one end of the table. Kira, with a fierce grin, forces Atsuto into the chair at the other side.

"What's going on?"

"Atsuto, I think they're forcing us on a date."

"...What?"

With their realization out of the way, Kira and Takara pull me out of the library and into the hallway, where Tsukiko and Akemi wait for us. Tsukiko is quite neutral but Akemi looks like he is about to blow a fuse.

"Are you trying to get them killed or something? Monokuma targets people like them! Didn't you witness the last trial?" Akemi sighs.

"Actually no-"

"Shut up, Kira."

"Okay, let's calm down here, can you tell me what's going on?" Tsukiko asks. Once again, Tsukiko is being the voice of reason. Having somebody like her here is good, considering our two other leaders have just died.

"Operation Atsusu! We're matchmaking Atsuto and Yasu-"

"This is a horrible idea-"

"Oh my God, that's so wonderful! They'll be so cute with each other~" Tsukiko's eyes begin to sparkle as she speaks like a teddy bear. "Imagine them doing cute things! Like eating sweet things like in romance songs~"

"Exactly-"

"You're only dooming them to an early death. Look at Ayano and Kazuhiko, and Namita and Miyuki! They're dead. Nothing good comes from romance..." Akemi is about to finish his thoughts but Tsukiko glares into his eyes. Even though he can overpower her easily, Akemi takes a step back.

"You know what, you and Kira have been fighting lately. Let's make you two friends-"

"What?" Tsukiko does not answer Kira's answer as she drags the two of them away, with the same look in her eyes. There is nothing we can do to save them now.

With nothing to do, Takara and I stand guard in front of the door for what seems like hours, just keeping to ourselves. That is until Hotaru comes along, skipping down the hallway without a care in the world.

"Can you feel the love tonight? The peace the evening brings. The world, for once, in perfect harmony, with all its living things. Can you feel the love tonight? You needn't look too far. Stealing through the night's uncertainties. Love is where they are!" Hotaru has a surprisingly good singing voice.

"Hello, Hotaru, where have you-"

"I heard there is something juicy happening in here~ I wanna sneak a peek!" Takara and I try to stop Hotaru but she easily overpowers us.

"Boy, you can't deny it. Who you are is how you're feeling. Baby, we're not buying. Hon, we saw you hit the ceiling. Face it like a grown-up. When you gonna own up that you got got got it bad!" Hotaru's face drops when she realizes there is nobody there to sing to. They must have gone up since that is where Hotaru immediately goes to. Takara and I run after her, not wanting her to ruin everything we worked for.

Looking back on the setup, I wonder if Hotaru would want to do anything with me, but I quickly try to banish that thought. She wouldn't want to be with somebody like me. I don't even know if she's into girls, or boys, or anyone. All it is...is a crush and that's all it will be.

I am the last up there. With Hotaru and Takara, I witness the sight of Atsuto and Yasu sleeping, with Yasu laying onto Atsuto's shoulder. Like before, Yasu is peaceful, and Atsuto is too.

"Sha la la la la la. My oh my! Looks like the boy's too shy. Ain't gonna kiss his love. Sha la la la la la!" Hotaru screams directly into their ears, waking the two of them up.

"Hotaru!?"

"A whole new world. With new horizons to pursue. You'll chase them anywhere. There's time to spare-"

"We get it!"

* * *

 **Hotaru is a Disney nerd confirmed.**

 **Okay, so, um, I've forgotten the questions of the chapter for some of them (because emotional trauma) so here they are again.**

 **Question of the Chapter: What is your favorite pairing that isn't canon? (although they're not canon... _yet_...Atsusu doesn't count)**

 **And also bringing back the SYOC recommendations. If you want me to recommend your SYOC, just message me and be polite. :D**

 **SYOC of the Chapter: The Living and the Lost by YellowtheWriter**

 **Reviews~**

 **RioA-Helloooooooooo~ Yes, enjoy all of these people suffering.**

 **Scissor-Snipper-More characters are learning about the fourth wall! Hide! Remember, Kira is still pissed off at Akemi (but it was harsh, Kira). The typos were happening. Turns out Kaneshiro figured out how to do himself. But everybody's brainwashed~ Kaneshiro will ruin your day. Overanalyze everything, the answers for everything are almost all here (look in the library, Ayano). I'm surprised it took people this long to notice Makoto is not Matoko. Kaneshiro did Kaneshiro.**

 **AnonChan1-Ayano thinks she created Kaneshiro because she thinks Kotori's death created his insanity and she was the cause of Kazuhiko doing that (no, Ayano, that's not right). I can be funny when I want to be. :3 AYANO WON'T LISTEN! Hayato: our lord and savior. Atsuto deserves all the happiness in the world. Here are more references. Yeah, Ayano had a panic attack. Because they're cute with each other and I can't stop my shipping heart. Bear propaganda is the best propaganda. Akemi is like...I'm surrounded by idiots. Yes, Kira is gonna ship this so hard. Kira is like...dammit, I missed my OTP's bonding moment. But Kaneshiro ain't part of the Committee (in fact, getting rid of the Committee would be great for him). No, your theories don't suck. Because we all know Mochi is the mastermind. BUT KANESHIRO WOULD ENJOY THAT!**

 **ThePLOTHand-Yes, audiobook go! Turns out Crit Fail is actually my twin sister pretending to be someone else. :3**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-Kira, yes. ;) I THINK NO MATTER WHAT YOU'RE GONNA LOSE IT! The ship shall sail~ Hopefully it doesn't crash like poor KazuhikoxAyano and NamitaxMiyuki. I think we would all love that, including Kaneshiro. Pain will only bring him joy, guys. Anybody could be the mastermind. ;) Only I...and Rachelle...and Rio...and Sona...actually, a lot of people know. I think I'm gonna break people by confirming their theory: Mochi is the mastermind. Yay! More emotional trauma! Thanks. Oh, shit is gonna go down next chapter. ;) BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!**

 **SanityRequiem-Oh hi me.**


	58. Chapter 5-3

**Chapter 5-3: Nothing Good Ever Lasts**

 **(...um...things happen...nothing good ever lasts...I'm suffering)**

 **(mostly because things get heavy and there are things like deadnaming and serious conversations about rape...yippee, its a fun chapter)**

* * *

Everything is normal, too normal. It has been two more days and nothing has really happened. Just a rinse and repeat of before. It's honestly rather boring. Atsuto and Yasu are getting closer, with Tsukiko forcing Kira and Akemi to work out their differences. Tsukiko's plan isn't working out all that well and I can tell it's stressing her out but she says that everything is okay.

But something about the null events feels...relaxing. Like the world is finally giving us time to breathe. Time that is not filled with all of our friends dying. Yet that is the cruelest thing. Because eventually, somebody will die, someone always does. No matter what, people die. Even Matoko...or Makoto...or whatever does. Getting closer to each other will only make the inevitable so much harder to bear.

Finally, though, late at night with almost everyone sleeping, I find some time to do what I have wanted to do for some time: search the library for clues about Kindra. Climbing up to the upper library makes me feel lifeless. Like all my limbs are weightless as I float up to whatever greets me.

What I didn't expect was to see Tsukiko there, at the desk, deeply into one of the books. My curiosity gets the better of me when I slowly creep up to her to see that it is the book of experiments. She is about three-fourths of the way through it. The dark circles under her eyes tell me that she has not spent that much time sleeping.

"Ayano!? I didn't see you there." Gently folding the page she was on, Tsukiko gets out of her seat and turns to face me.

"What are you reading that for-"

"Never mind that! I actually have something to talk to you about. Would you mind if you spend a little time with me?"

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Tsukiko Oda?**_

 _ **Yes/No**_

* * *

"I got nothing better to do," I lie. Tsukiko looks ready to fall over but perhaps she can provide more information. There might be something missing from my memory from the experiments that she has fresh in hers. Or maybe I could get some clues that what she has been planning this entire time.

"Sweet!" she cheers. "I can talk girl to girl! Don't get me wrong, I like Kira and Hotaru but...um...yeah." I get what Tsukiko means. We are close in age and maturity, so it makes sense that she goes to me before them. Plus, while I like those two, I can admit that they have their...quirks.

"Okay." Then again, Tsukiko and I have our quirks too. It seems like every Ultimate does. The unspoken rule with everybody of our kind. Be crazy. So Monokuma will enjoy slowly breaking you until you are nothing more than...a pet. Being called a puppet gives you too much credit.

I need to calm down, there is no use having a mental breakdown in front of Tsukiko. Now I need to think about what to do here. Girl talk. Okay. I may be the closest to Tsukiko in age and maturity, but not in personality and experiences. There was never really time to do girly things, only survive and hope the next day will be better.

"...What do girls even talk about?" I ask her.

"Things like..." Tsukiko blushes. "... _Boys_...and stuff..." She starts playing around with her fingers much like somebody younger than her age. Once again, seeing somebody who is usually so...what is the right word...Somebody who acts much older than she acting like this is...refreshing? Maybe I am seeing this side of her more since Namita and Miyuki are both out of the picture. I can still tell that she is trying to hide her pain from everybody. She's a great actress, she should become one if we get out of here...even though that is impossible. But just in case.

"Boys?"

"I know I shouldn't be thinking about stuff like romance and sweets and stuff during a time like this but...I can't help myself! People are dying and I'm off acting like a kid!" Tsukiko vents. She sits down on the floor, hiding her face in her knees. I go down as well, but cross my legs and look straight at her.

Is this the part where I am supposed to comfort her? Or perhaps she is looking more for somebody to hear her rather than help her. Tsukiko strikes me as the type of person who would not react well to people trying to talk her through things. She much rather do that to them than the other way around.

"...But, you know...sometimes I wonder what would have happened if Namita and Miyuki survived...How my band and friends would interact with them...Manami was a lot like Naoko used to be like so she would probably hide behind me...Hoshiko would like them as long as they don't cause trouble...Nemu would be forced to make sure Yume doesn't traumatize them by acting too much like Hotaru...and Marika...everybody needs time to get used to Marika but she's a sweet girl..." Tsukiko looks like she is somewhere else. She sighs as she examines her hands, her manicure long lost to this cruel game. "I wonder how they're all doing."

"I'm sure Monokuma was lying about that motive...well, that wasn't a motive but you get the idea-"

"No...at least for one of them..." Tsukiko takes out her monopad chewing on her lip. I get the idea immediately. She must have just watched the motive recently, at least past the trial. "Manami got fucking electrocuted and I couldn't do anything. Just because she was late to school!"

"You know what, I got nobody like that anymore, which is probably why Monokuma didn't give that motive to Hotaru and me. It just wouldn't work." And it is all my fault that motive got introduced in the first place. Kaneshiro did it as payback for escaping him in the shrine. There may be two masterminds but it is clear that Kirigiri is not in control. Kaneshiro took the privilege of that title away from her. She must have been the one in charge of the previous game in here, however.

"...I'm probably sounding petty right now..." Tsukiko makes direct eye contact with me and I could truly see how tired she was. Tired of being our Atlas, for even sometimes Atlas wants to give up. To this shrug off the world and forsake humanity for just a second of rest. "...Manami made this outfit for me since she wanted me to wear something cute for the first day of school...and then she said that she wanted me to show her my keyboard skills, for she was jealous that only Marika seems to see them since we have music classes together."

"You do the keyboard?" I have always assumed Tsukiko knew something about music considering her talent, but I never expected her to be interested in an instrument. Much less something as out of style as the keyboard.

"Yeah."

"Cool."

We then sit in silence for a little while, enveloped in our own little worlds. Our little worlds that mean nothing to people that are in charge of our fates. For the despairs, Tsukiko is probably just a pain in the side, while I am somebody to be toyed with in whatever way they deem fit.

"So who's the boy you have a crush on?" I ask Tsukiko out of the blue. It is clear to me now that she has one. As somebody who has loved somebody before, I can notice things like this. Also, Tsukiko is really bad at hiding her romantic side apparently.

"I don't have a crush!? What are you talking about? That's ridiculous!" Add onto that actor thought, Tsukiko is really bad at lying about typical girl things. So cast her in a role that does not include those.

"Is it now?"

"OhmygodIcan'tbelievethisishappeninglordsaveme-"

"...What?" Even though I should not pry, and there are better things to spend my time on, I find my curiosity peaked. For something as stupid as a teenage crush. I really am a weird one.

 _Oh, you like that girl! And, by my calculations, I think its more than a little like. Kazuhiko would be even sadder! He literally just died, and you already found a rebound!_

Stop thinking about that, Ayano. No emotional breakdowns in front of Tsukiko, remember? Because then I know Tsukiko would start becoming annoying and pestering me about help.

"Thisisworsethantheidiotwhodecidedtocallgreengrapeswhiteandpurplegrapesred-"

Maybe I should just start to guess people and see how she responds. That will be faster than this. And Tsukiko should be going to sleep soon, or something like that, so I can be in here all by myself.

"...I swear to God if its Hayato...that actually makes sense...Oh...Oh... _Oh_."

"..."

"..."

"...OhmygodIcan'tbelievethisishappeninglordsavemeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...Oh my God...Oh my God... _Oh my God_..." Tsukiko hides her face again. Bullseye. There is something strangely fascinating in figuring out something like this.

"..."

"..."

"..." Why do I always find myself in the awkward situations? Tsukiko, with her face red and forgetting the book she was reading on the table, runs out of the upper library. I do not chase after her, finally finding a moment that I can research the whole mystery behind Kindra Hiraoka.

The first thing I do, however, is look at the book of experiments Tsukiko was reading. I see that she is in the section of 'social' experiments. Thinking, the first place I look is the personality experiments. Kaneshiro told me that memories have been altered by the Committee, and I do not know for how long or how powerful their technology is. There is a chance that everything is fake and then our suffering would really just be for the entertainment of sick bastards.

"This is going to take forever." There are hundreds of these. Due to my luck, I am betting that a random one near the end is the only one that will give us any sort of information. "Fuck."

* * *

After what seems like hours of fruitless research, my head starts to hurt and vision becomes blurry. I have no choice but to take a break from the work. There is nothing new, it seems like the only thing that is important out of here is Personality Experiment #045. And we already know everything we can about that. Monokuma remarked something about the last experiment being somewhere else.

However, a new thought enters my mind, the diaries. I have bearly observed the contents of the diary room. A lot of it is blank or pure nonsense but there has to be at least one more clue. Figuring out this mystery is the only thing keeping me going. No matter what, there is always a part of my brain that yearns for all kind of knowledge, even if it's forbidden.

I get into the room and...see that Atsuto and Yasu are there. They must have been there a long time for me to not notice them entering. Both of them look tired. Looks like everybody was fishing around for information tonight instead of sleeping. Perhaps we can have some weird sleepover thing during the day. Keeping tabs on each other lowers the possibility of death. But maybe we should wait until Monokuma gives us another motive.

Surrounding the two of them is almost all of the books on the shelves. They are all disorganized with them being open or not seems random. There are also papers written in their own writing along with some kind of string connecting things together.

"Ayano, what are you doing still awake?" Atsuto asks. I see that the both of them have coffee with them. I thought Yasu did not like coffee. Guess they are the type of person that drinks it when they have to and hide the taste with an absurd amount of sugar.

"What are _you_ doing awake? And how did Yasu get up here?"

"We're looking for clues for the mastermind," Yasu answers. They take a sip out of their coffee. Their face contorts but they keep it down. There is nothing left now but Yasu does not seem to mind.

"And I'm just really strong." Way to be humble, Atsuto.

"Have you found anything?"

"Kid, you're in luck, our suffering has lead to some interesting results." Yasu turns to grab something behind them while Mochi makes his way inside the coffee mug. I may not be the biggest fan of cute things, yet I cannot deny how adorable Mochi is. With his cuteness, and him giving us hope, I am surprised Kaneshiro has not killed Mochi.

"These are correct. I remember this." Atsuto gives me a page from in front of him. I begin to read it and try to see how everything connects together.

There, in his hands, were three pieces of paper. After thinking a while, I remember where there are from. These are from the book detailing the deaths! Like the pages missing from that, these are clearly hastily torn out. The mastermind must have tried to hide them in one of the diaries so nobody can find them.

March third, the day Takayuki said Akita was found after she was kidnapped by Hideyoshi. But not necessarily the same year. The deaths are Chiyo Jinya and Akita Yamazaki, the original one, not the Sae Emiya we knew. Both of them were shot dead by the other. There is something missing to this narrator, a key that opens up the lock of understanding for this mystery.

"There are mentions of Chiyo in the scare diaries Hideyoshi didn't leave blank," Yasu informs me.

"He said that she and the original Takayuki spent a lot of time together as the original duo of the Committee," Atsuto explains. "Right after she died, the original Takayuki killed himself. We think that he killed himself to stop himself from giving into the despair video, which is why Kaneshiro thinks he was immune." I do not try to correct Atsuto that anybody can fight out despair with enough willpower or something. Mostly because I have no idea how Hanako's situation worked thanks to her being dead.

"So...Akita, who was really a girl named Sae, was given Chiyo's place in history..."

"Yes, Kotori was planning something with Personality Experiment #045.

"I'm the only one still here without corrupted memories. Before the real Akita went missing, Hideyoshi did. But they both came back at the same time-"

"To brutally murder everybody you love!" Monokuma pops into the room and we all jump. The bear knocks over the mug Mochi was staying in, and Yasu saves their rabbit before anything happens. Yasu places Mochi back into their toolbox immediately.

"Monokuma!?" Atsuto is the only one who stands up to him. Yasu backs theirself into a corner and makes themself as small as they can. Their hands cover their mouth as Yasu tries to stop theirself from gagging. I freeze, not knowing how to react. Images of the sunset try to calm me but it only makes me more on edge. Monokuma gives us no privacy.

"I'm so impressed you shits can do something like this! You know what, for being good students, you guys get two hints. We need something to do to push the plot forward. And it's too early in the morning for a motive." Monokuma smiles as all of us struggle to even think. Atsuto himself cannot bring himself to say anything. It is better to indulge Monokuma in the pathetic lie that this is remotely like Junko's game. He might say he does not view it as such but that seems like a sore spot for him. Like this is not how things were supposed to go.

...The thing that changed was Akita dying...T-that's the reason why everything has turned out so badly, isn't it?

"First, we have something to deal with the original Bitch-chan and Clown Freak, a.k.a the better ones. Kaneshiro tortured them and all that jazz to the point of pure insanity. And Takayuki and Chiyo were on the case." Monokuma walks directly up to Atsuto. He then pulls out of his jetpack out of nowhere. With the jetpack, he flies, sending every paper in the room flying. The bear grabs onto Atsuto's chin and stares directly into his eyes. "You know what, that imposter was given her physical characteristics based on the original, right? Duh. They did fuck up with forgetting it was fingers, not hands, but the Committee is run by a bunch of idiots. And that scar looks more like a burn mark than anything-"

"Get on with it-"

"Careful, you don't wanna be punished, Lover Boy. What would your poor girlfriend think?" That bastard. He is trying to get a reaction out of us. Yasu's face darkens more, covering their chest. Atsuto looks like he is about to murder Monokuma. "Yumiko would be so much prettier if she embraced her feminine side. But we're getting off topic, ahem...Akita did that to herself."

With everything that is going on, Atsuto's skin begins to pale.

"Oh, and Ayano, don't forget your gift! The answer to Kindra Hiraoka~" It cannot be this easy. If Monokuma is telling me without a fight, he is clearly planning something. But he does not want me to try to kill myself again, he does not want another protagonist. Mostly because outside of being a manipulative coward, this Monokuma is lazy.

"What about her?"

"You should figure it out if you think about it hard enough. Hell, I'm surprised you didn't already figure it out. All you need is to think about Kotori Hiraoka. Stop repressing your own memories." With that, Monokuma leaves the three of us alone. We stay where we are for a while, stuck in our minds forcing us to go into a mental time loop of the possible truths told to us.

"Yasu, are you okay?" Atsuto is the first one to break free. The first thing he does is go up to Yasu. He whispers something in their ear that I cannot catch. Then he hugs them, with Yasu hugging him back.

"Atsuto, I should be asking you that-"

"No, I'm alright. I'm used to Kaneshiro-"

"Atsuto...Atsuto...do you think I should act more like a girl?" Yasu clings onto Atsuto harder. I feel like I'm interrupting a private conversation but I am still too stuck in my trance to move. Although I know the two of them should have their privacy, I want to see what happens here.

"No, Yasu, don't let anybody tell you that," Atsuto tells them while grabbing onto their shoulder. He towers over their small frame, even in this position, but Yasu does not look threatened by him. "...I love you the way you are now..."

"What? But I'm so...useless-" Atsuto does not give them time to finish their thoughts as he places his lips on theirs.

Alright, I should leave right now. This is an extremely private between these two. I do not want to imagine how awkward it would have been if somebody was watching my first kiss with Kazuhiko.

* * *

I find myself on the first floor again. Perhaps I should go to sleep, a lot has happened in a short time compared to the last two days. Most likely I will continue sleeping after Monokuma's announcement. It is not like that is the crime. Plus, I always feel tired, just before I was too focused on not dying to notice. Now I do not care about whether or not that happens. It would be better me than anybody else here...besides Akemi and whoever Kaneshiro is.

Then I notice that the kitchen light is on because the door is ajar. Every other time I entered a situation like this alone something bad happened. So why am I doing it again? Do I ever learn my lesson? I am truly an idiot, no wonder why Kaneshiro was able to use me so easily.

Inside the cafeteria, there is only Kira, all by herself. She once again had a coffee with her but ignores it. Her hand fixes her sunglasses, which she must have felt falling down. They are remarkably dirty.

"Kira?"

"Ayano!?" Kira jumps when she hears me. She accidentally spills her coffee again. The coffee makes a mess on the table, but Kira cannot tell as she looks around frantic.

"Its alright, Kira, do you want to talk about anything?"

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Kira Iwata?**_

 _ **Yes/No**_

* * *

"There's nothing else to do I guess." Kira crosses her arms. She is trying to act all mighty but this is the most childish she has ever been. With this, I move closer to her, taking the seat right next to her.

"What's on your mind?"

"...Nothing. Nothing at all! Now, won't you be a good friend unlike Takara and get me something that isn't coffee?" Kira asks. But I almost do not catch all of it. She tries to say something else but I am overwhelmed by the feeling of being underwater again. Of the air escaping my lungs as I almost drown.

"...Good...?"

"Yeah, good, is something wrong with that?" Kira asks, not seeing how my hands are now shaking. I know everything is alright but I _know_ everything is wrong. Even though nobody is behind me, the cruel sensation of warm breath invades my neck. Everything is hot. Too hot. "Ayano?"

Everything is painful. There's only pain...but that's a lie. I'm a fucking whore. Pleasure and pain mixed together make un _bear_ able guilt. That might not be scientific but I can rewrite the code of every science website to make it so the populace believes it to be true. Since I'm a heartless machine the Committee can use to do whatever the Hell they want.

"...You just said that out loud..." Shit. I have to really go to sleep if I make the simple mistake of not keeping things inside my head.

"What happened, Ayano? If you don't tell, I'm gonna stay here all night! I have to solve this!" Kira tries acting like her usual self but her voice is unusually quiet. She mumbles something but, once again, I cannot catch it. Her shoulders raise as she starts to play with some of her jewelry.

"..."

"Am I not a good friend? Why won't you tell me?" Kira questions me. However, I cannot form any words willingly from my mouth. Words are stuck but are begging to be let out. "Or is it something real bad?"

Bad. Good. I'm neither, stuck in the nothingness in-between. Kaneshiro, however, made me past the limit, and I'm just something for him to fucking play with-

"You're talking out loud again. I think I know what's happening here," Kira interrupts my thoughts. "I may be the Ultimate Jeweler but I will win at everything! Including beating Kaneshiro so you can feel better." Not caring about her lack of sight, she jumps onto the table, almost tripping on the spill. But she stands tall, puffing out her chest. Though, when she starts addressing my speech to me, she is facing the wrong way. "No matter what Kaneshiro does to you, you're my friend! Hell, if I could survive you being a _Kamukura_ , I can survive anything!"

"Really?"

"What did you actually kill Minato or something?" I could not answer Kira. "...Oh my God, you actually did kill Minato. Now this awkward but I won that bet with Takara. He owes me some of his treasures when we get out of here! I wanna make jewelry with them!" She takes a deep breath. "Okay, I'm getting off topic, this ain't about me...What am I talking about? It's about me making you feel better."

"...That would probably work better if you turn around." Following my words, Kira then gets almost too close to my face. She is now sitting down, either not realizing or caring about the coffee staining her skirt.

"You got raped, didn't you?" How did Kira figure it so easily? Might have been the whore comment, but I get the feeling that a lot of people would sadly not put two and two together even after that. "...You're not alone, I got raped too."

"What?"

"I felt like I was a burden to my parents and left them. And then Ayano...Kirigiri came to save me!" Kira admits. It surprises me how calm she is but then I pay closer attention. Her nails are digging into her skin, making me fear her accidentally drawing blood. "And Kirigiri is my guardian angel! She is the savior for this whole world!"

"...Kaneshiro r-r-r...took advantage of m-me when I escaped t-the game." Tears escape my eyes, but, even with that, there is a massive weight off my chest.

"Aha! We're already winning against Kaneshiro!"

"But what's your relationship with Kirigiri?" I ask her. There is clearly something wrong with it. Kirigiri is a manipulative bitch, so I highly suspect their relationship, be it romantic, platonic, or familial, is anywhere near healthy. Although Kaneshiro is the more threatening of the masterminds, it does not erase her sins.

"..." Now she is the one who is silent.

"I have a story to tell you then, something I don't like thinking about," I say. "It's about Kazuhiko and Kotori. It does not take a genius to figure out that he wasn't her adopted kid, but her child husband. Money was viewed as more important than him in Kazuhiko's blood family. His behavior used to piss me the Hell off. Making excuses for her and stuff. But then we started getting to know each other. We both grew with each other, eventually falling in love..." I take another deep breath. "...And, because of everything that happened, Kazuhiko killed her. Kotori was a bad person who tortured people only for the sake of despair. Something made her into that but I don't care what it was, her actions were unforgivable."

"H-how-"

"I guess we're more alike than we originally thought." I did not mean to interrupt her, but it is true. It is something that both of us need to hear.

"...Yeah, Ayano Kirigiri and I are married. But you don't understand, it was the only way to live with her and not be on the streets. Anything is better than the streets since I'm linked to the Committee." Getting off the table, Kira carefully makes her way down. I help her on the way.

"That's called Stockholm Syndrome."

"Let's talk about something else!" Kira dodges. Even though I know that it is not smart to retreat, possibly bringing up something else will make Kira calm down and be more open to other ideas. Or maybe everything I do makes things worse.

"Atsuto and Yasu kissed-"

"What!? Why didn't you tell me earlier?! Now we need another operation!" Kira then spends some time thinking. "Who is left to matchmake and who will be good with together-"

"Why are you two still awake?" Tsukiko then comes into the door. She looks like she has been doing something but I cannot guess what. "You got to wake up early so we can have your therapy session with Akemi-"

"Operation TsuHaya...or HayKiko...whatever! Operation HayKiko commence!" Kira yells out loud. I cannot tell whether or not she does not notice Tsukiko or just doesn't care. Not knowing what is happening, Tsukiko leaves the room.

* * *

I am forced to spend a lot of time with Kira developing a plan to get Tsukiko and Hayato together. Although Tsukiko is interested, I have no idea how Hayato would react. He is still recovering from the loss of Cassius. He is not like me who is pathetic enough to already have found a rebound.

"Is your marriage with Ayano Kirigiri anything like this?"

"Oh, you misunderstand! We're not romantic or sexual or anything. It's more a marriage of convenience. So both of us can win in the world," Kira explains. Something is still missing from this story. There are more ways to abuse somebody than sexually or physically. "Kirigiri is better than most people out there! So she wouldn't try anything."

"Does she lash out at you-"

"What are you talking about!? Of course not!" Note to self, Kira is an awful liar when stressed. There is a hundred percent chance that Kirigiri abuses her. I am not into the percentages anymore, yet anybody can find that answer, even an innocent child not yet tainted by the evils of the world.

"Another story time..." I take Kira's sunglasses off and look directly into her eyes. They have been completely destroyed with almost no sign of her previously mossy green eyes left. However, Kira's eyes are not heinous or disgusting as I thought they would be. Kira's face looks a lot less young than when the game started. And I almost question myself on how skin can be this green on a living human being. "Before I got there, Kotori would only hit and do other...things...to Kazuhiko when she was in a really bad mood. Most of the time, she would just degrade him, treat him as less of a human being."

"Really...?" Kira turns her head to face the wall. She bites onto her lip and forces her possible tears down. A sick part of my curiosity wonders how it looks and feels with her eyes. "I guess she can like that sometimes. She really doesn't like her family. At first, I was like, your parents are your parents, you should love them! But...she convinced me otherwise..."

"She abused you, Kira. Admitting that won't let you lose anything."

"...You're right...I guess." Kira does not elaborate further as picks up her sunglasses and starts to play around with her necklace. She then takes it off with no fuss, like she has done it a billion times before. "...I might not be able to see you but you would look beautiful in this..."

"Kira!? You can't give me this! It must cost a fortune-"

"I can't afford my own jewelry. It's fake. So just wear it!" Kira then feels for me, and, once she has a good idea of where I am, places the necklace on my neck. Just doing this without her sight convinces me without a doubt that Kira Iwata is the true Ultimate Jeweler.

"We should go to sleep." The fact that the announcement has not played yet shocks me. If I do not get sleep soon, I know I will faint. Probably into the spilled coffee knowing my luck.

"Kira!" Hearing that voice, I can that both Kira and I freeze. Ayano Kirigiri burst through the cafeteria door, leaving it wide open. She has definitely seen better days. Her hair is all over the place and nothing has been cleaned, even her once professional outfit, for days, or even weeks. "I have something to tell you! Right now!"

"She won't listen to you anymore." I go up to Kirigiri directly and tower over her. Although Kirigiri is on edge, it is clear she does not care about me.

"This isn't about anything like that-"

"Ayano is right-"

"Kira, shut up, and listen to me-"

"I'm tired of listening to you!" Kira shouts. She stays where she is but stands her ground. Kira's posture makes her look taller than she is. And, for once, Kira has the appearance of an adult.

"Listen! I know who the mastermind is so you better-" Before Kirigiri can say anything else, there is a loud boom that erupts in the room. The next thing I know, Ayano Kirigiri is on the floor, with a bullet in her head. The Kirigiri and Naegi bloodlines have fallen.

And then I heard a scream. A scream like nothing I have never heard before. One filled with pure terror, confusion, and relief. That is not how a scream is supposed to sound like but it is unmistakably one.

* * *

 **Hahahahaha... _please kill me._**

 **The reason why Kira's free time event is so damn long is that of its plot important. I mean, Kirigiri does die during it, and we needed more Ayano character development too dammit.**

 **Yeah! Kirigiri is dead! Too bad she was just about to reveal who the mastermind is!**

 **QOTC: What Disney villain song do you think fits Kaneshiro the best? (I know this one is weird...but...its fun and we need fun right now)**

 **SYOC Rec: A New Game by mayurie (hahahahaha, I recommended your fic, Mayu, and there's nothing you can do to stop my kindness! READ DANG!)**

 **Reviews~**

 **RioA-Yep. FREAK OUT! THINGS WILL ONLY GET WORSE FROM HERE! AND WE DON'T EVEN HAVE THE MOTIVE YET!**

 **AnonChan1-Operation Atsusu has been successful. Monokuma is being a dick. Good, because the next victim died of diabetes and Ayano, Takara, and Kira get executed. Because I love suffering. Kira just doesn't care, she's like I can't read anyway but THESE PEEPS PLAY IT RIGHT! Well, Ayano needs sleep in this chap. Kaneshiro will test you because he likes that kind of thing. Hayato and Tsukiko are now the new victims of the matchmaking. Mochi is here, to give y'all hope. Or Yasu and Ayano get in a shipping war (hahaha, that wouldn't happen but what if). Ayano should become friends with Kotoko. DON'T CALL ME GOOD! Tsukiko is like...alright, KIRAXAKEMI and they both scream and fall into despair. Akemi is pissed he wasn't in this chapter. Sorry, Akemi, you were sleeping! Hotaru is the best singer out of the surviving players. ;) I WILL GIVE YOU SHIPPING FUEL! Hayato was off by himself being like...alright, I'll be the only one working on making sure we'll get out of here. I approve of these ships...so I can destroy you with angst!**

 **ThePLOTHand-Now I'm imagining that and like...why did you have to bring the dead meme back? XD WE LIVE AND DIE BY THE MEME! MONOKUMA WILL REMIND YOU OF PAIN!**

 **TheRoseShadow21-At least Aki and Akiza aren't in them anymore. You were right to be worried SINCE HERE'S THE ANGST TRAIN! CHOO CHOO! Thanks~ I'll keep it up with all the neverending suffering.**

 **BIBOTOT-Welcome back! :D Monokuma will never stop making up his own damn rules. Kira can be quite... _enthusastic_...with what she believes in. Hotaru is here to make people not jump off a cliff with this story~ Its because some people on here have been triggered by such events in the past, so I want to be careful. You got lucky. XD Well, Takara just needs to learn how to talk correctly. He's trying. Thank you with all the reviews~ Good luck with your own story, I wanna know who killed my precious baby. XD XD XD **


	59. Chapter 5-4

**Chapter 5-4: Love Doesn't Discriminate...Death Doesn't Discriminate...Life Doesn't Discriminate...**

 **(Why must I torture myself by writing these scenes? Seriously its so hard for me but I'm like I HAVE TO! THE PLOT MUST GO ON!)**

 **(You know what, I'm tired of writing these warnings, this is the warning that the rest of the story from here is messed up. ALL ABOARD THE ANGST TRAIN! CHOO CHOO!)**

* * *

It takes me a second to realize I was the one screaming.

The mastermind is here, and I'm defenseless once again, unable to do anything. Nothing can be done now about the woman bleeding from her head thanks to a gunshot wound to the head. Kaneshiro will make his way through that goddamn door. Then he will show me his disguise, and I would not be able to say anything because I will be forced onto his side once again.

"Ayano, w-what's going o-o-on? What happened to Kirigiri!?" Kira asks me, visibly shaking. She takes a slow, painful step forward as her facial features begin to fall. I, however, cannot find the strength to continue, only staring in absolute horror the scene before me. It might have been a short, not painful death, yet I still find myself shocked that I find dead bodies terrifying. The thing that gets me the most about all of them is their lifeless eyes.

"We heard a gunshot! What's going on!?" At that moment, Atsuto and Akemi come running into the cafeteria. They then notice Kirigiri's dead body and stop in their steps.

"...Kirigiri..." Atsuto, with some hesitation, then takes off his suit jacket and places it over her head. "We might have had our...differences...in the past but you're still my cousin."

"Nah, that bitch deserved what was coming to her-"

"Don't say that!" Kira shouts at him. However, she does not add anything else, even as Akemi sits down at one of the tables with his arms crossed.

"Is everyone alright?" Tsukiko asks as she is the next person to enter the room with Hayato and Hotaru coming in right after her. Takara will probably not be coming and I do not know how long it will take to have Yasu get here.

"Ahem, students, I have a very special announcement to make!" Monokuma exclaims as he lands on the table we are all the closest to from the ceiling. "The next motive~"

"K-Kirigiri?" Because my focus was solely on Monokuma, I did not notice Kira finally reaching Kirigiri. She drops onto her knees and starts to hug onto the corpse. "I didn't mean for this to happen! I'm sorry! I should've listened to you!" Although the sentiment is sweet, this is Kirigiri she is talking to, and I do not want her to backpedal on all her development just because of this.

"Kira...hmm, we should see how you would react to a Death Note... _Anyways_ , the motive revolves somewhat around you! Congrats, you're getting the love you deserve!" Monokuma stands on top of Kirigiri's stomach but Kira either does not notice or care. Hayato, however, glares at him.

"What are you planning, Monokuma?" he asks.

"Yeah, this ain't like you. There's a chance this will be entertaining," Hotaru adds-on while she goes on her tippy toes. She tilts her head as she begins to think. It is much like a child and it's cute.

Of course, there was a part of me that hoped that Kira would commence Operation...AyaHaru or something. But that's wishful thinking. She wouldn't want somebody tainted like me.

"But we should be careful with whatever he says, there's a chance he's just shitting us," Akemi comments. He has an oddly stoic expression written on his face as if he is planning something but not sure about whether or not he should do it. His fingers begin tapping on his arm.

"Ahem! Now all the characters have a chance to react...wait, that's wrong...but whatever! Please be silent when I blow your minds with another plot twist!" Monokuma has a devilish grin. "Kira Iwata, the Ultimate Jeweler... _was in with the plan of the Kirigiri's Killing Game and was her traitor._ "

Wait...what?

"Remember when you were all abducted? What am I saying? Of course not, you're all idiots. That was before I was part of the game. So it was that traitor and Kirigiri. She's not a good girl at all! No matter what, you were gonna die-"

"But we're in the Neo World Program! Nobody was gonna die! Everybody from the previous game is alive and awake!" Kira interrupts him. Wait, everybody is awake? So the original plan was for all of us to survive like the players in the third game? Then why was the Committee conducting these experiments?

"It's still murder! How's that any better!?" Akemi shouts out. "Thinking that's better is hypocritical! There's no reason to put people through that-"

"Its so we could gather data to help against all the games going on!" Kira defends herself. "I know its wrong but what else can we do!? There's not a lot of humanity left and those game have taken thousands of lives!" Before Kira can explain anything else, she runs out of the room, biting her lip so hard that she draws blood.

"Such a drama queen." Hotaru might be reacting as she did at the beginning of the game, but something feels off. Now that I am thinking harder about everything, there might be a problem. Hotaru...wait, did Hotaru have to decide between saving Minato and Hayato!? Monokuma...that son of a bitch. That would be traumatizing to anyone, even Hotaru, no wonder she is falling back on old habits. Especially with the lack of alcohol available.

"This is not the time to jump to conclusions, we heard that Kira had her reasons." There is a certain edge to Tsukiko's voice that usually is not there.

"If you say so..." Atsuto does not look convinced. I do not blame him since Kirigiri had made his life horrible along with Kaneshiro. Both of them are coming to hunt him down in the scariest way possible. But here he is, still standing and fighting.

"But that's not all folks! There's more to this motive! Kaneshiro's traitor is still within your ranks, and they've been given a command: to kill one of you. If you don't kill the traitor, then the traitor will kill you! Sayonara!...Oh, and its morning now, kinda forgot that but whatevs." With Monokuma disappearing, all of us are silent, absorbing the information he just gave us. So there is a time limit again. Figures, something bad would have happened sooner or later anyway since the second motive is presumably still in effect.

"I will see if I can get to Takara or Yasu and tell them what just happened," Tsukiko tells us as she leaves the cafeteria.

"And I'm gonna see what Kira has to say for herself." Akemi does not give us any time to react for he leaves as well, Atsuto tagging after him to make sure that Akemi does not do anything that he will regret. But, after that, all of us decide to stay, indulging in the quiet atmosphere of horror.

"Well, I think we should theorize on who the traitor is. Instead of killing them, I think we should just incapacitate them," Hotaru suggests. That...actually sounds like a good idea. "That way we avoid the motive and still have Monokuma's panties in a twist. Win-win!"

"Excuse me, Hotaru, but you seem to forget that the mastermind is still here and can go free them," Hayato points out.

"Aha! I have something to work past that. There's a time limit, right? So we all stay around one area, looking after each other. Then, if the mastermind tries anything, we can catch them in the act! Don't worry, I might be crazy but crazy equals genius!" Hotaru is so, so right. All this time, we could have trapped the mastermind using a method like that, but we have been too focused on different solutions. If Kazuhiko used a nonviolent solution like this, there is a chance he will be still alive. We all have been too focused on violence for any sort of useful problem-solving.

"Hotaru! You're a genius-"

"I know, I just said that." Caught up in the moment, I go to hug Hotaru. She smiles so I lift her up and start going around in a circle. "Well, somebody is happy."

"We can finally defeat Kaneshiro! How can I not be happy?" I laugh like a little child. This is the plan we needed all this time, and it came from Hotaru at the moment. All I want is to make Kaneshiro pay. Even if this does not work, we will piss out Kaneshiro again. That would lead to our downfall but it would be worth it to see Kaneshiro truly lose his shit.

"We have to be careful. Kaneshiro will try something." Normally I would love Hayato being the voice of reason but now is truly not the time.

"Don't ruin the mood, Hayato. But whatever. I'm going back to bed. Don't care if its morning, we all have spent way too much time up now. We're gonna tell everybody about the plan when I wake up, kay?" Hotaru then skips out of the room. Feeling the heavy lids of my eyes, I feel like I should do the same. But there is something I want to discuss with Hayato.

"Hayato...thank you for everything..."

"Hm, what bought this about, Ayano?" he questions me. There are also bags under his eyes but there are the same as they were at the start of the game. Hayato was underweight then, and I can tell that his condition has grown worse. His outfit is starting to become too big on him.

"I may not forgive you for killing Kyoto...but thank you for saving my life and being there anyway." I look at the spilled coffee, nobody must have pointed it out since Kirigiri was more of a concern. Some of the blood has gotten to my clothes so I have to clean them again soon.

"I will never ask for your forgiveness. It was my decision and I have to deal with the consequences," he responds. "But, something in on your mind, Ayano. Do you want to talk?"

* * *

 _ **Do you want to free time with Hayato Akimoto?**_

 _ **Yes/No**_

* * *

"There is nothing better to do, it's not like I am going to sleep easily after witnessing that. But we should probably go somewhere else." Kirigiri's body is constantly in my field of vision. Although I never liked her, I think that Makoto and Kyoko, wherever they are, are sad about her death. Crying silent tears that fade away when they reach anywhere near reality.

Then we both decide to go to the cafeteria. Although a lot of horrible things have happened here, it is not tainted by death like the cafeteria, or a complete mess like the cellar. We will have to eventually move Kirigiri's body but we are not exactly in a hurry. The only one who would give her any sort of twisted sympathy is Kira.

"What is on your mind, Ayano? You always seem like you are somewhere else."

"I do not know a lot about your past, Hayato. You are sure a mysterious person. How did you meet with Cassius?" I inquire. Hayato looks away from me for a second but then continues eye contact. He starts playing around with the cuffs on his suit.

"He approached me at my first job before I found out that most people are selfish. He wanted help with his family business so he flew me to England. My mom would have been so proud of me, bringing my whole family with me. They had so much fun in that mansion." For a second, Hayato is off somewhere else with a smile on his face that I have not seen before. It is soft and sweet but has hints of lingering sadness.

"You have a family?"

"Have I not mentioned them before? I forget. I have a father and two twin younger sisters, they are the world to me." So Hayato is a family man? Guess that might be one of the reasons why he got along with Cassius. I wonder if we still had Namita with us...if she would enjoy making Hayato and Kira friends as well. Her next job, however, was probably Akemi and me.

"I am a single child so I don't know how that's like. Though my father made sure I spent a lot of time with the other kids."

"Cassius was my first friend. Most people think I am a creep," Hayato says. Considering Hayato is the type of person who would kill Kyoto, I can see where people are coming from, but there is good in him. "I could have created my own friends by using my talent but there is a line I will not cross. Truly, I hate my talent, it does nothing but hurt people."

"I am sure there is something good about your talent-"

"As if anything good can come out of your father getting indebted to fucking loansharks," Hayato snaps at me. Then his face falls. "...Sorry, I did not mean that this game has done things to me. Before everything, I was stuck in the trap of the cold, manipulative salesman but I was wrong. So, so wrong. It might mean nothing but I am truly sorry about killing Kyoto. I did not mean to purposefully harm you."

"Sleep is getting to us, I am surprised that you will snap." It is getting to me too. To be honest, I can barely keep my eyes open for this conversation but I want to hear what Hayato has to say. "I mean, I snapped pretty hard at you."

"Please never slap me again."

"Only if you promise me not to kill anyone again," I grin. Hotaru is rubbing off of me. It is fun acting like this but I know that there are a time and place for it, unlike Hotaru. Hayato holds his arm out to me but changes his mind. Then he sticks his pinky out, and I respond by tilting my head.

"Pinky promise. It's something that my sisters do." I know what a pinky promise is but I have not made one for years. My last one was with Kazuhiko about promising to do the laundry. I did not keep up my end of the promise. But, even with my past experience with this, I wrap my pinky around Hayato's.

"How are your sisters like anyway?" Breaking our fingers apart, Hayato once again looks to be somewhere else but answers me quickly enough.

"They are a pair of troublemakers, that's what. They constantly would put things in my dad's coffee and he would constantly laugh at them," Hayato replies. But, once again, under the happy tone, there is sadness. With his hands free again, Hayato continues playing with his cuffs.

"Would they get along with Hotaru then?"

"Those three together would destroy the world of reason." He then turns his focus to the floor. "I am sorry but...I should leave. For moving Kirigiri's body, it would be best if we are rested. Both of us are too tired to be of any help right now." But I feel like the real reason behind everything is that he is too tired and his filter is gone. Even with everything we have gone through, Hayato is private about himself and his past. Perhaps it is a trait he picked up because of his past as a smuggler.

"We might not agree on everything but your sisters are lucky to have you as their older brother."

"Surely, you do not expect me to accept such pleasantries. I am a horrible older brother," Hayato responds as he leaves the room, leaving me alone. His voice is somber, low, and full of emotion, unlike his usual monotone. I want to chase him but nobody right now is in their right mind to deal with these kinds of problems.

* * *

Going to my bed, I find myself shocked that I do not pass out the moment my head reaches the mattress. My mind is too tired to think properly. Everything is a blur and I find myself just wishing that I can go to sleep already. If Hotaru's plan goes through, this might be the last time I sleep on this bed. We would probably have to sleep on the floor, or we can work on moving the beds to where we want.

So, with my blurry thoughts, I am forced to be by myself. It's not like anybody will be awake. If they are, then they probably would not want to talk with me in this state. Except if they want to have a conversation partner who randomly faints onto the floor midsentence.

Miyuki Kobyashi, the Ultimate Onna-Bugeisha, Namita Nakahashi, the Ultimate Event Planner...and Minato Ueda, the Ultimate Traveler...

The embodiments of sacrifice, order, and innocence...

...

* * *

 _ **Monokuma Theatre!**_

 _ **Dear lord, you guys really need to learn how to go to sleep at proper times. Those poor workers you forced on overtime.**_

 _ **But maybe I should tell you a bedtime story because you're all my little kids. Have to make sure you have a full night's sleep so you can better kill each other. We don't want sloppy murders, those make for not so fun trials.**_

 _ **This is gonna be such a blast! Just one more and then you can defeat the mastermind and win your happy ending just like all of those princes and princesses in fairy tails...wait, tales, this isn't an anime.**_

 _ **Ahem, once upon a time, there was this princess that was stuck in a miserable excuse of a mansion with her ugly twin sister. The king and queen were always away but they went on many adventures together, including the ugly twin running away and temporarily becoming a knight. But that's boring.**_

 _ **One day, the princess, along with her knight, murdered the wicked mother of her prince. And then they got the idea of killing their own wicked parents. They were free to do what they want!**_

 _ **Years later, the three of them are enrolled in the same school together. And a lot of shit happened that you should all know about because you should have read DanganRonpa Zero. I mean, you better be careful, Yellow, there are gonna be V3 spoilers eventually in this story. Spoilers are the truest form of despair.**_

 _ **But anyway~ Jesus Christ, this theatre is long, but it ain't as bad as the ones in the first chapter. God, how many people stopped reading this story because they were mindfucked too hard?**_

 ** _This story of true love ends with the princess killing her prince, who was a traitor and gathering her own army of knights. They then created a brand new, better world where everybody can be happy._**

 ** _The end._**

 ** _I mean, this can all be bullshit, but you never know for sure. ;)_**

* * *

What...what was that theatre?

Still not feeling rested, I force myself out of my bed. All of my limbs are heavy and take too much effort to move. I would prefer if I could just spend the rest of the day in my bed, but I know that is not going to happen. Hotaru was no definition of personal privacy.

But there is something that I have to make sure I do: find out who Kindra Hiraoka. I know I am so close to solving this mystery. All I am missing is one more puzzle piece, the most important of them all.

So, once again, I head towards the door and plan to head towards the cafeteria. Hopefully, they are already done with moving Kirigiri's body since I do not want to get involved with that. There is a chance I would drag her body through the forest and drop her body into the ocean. Maybe Kaneshiro can program sharks to eat her body, that would be something to be seen.

"Ayano Kamukura."

"..." No. My body freezes and I refuse to look behind me.

"Do not react like that, I know its all for the greater good, right? One day you will see where I come from." Considering his talent, not willingly. But it has happened before, I do not think I am a strong enough person to fight against him once again. "This is much more of a formality."

"..."

"Where's all the sass now?" He then presses his body against mine. The warmth is not welcomed, as everything from him feels slimy and sick. "You know what, if you look behind you now, you can figure out who I am. I am not such a coward as to constantly hide."

"..."

"But, listen carefully..." His breath can be felt in my ear. I have a suspicion that he has to stand up on his tippy toes just to reach it. Then I could feel one of his hands touch my stomach and make its way up. "You have to be the protagonist just for this one trial and no more. And then everything will finally _end_."

"End? What do you mean end!?" That does not sound good. It does not take a genius to figure out that Kaneshiro is planning something that he thinks is beyond us. "Are you planning to kill us? What is the end?! Do you really think this game is going to make the world a better place? All it would do is make people turn against you! What is the point of this all?"

"Do you really think I would let this end by killing you all? I am not going to be Junko Enoshima, I have plans for all of you! Death means that everything will end, things can only continue if you stay alive." Kaneshiro then nips at my ear. I move my head and step onto his foot. However, then, Kaneshiro shoves me to the floor. With his complete control of the program, it does not surprise me that he can easily overpower me. A newfound spark finds its way inside of me, for I remember that there is still hope for survival. Low chances of survival but there are still there, right? And the Despairs won't kill the survivors of the game since they are planning to use them for something. We can use that to our advantage.

"But what if I still die? You did such a good job with keeping Akita alive." This is such a bad idea but I cannot keep the words inside my mouth.

"..." Rendering Kaneshiro silence makes me smile. I know something horrible is about to happen, and I should worry about that, but small victories still give me such a trill. Take note, Ayano, spend less time with Hotaru. "I am not a person who lashes out so easily." Bullshit.

"W-"

"And you did such a good job keeping Kazuhiko alive." Kaneshiro then pins me to the ground. Luckily, I am on my stomach, not my back. I might be able to see his face but I do not want to. Something is forcing me to not turn around. Turning around would solve this game, killing Kaneshiro would make the world a happier place, but I am too weak to find the strength to look at his face while he is right there! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH ME!?

"..." But he got me there. It is my fault that Kazuhiko died. Only if I paid more attention to him, or was a better girlfriend, then he wouldn't have killed Akita!

"That's a good girl." When I feel like he is about to do something, I begin to struggle, but the strength from my body slowly fades away. Shit, not this again! God, it's all my fault. All my fault. All my fault. All my fault. All my fault. All my fault...No, it's not my fault...its Kaneshiro's fault. "You know what, you deserve something else for that little stunt-"

"Fuck. You."

"Are we really back to that?" Kaneshiro then once again speaks into my ear, low and seductive. "...You're pregnant with my child."

"..."

"Goodbye, Ayano Kamukura. Oh wait, I really should call you Ayano Nishiki, that's your legal name after all." Kaneshiro gets out me and leaves me alone as the strength gradually returns to my body. But I cannot find the will to get off of the floor.

Pregnant? _Pregnant_? With Kaneshiro's child?... What did I do to deserve this? There cannot be a God, for he would not allow me to suffer like this. That means, if there is an afterlife, then it could only be Hell. I cannot have a child, even if it was with somebody like Kazuhiko, I would make a horrible mother...and I hate babies, mostly thanks to Kotori.

 _What? What do you mean you're gonna be, like, a dad? But you're still a teenager and she's...what in the world is Kotori's age anyway?_

"What...what are these memories?"

Wait, is...is Kindra's Kazuhiko and Kotori's child? Did the Committee erase all of our memories of not only Kaneshiro, Chiyo, and the others, but of Kindra?! WHY?!

Trying to get back on my feet, I get up, but only to fall once again. I do not want to try again, so I stay on the floor, wallowing in my own pathetical self-pity.

* * *

 _ **Monokuma Theatre!**_

 ** _Geez, we can't just keep on making these. We just gave you a bedtime story? Do you want another one like the spoiled child you are?_**

 ** _Once upon a time, there was a wizard. This wizard and his friends were forced by a witch to be trapped in her lair. And a lot of bad things happened but they continued onward using the power of friendship._**

 ** _And, during this time, the wizard fell in love with a damsel. But things were not meant to be._**

 ** _The wizard fell into the darkness thanks to the witch, leaving the damsel having to leave with all the rest of their friends._**

 ** _Did you really think this would have a happy ending?_**

 ** _It has for the witch._**

* * *

"Ayano!" Surprising me, I see that Takara is the one shaking me awake with a disturbing sense of urgency. But I do not want to get up. What is the purpose of getting up if Kaneshiro will only push me down again?

Takara sees my eyes open but he still wears a frown. Going as fast as he could, Takara runs out of my room, leaving me alone with my thoughts again.

But I find myself not wanting to think again. Too many things have happened today.

...

...

...

"Ayano, what's going on?" Atsuto asks. When I look up at him, Atsuto has the same worried expression he has too many times during this game. It must be so stressful for him to have the two closest people to him are one step away from committing suicide. But, for some reason, Atsuto does not give up on either Yasu or me.

"I'm sleeping on the floor."

"I can see that," Atsuto sighs. He clicks his tongue as his eyes light up. "But why are you sleeping on the floor? Do you want me to sleep in your room again? Or maybe you want my room, it has a lock."

"..."

"Talk to me, Ayano. What's going on?"

"...Nothing..."

"Don't lie to me. My aunt was Kyoko Kirigiri, I know when people are lying." Not all the time, but I do not want to correct him on that. If Atsuto wants to believe that, I will let him believe that. It is what makes him go through this game sane while I get left in the own darkness of my mind.

Only if there was some way to do an abortion. Highly doubt that Kaneshiro would allow that. Do not know if doing it in the virtual world would carry over to the real world. And, since I have a bad track record of actually killing myself, I do not know if that is an option.

"I'm just thinking that what is the purpose of this all. I should really just die. Hey, Atsuto, what would happen if you kill me and have Yasu get you out of the system so you won't die?"

"I might have killed Mitsuru, but I won't do that to you-"

"But I killed Minato-"

"I don't want to have you die! Please stay with me! There's no way I could kill you!" Forcing me to get up to his level, Atsuto then hugs me, not allowing me to fall down to the floor again. I do not fight against him, deciding rather accept this warmth. Who knows how long something like this will last?

"Hm, I can't believe I made you cry again," I say. Wanting to change the subject, I have the perfect topic to talk about. "...But what if I told you I saw you kiss Yasu?"

"Wait, you were still in the room!?"

"And I told Kira-"

"And you told Kira? _Ayano_!" Both of us then realize that Takara is still in the room. Although he is deaf, by the blush on his cheeks, I could tell that he read our lips. Then he runs out of the room, and, after telling me that he will be back soon, Atsuto goes running after him.

Not knowing what else to do, I begin walking around the campus, letting my legs take me wherever they wanted me to go. No thoughts, just empty wandering.

* * *

Stoping in my tracks, I notice that I am in our own pathetic version of a graveyard. People who died for nothing else than Kaneshiro's selfish desires. Save the world, my ass. What about _rape_ makes the world better, asshole?

I sit down in front of all of them and close my eyes. Only if I could replace one of them with me. Somebody who can do nothing right. I am just an emotional mess who can't win anything. If something good happens, it is just to torture me later on. That's why I cannot get with Hotaru, not only is she a rebound, but she would be caught up in my miserable luck.

The only thing that brings me joy is that they did not bother to give Ayano Kirigiri a new grave. Even if she is not eaten by the imaginary sharks in my head, it gives me joy that one of the people that caused this is not placed with all of the victims of this twisted game.

"I'm so sorry, all of you."

 _A body has been discovered. Well, I would say body, but bodies. Jesus Christ, you guys love murdering people, multiple cases with multiple victims. You guys are brutal. Oh, by the way, it's in the shrine room because I don't want you guys wasting time by fooling off because that'll be boring. And you also ruined my shrine room._

Multiple deaths? Did I hear Monokuma correctly? Is it possible that the traitor killed someone, or if somebody found the other traitor? What is going on?

"Ayano! C'mon, let's go find some more dead bodies!" Hotaru, coming from the area underneath the patio, scares me half to death. She is the same as usual even though something still feels off. Well, her plan is now wasted because somebody could not wait until murdering someone. Maybe if I murder somebody after this trial, it would throw Kaneshiro in so much of a loop that he reveals himself to everybody else. No...no, that's really stupid.

"Wait, Hotaru-"

"To the shrine room, we go! They better have not murdered my double!"

* * *

Rushing as fast as we can to the shrine room, we are out of breath when we arrive. We see that Hayato is in front of the door as if he was guarding it in some kind of way.

"Hayato, we want to see who died. Let us through~" Raising his eyebrow, Hayato steps aside from the door, allowing the two of us to enter. Having gone through this experience too many times before, I prepare myself for the worse. After all, nothing can be worse than figuring out you're pregnant with your rapist's child and then solving the mystery of Kindra after that.

So, I walk through the door, knowingly into yet another nightmare, but nothing stops me. There is no reason to not accept the truth, only continue living for our continued suffering.

* * *

Along with us in the room, I see Takara and Atsuto looking towards the middle of the room. Takara tries to look away from the horrible sight, while Atsuto can only stare blankly.

There in the middle of the room, I see that there are two bodies right next to each other placed right in front of Kotori's shrine. Their hands are in each other, but it does not seem to be at all romantic. Both of their eyes are closed with clear frowns highlighting their faces. Tears can be seen on both of their faces, making them weirdly glimmer. Other than the mass amounts of blood, that is what strikes out to me the most. The two of them must have been in so much agony while they died.

For their wounds, one of them has a slashed neck that spills blood all over their usually well-made outfit. The other has blood coming out of their ears and there seems to be some sort of small puncture mark on his neck. Although their wounds are simple, it is clear that they both suffered before they died. Everybody suffers somewhat while they die, but the true victims are the people that they leave behind. Leave behind to go through another Hell of a Class Trial.

The two bodies belong to no other than...Tsukiko Oda, the Ultimate Band Manager, and Akemi Nakatani, the Ultimate Chess Player.

* * *

 **KILL ME.**

 **(I didn't post a victim poll this time to surprise people...KILL MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...but I'll post a killer poll tomorrow...or the day after that...or when I'm not lazy or overwhelmed by homework)**

 **Well, this is a chapter and peeps are dead. And I'm suffering. The last murder trial, guys, before the final chapter. Forest of Despair is almost finished and I'm freaking out because I'm so happy this silly little passion project of mine has gotten so popular. At the beginning of this project, I thought I was not gonna finish this or get this far, not to mention having this many people reading it, so thank you all. I hope this trial and the next meet up to your expectations.**

 **Thank you TheRoseShadow21 for sending in Tsukiko Oda. She was actually by far the hardest character for me to write but hopefully, I did well. So, um, I don't think Operation HayKiko is going to happen. Oops.**

 **And thank you CrayonPencil for sending in Akemi Nakatani. I enjoyed writing our little brat. Hahahaha, it's funny because Ayano still doesn't like him.**

 **(cue Yellow celebrating Akemi's death and officially existing in the Committee Saga universe)**

 **Reviews~**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Thanks, it's really hard writing these chapters because of this heavy subject material. Kira...and all my characters...deserve better, that's the truth. Ayano got killed in front of Ayano (I have too much fun with them having the same name). Well, people are dead.**

 **AnonChan1-Tsukiko now can have all the sleep she wants. ;) All of these characters are breaking...chapter six isn't gonna be fun, guys. LET'S SUPPORT THE DEAD SHIP! They're too tired to feel awkward. If Kaneshiro tried killing Mochi, I would give him the worse death imaginable. BUT KANESHIRO WOULD LOVE THAT HAPPENING TO HIM. You were right...if you don't want to be right about something in this fic, usually that means its right. Kira needs all the hugs in the world. Kira/Kazuhiko BroTP in an extra mode bonding over their shared Stockholm Syndrome. TOO LATE FOR THAT, TSUKIKO IS DEAD. Ayano isn't an expert either...she's really not the best at these kinds of things. Ayano screamed. ;) I love that song choice for him, now I wanna write a songfic around that song and Kaneshiro.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-You can say Tsukiko got... _crushed_. Wait, that pun doesn't work with this death. DAMMIT! XD Your poor, poor child is dead. Thanks~ Hopefully, you won't kill me for killing Tsukiko. XD**


	60. Investigation 5-1

**Investigation 5-1: The Pitiful Children**

* * *

Of the two people dead, I did not expect it to be Tsukiko and Akemi. Although a sick part of me is relieved that Akemi died instead of anybody else, I was starting to get closer to Tsukiko. Our last leader is gone, Hotaru is acting crazy, and nobody else really fits the role. This will be a mess of a trial, but its the last one caused by a death so we have to keep going.

Tsukiko Oda, the embodiment of leadership, and Akemi Nakatani...I honestly do not know. He does not deserve one, except for him being an asshole or something like that.

Hopefully, these deaths can make me stop focusing on things. Especially considering what Kaneshiro just told me. Just forget it for a couple hours and then have another mental breakdown.

"...Not again..." With his head down low, Atsuto leaves the room, leaving me with only Takara. Takara looks torn between the two of us. Hotaru has mysteriously disappeared. With her, I do not know what she is thinking or doing. She is just Hotaru. And Hotaru does...Hotaru things.

"Takara, I'll go talk to him, it's my turn to comfort him." Sure, there are two dead bodies to investigate, but somebody else can do that. Takara is decent at solving mysteries so he has to do with now. If he messes with the crime scene, then Hayato automatically knows that it was him.

"A-alright," Takara responds. He hides further into the jacket as he takes steps toward the two dead bodies. I know that Takara may be the best investigator we have right now, besides possibly Hayato and I, but that is not saying much. All the people good at solving these mysteries have been dead for a long time. Once again, I find myself wondering how much easier things would have been if an investigative journalist like Kazuhiko was still around.

I open the door and I see that Hayato is still there. Even though I should focus on Atsuto right now, I think I should at least pay some attention to Hayato. Tsukiko was his friend too...I wonder if he had any feelings for her like she had for him. He has been there for me as well, although I know we can never truly be friends.

"Hayato...how are you feeling?" I ask him.

"Why do you ask?" he questions back.

"Because Tsukiko is dead...and, out of everybody still here, you were the closest one to her." It takes some time for Hayato to respond. He sighs and looks directly at me, making direct eye contact.

"This is no time to mourn, Ayano Kamukura. The best way to mourn in this game is the figure out who did this and give them over to Monokuma's twisted justice. I have told you this before, but its the sick truth of this game." Hayato cannot make eye contact anymore. He hides his hands in his pockets as his left foot digs more into the floor. "We need to continue on for those who have been lost, okay? Comfort Atsuto, he is the one that needs it."

"If you say so, Hayato."

Without looking back, I walk away from Hayato. The pure emptiness of the school is finally getting to me. Unlike the other investigations, there is no noise, no sound, no people running everybody to check for any last pieces of evidence. There are too little of us left.

* * *

It does not take me long to find Atsuto. He is in the cellar, which is still not cleaned up. Nobody really wants to put time or energy into it. What is the point of cleaning up rooms when they will just be trashed again?

"Atsuto..."

"I know its childish but Akemi was my friend." Although I want to question him about how and why they know each other, now is not the time. There is not going to be a lot of time afterward too, but perhaps the truth will come out during the trial. I do not know a lot about Akemi, only what is on the surface and what he told us during his freak out.

"I may have not... _liked_ Akemi but I know that he would punch you in the face if he found out you're mopping like this," I tell him. "So, um, live on and mourn later. We have a case to solve." Never in all my years, I thought I would be quoting Hayato, but, here I am, doing exactly that. It is funny how things can change so fast.

"If you say so." Atsuto does not look entirely convinced, but, when I exit the cellar, he follows after me. He looks back for a moment before continuing onward.

* * *

When Atsuto and I reach the staircase, I notice that Yasu in by it as well, trapped by their wheelchair. Atsuto hurries over to them to help them help, with me making sure everything is alright. The wheelchair is in my hands. It is fairly heavy yet I am able to handle it with ease.

"Who's dead this time?" I can barely hear Yasu's voice. It is so quiet and soft, far from the confident easy-going person Yasu started the game as. But, then again, back then, I only talked in a dull monotone and one word. I have nothing to complain about. Also calculating everything in my head. Doing that in this game will only end up with you being a target and being killed.

"Tsukiko and Akemi," I answer them, taking note of Atsuto's lack of will to do so himself. Like Atsuto, Yasu looks pained by this revelation, but they do not say anything.

"Ayano...do you know where Kira is? She's the only one we haven't been able to find." Hearing Atsuto's words, I realize he has a point. Perhaps she is unable to find where we are because of her blindness. One of us should go look for her, but there are more pressing matters at hand. Does not help that I do not know what to think about her role in making the Killing Game. On one hand, I do like Kira, but, on the other, I know that she is not a good person. Yet that is purely out of Ayano's influence.

...But there has always been a question in my mind that I both do and don't want to know the answer of. What caused Ayano Kirigiri's betrayal and fall into insanity?

"I am sure she is alright," I tell him while not fully believing myself. I do not want anything bad to happen with Kira. Because of our conversation, I have grown attached to her. She is weird but cool.

The rest of the ascension was strangely tranquil. There is safety with the three of us, a sense of comfort. The feeling that although many of our classmates are dead, we can trust each other. Because, for some reason, death has allowed the three of us to survive while so many others have died.

* * *

Once we make it up to the shrine room again, Hayato takes one good look at us and allows us through. Takara is still investigating, focusing on the massive wound on Tsukiko's neck. It looks painful but I notice there are other injuries on her. Her hands are severely brushed and red, along with the bottom half of her legs.

Currently, Atsuto is making sure Yasu does not have another panic attack or faint again. We need all the help we can get during this trial. There are so little of us left. Seven of us are left if I have done my math correctly.

"Bullets?" Takara asks. There must have been some added during this time, but now the beeps are meaningless background noise. Something to ignore and forget.

"Sure." Just like always, somebody has to go out of their way to show me the information I should have access to. But this action is still making me absolutely useless.

* * *

 **Monokuma File #5**

 **Victim-Tsukiko Oda, Ultimate Band Manager**

 **Height-Five feet, eight inches**

 **Weight-One-hundred and thirty pounds**

 **Age-Eighteen**

 **Birthday-September 24th**

* * *

 **Cause of Death**

 **Tsukiko's cause of death is blood loss.**

 **Due to a knife wound on the neck, Tsukiko died. Beforehand, Tsukiko was injured due to a fight, injuring her legs and hands.**

* * *

 **Monokuma File #6**

 **Victim-Akemi Nakatani, Ultimate Chess Player**

 **Height-Five feet, eight inches (somebody was targetting the people that are this height)**

 **Weight-Ninety-five pounds (god, somebody give this kid some food)**

 **Age-Seventeen**

 **Birthday-February 20th**

* * *

 **Cause of Death**

 **Akemi's cause of death is unknown.**

 **There is a puncture wound on his neck but that is not related to his death. Something about his unknown cause of death has caused his ears to bleed.**

* * *

That is a whole lot of...no useful information. But how could Akemi's death be unknown? Since this is a computer program, doesn't the mastermind have control over everything? How can it be that something went over their heads, and everybody else working on the system?

Looking over to Akemi, I try to find some sort of clue. Like Tsukiko, he is brushed in some places, but none of those injuries can cause death. There is something wrong here yet I cannot figure it out. This would seem like a normal case...then I remember its the fifth case. The case that has to leave some sort of bang.

Also, I notice there is a knife placed in Akemi's free hand covered in blood. I do not need to think hard to make a connection.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #2-More Information on the Bodies**

 **Both Tsukiko Oda and Akemi Nakatani are laying on the shrine of Kotori Hiraoka. It is something to note that the shrine has none of their blood on it.**

 **Both Tsukiko Oda and Akemi Nakatani are holding hands. They have tears on their faces and are frowning.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #3-Knife**

 **There is a knife in Akemi's Nakatani's hands covered in the blood of Tsukiko Oda.**

* * *

I think long and hard but there is nothing to truly get out of this little information. Even if I could think of something, it can be easily disproven by other evidence that we can find.

"Yasu and I are searching downstairs for evidence. We will find Kira and bring her here," Atsuto says. I nod my head as Yasu and Atsuto head out. Even though it would be helpful for them to help search the shrine, I understand the pain of seeing your friend look like that.

"Takara, what do you think of this?" I ask him. Considering he was the closest to Takayuki, it is best to ask him. Only if Takayuki was still alive. Although he literally had an alter based on a serial killer clown, I feel like he meant well. Mostly because of his last moments. That smile still haunts me to this very day. All of the smiles do.

Especially Kaneshiro's.

That sick, twisted smile. I could only imagine the pure delight on his face as he told me...

Don't think about it. If you don't think about it, it never happened. That's childish for me to think but this is still no time to think about such things. Perhaps, if I am lucky, I could die in here. Become the sixth chapter victim. It would be out of the norm but this whole game has been.

"I...d-don't know."

"Oh." Do not freak out, Ayano. Just find more evidence and focus solely on that. Evidence would help solve everything about this case. The mastermind is just messing with you saying Akemi's cause of death is unknown.

Not being entirely convinced, I try to feel Akemi for a pulse. I could not find one. What is going on? Takara stares at me, probably trying to figure out what I am doing. I must look like an idiot. Sure, I am one, but that does not mean I want others to think so. The people that are dead are probably laughing at me, except for Kazuhiko. Kazuhiko would believe in me and cheer for me until my bitter end.

So I move from the bodies and begin looking everywhere else. The first thing that catches my attention is the dolls, which now have all of us in the lineup. A cruel chill goes through the room as I look straight on with my own. Everything correct but so deadly wrong. I blink, but it doesn't move.

I look to where Tsukiko and Akemi's doll is at. They are positioned exactly like their actual bodies. Their closed eyes on their corpses, however, are open on the dolls.

When I am doing that, Hayato enters the room, starting his own investigation. None of us are no longer averse to touching dead bodies so he is able to search the two of them with ease. However, with Tsukiko, there is a sadder look on his face. Even if he did not have the same feelings for her, Tsukiko still saved Hayato from himself. Her selfless actions are the only reason why he is still here right now.

But I realize that the dolls have no clues, so I move on. Perhaps I should tell Takara or Hayato something. Or say it to both of them since they are in the same room.

"Does anybody have testimony about the night before?" I question both of them.

"After I spent some time with you, Ayano, I went to my room to retire for the night," Hayato answers. I hope that I did not upset his feelings too much back then. But I still want to figure out what triggered that response.

"I did too." At this moment, I wish that my conversation with Hayato did not go the way that it did. Then maybe _it_ wouldn't have happened. It's all my own stupid ass decisions that lead up to all of this. Maybe if I did think more logically as I did before, then there would be less pain.

"I was in room," Takara explains. I almost want to correct him with his grammar errors but fight the urge to do so. But, even with that, Takara's information seems weird right now.

"Wasn't Tsukiko supposed to tell you about the motive?"

"What motive?" Takara's eyes widen. I quickly figure out a possible reason why. If Tsukiko did not do her job, something she normally would have completed with no problems, something must have happened to her.

Beep.

Walking over to where Hayato is, I look over his shoulder to read the contents of the bullet. Since I killed Minato, now I am the tallest student left alive. It feels weird towering over people when at the beginning there were people like Minato, Kyoto, and Mitsuru to help balance me out.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #4-Where Everybody Was During the Time of Morning**

 **Tsukiko Oda claimed she was going to visit Takara Miyagi and Yasu Matsuhita to tell them about the motive but never did.**

 **Akemi Nakatani said he would go after Kira Iwata, but neither of them is here to clarify that claim.**

 **Everybody else was by themselves. There is nobody to prove a person's alibi. Have fun solving this mystery, kids.**

* * *

"So the mastermind is trying to force us against each other? There is no way I will let that happen," Hayato responds. But Hayato has to realize that one of us must have done this. The mastermind might be an asshole who breaks his own rules all the time, yet I truly have a hard time imagining Kaneshiro killing somebody like this. Even though their deaths are still horrible, Tsukiko and Akemi got it easy compared to everybody else. Or maybe they didn't. What would I know?

"Heya, guys~ Can you sacrifice one of your members for me?" Coming out of nowhere, Hotaru enters the room. Takara is about to say something as she takes a hold of my hand. A sick part of me feels a blush, yet I try to hold it back. Hotaru is a very physical person, after all, this means nothing.

"I am going to assume that you already have your eyes set on one of us," Hayato comments. Neither Takara or Hayato stop Hotaru from dragging me out of the room.

Betraying me, a small smile appears.

* * *

Hotaru leads me downstairs, not letting go of my hand the entire time. She has a strange skip to her step like she is enjoying this too much. But, of course, this is Hotaru, so she is doing that. I may like her but there are many mysteries about Hotaru that I want to solve.

"By the way, Atsuto and Yasu are in the library. Doesn't take a genius to figure out what they're doing," she giggles. I am taken off guard when Hotaru stops in front of a door that I recognize to be Tsukiko's. Hotaru takes out a handbook and holds it to a device by the door.

"Hello, imposter, Miss Oda is currently dead, but you are allowed inside. Welcome." Having forgotten that the device on the door talks, I jump at the voice. Hotaru only laughs as she leads me in the room.

The room is organized and clean but has no personality to it whatsoever. Tsukiko must have not decorated it since she expected to leave at any moment. Better to not get attached to a room. Of course, I do not know if any of us have added our own personal spins on the room, too focused to waste time on something like that. And Monokuma did not personally style our rooms like the previous two games.

"Oh, look at that there! A clue!" Hotaru points at a piece of paper placed on Tsukiko's paper. It is clearly a page that was ripped from Takara's notebook. She goes to pick it up and starts reading it out loud. "Ahem, if you want to know who the traitor is, then arrive at the shrine room at...well, look at that, eight thirty. How is anybody supposed to know the time here!?"

"A note? But who would do that-"

"And now we're going to Akemi and Kira's rooms! Yippee!" Hotaru interrupts me. There is something wrong here. How does Hotaru know about all of this? And, considering that Tsukiko and Akemi are the victims, why are we searching Kira as well? She must have gathered all of their handbooks but how did she get ahold of Kira's?

* * *

Going through Akemi and Kira's room has the same results. A piece of paper with the same exact writing. That must be how the killer lured Akemi and Tsukiko there. Perhaps Kira tried to go there but failed, causing her to survive. Yet again, why target three people? There is a limit, so were they thinking they could trick one of them into killing another one?

And what the Hell has Hotaru been up to?

"Hotaru!? Ayano!" Atsuto then comes with Yasu from down the hallway.

"Why are you yelling, Atsuto?" Yasu questions him. They cover their ears and Atsuto starts saying that he's sorry.

"I ship it," Hotaru smirks. Atsuto and Yasu might be trying to hide their relationship, but they are really bad at it. Even Mochi can hide his sneaking of carrots better than them. Or maybe that is because Tsukiko always gave them to him when Yasu was not looking.

"Um, kids, we didn't find anything on that side of the first floor," Yasu tells us. They bring out their handbook and shows it to me. "I'm gonna guess that you're the cause of this."

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #5-Notes**

 **In the rooms of Tsukiko Oda, Akemi Nakatani, and Kira Iwata, there are notes telling them to come to the shrine room at eight thirty to figure out who the traitor is.**

* * *

"Yep." Hotaru then looks up and I have a bad feeling. Waving to Atsuto and Yasu with my free hand I am pulled up the stairs by Hotaru. It is strange to see her act this way during an investigation. Maybe her leadership skills triggered because all of our previous leaders are dead?

"I feel sorry for Ayano."

"I know, Atsuto, me too."

* * *

At this point, I am just going to where Hotaru leads me, not really caring what she is planning. Hotaru would not be this helpful if she is the killer, but she might be trying to trick us. Yet I do not want her to die, even if she fits the bill of a person who usually dies this chapter of the games.

There is no guard at the door so the both of us just enter. Takara and Hayato are still in here, with no signs of Kira. They seem to be searching every nook and cranny, not wanting to overlook anything. Neither of them must trust the other alone in the room with the bodies.

Even with all the time we have spent investigating, we have made barely any progress figuring out what happened here. There are only four Truth Bullets. Guess the killer deciding to be less brutal made it so that there was less evidence than usual.

"Anything interesting?" I question, trying to make conversation. Though Takara did not respond, Hayato turns. He was investigating more of the dolls.

"Not yet-"

"Let me show you!" Hotaru walks right over to the bodies of Tsukiko and Akemi. Before anybody can stop her, Hotaru forces their hands apart. Trapped in their hands was a torn piece of paper. It falls onto the floor and has something written on it. Hayato goes up to Takara and points him to it, prompting both of them to investigate it with us.

"0303? Is it binary?"

"Hotaru, hate to break it to you, but binary only involved 0s and 1s," I reply. But this is weird. What is the meaning of this number? And why is it hidden in Akemi and Tsukiko's hands? Considering I heard a bunch of beeps in the room, I know it has something to do with the murder.

"But what can this mean?" Hayato takes a deeper look. With my own examination, I can tell that a different person wrote this note than the others. Their handwriting is a lot messier and is quite honestly hard to read.

"It means 0303-"

"Stop." Takara glares at Hotaru. Hotaru does not seem to mind, shrugging it off easily. She picks up the piece of paper, looking at it at all angles.

"But we still need to solve this mystery! And it's so much fun-"

"Hotaru, I do not know what happened, but this is...too much even for you." When Hayato calls her out, Hotaru just runs out of the room. Hayato chases after her, leaving me alone with Takara. That moment, Atsuto and Yasu enter with confusion written on their faces.

"Has anyone seen Kira? I'm starting to get worried about that kid. She was revealed to be Kirigiri's traitor," Yasu voices. Atsuto places Yasu softly on the floor and excuses himself to get their wheelchair. Only if I could question Hotaru about it. She must know something considering she got Kira's handbook.

"Yeah." The thing is, none of us have the time to search for Kira. As much as I care for Kira, I know making sure all of us survive will benefit her as well. She will die too if we do not find out the killer. Kira cannot even read the bullets right now so somebody would have to update her about what is happening.

"But-"

"Boo~!" Without any warning, Hotaru jumps onto me. Startled, I fall into one of the walls, accidentally triggering the wall to reveal the secret room.

"What is that?"

Something about the room calls out to every single one of us. It is fairly dark compared to the shrine room, which is only lit by the candles in Kotori's shrine right now. Noticing the darkness, both Hotaru and Takara pull out their handbook and light them up.

There is a feeling that I should not continue but I ignore it. I already know the horrors that await me in this room. What else can it possibly do to scare me?

However, that thought soon stopped itself when we saw a pair of broken sunglasses on the floor, not on their owner. Even Hotaru takes a gulp when they point to who those are supposed to belong to.

* * *

Placed in the area in front of the already decaying corpses, there is a new one. Takara gags at the sight and has to try his hardest not to throw up. Hotaru looks away for a second before regaining her composure.

For the corpse, there is a rope around their neck, with her hands still positioned so that she is trying to get some air. Their fingers are bloody from the struggle to free theirself from their miserable demise. There is only pure panic on their face, giving into their base urges of just becoming an animal when they are so close to death. Their damaged eyes can be seen, and, even with of it gone, I can see that there is no more life in them.

What saddens me the most about the corpse is that it can only be one person.

Kira Iwata, the true Ultimate Jeweler.

* * *

 **Somebody found some more rope! AND USED IT FOR MURDER AGAIN. Goddammit.**

 **So, um, things happened this chapter. I'm preparing for all the people that just got mindfucked.**

 **This is actually the first murder that I planned. Coming up with an idea similar to this is what made me want to create my own DR SYOC. And, well, you see how that turned out. XD**

 **Another triple murder. Well, the third trial wasn't supposed to be a triple murder, but then things happen. Don't recycle your OCs in current stories, kiddos, or I'll give their role in the plot to someone else and kill them. ;) Because I will know.**

 **Thank you so much for QueenofChocolateWinx for sending me Kira. She was so much fun to work with but now she's dead. So thank you so much...and allowing me to make her become a traitor. HAHAHAHAHAHA.**

 **Reviews~**

 **Scissor-Snipper-That is too kind to him, Kaneshiro will love the despair of slowly dying and doing nothing about it. Yeah, you deserve a cookie! :D *gives cookie* Oh yes, this trial is gonna hurt. GONNA HURT REAL BAD. *evil, sad laughter***

 **AnonChan1-Heya! :D Kaneshiro will never stop being a jackass. Monokuma cannot leave them alone, that's against his programming. Kira deserves all the love in the world...too bad I killed her. I WILL NEVER LET THEM REST! Hayato is adorable and I love my poor salesman child. THE TRAITOR LIKES KANESHIRO! WHEN YOU'RE RIGHT WHEN YOU DON'T WANNA BE! Ayano repressing her emotions...oh you betcha her repression is gonna bite her in the ass later on. Atsuto did forget because he's still kinda an idiot. *evil laughter* Ayano needs love! Yep, something is going on with Hotaru. ;) And it will lead to suffering, like everything else in this story. YOU WILL LEARN MORE ABOUT AKEMI IN THE TRIAL! ;) ;) ;)**

 **ThePLOThand-Hahahaha... _I don't get that reference_...*dies***

 **ShadedLyht-Hotaru is...well, something did happen. It gets explained more in MoDE since its not really plot important the exact reason, only that he did it. Its because I'm such a shipper and WANT MY CHILDREN TO BE HAPPY. But I can't do that, I'm Req. ;) I'm Req for a reason, I _req_ your hopes and dreams. (God help me with these terrible puns)**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Good, feed me with your tears. ;) HAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHA! NOPE! Hayato is like...what did I miss? (Hayato and Cassius really do deserve each other, both of them are as dense as you can get) Ayano is not very happy with...everything. REPRESSION. *huggles* Thanks so much, here's some more suffering!**

 **QueenofChocolateWinx-I think you'll have a comment about this chapter. ;) Jake is Kaneshiro's father. Jake is your father. JAKE IS EVERYBODY'S FATHER!**


	61. Investigation 5-2

**Investigation 5-2: Remember Me**

* * *

"K...Kira?"

Sin has perished from the world. But, instead of feeling happy that a traitor is dead, all I could feel is my heart becoming heavier and heavier. The world needed sin. I...I need Kira. Over these past couples of days, the two of us bonded talked about things we would never imagine bringing up to the others, and now she's dead. Somebody killed her.

Sure, Kira was involved in this game, and kidnapped all of us, leading to all of our sufferings. But she's not a bad person. Kira is...was a normal person who got into the wrong crowd.

And now she's gone.

"Goddammit, guys, we literally just had a triple murder case two trials ago! Can you stop your lust for blood for once!?"

"Technically Kira's death has no blood-"

"Shut up, Firefly!" Monokuma shouts. Hotaru huffs and crosses her arm like a child. Meanwhile, Takara and I stare at him in absolute horror. I will never hold onto a teddy bear again after this. Sorry, Uncle Tanaka, but its the truth. Even if my father somehow saves us from this nightmare, and then gave me the bear that once belonged to Yaeko. Yaeko always liked bears after all.

"C-calm!"

"Is that the only word you know how to say, Takara? Geez, what's even your nickname? Nobody knows since you're so forgettable." Takara's face drops. Monokuma seems to be in a less great mood today than usual. There is something else going on here, we just got to figure out what.

"Monokuma, how did Akemi die? Surely you must know," I ask. It takes up all my courage. I may tower over him, yet Monokuma holds all the power in our relationship. He does over everybody except for the mastermind.

"I don't know, bear's honor."

"Wait, what!?" Hotaru gasps in pretend horror. "You don't know something! Takara, write this down, its a moment to remember!" She jumps up and down when she pulls out the notebook. Takara tries to stop her but sighs. As she writes the words down, I examine her handwriting and it is nothing like either of the notes.

"You guys better figure this shit out. I wanna know what killed that asshole." That does not make sense since I assume Akemi was not the first one killed (something of a gut instinct, which would cause my past self to sigh), so why would Monokuma want us to know? Surely he would rather have some of the Despairs that work for him investigate it instead.

"Oh ho ho, is this some foe yay?" Hotaru returns the notebook and then gets down on Monokuma's level. She whispers something into his ear, and, after that, Monokuma disappears from the room.

"What did you say to Monokuma?" I question her. Hotaru does not listen to me, instead choosing to wink at me and leaving the room. That is suspicious. For what reason would Hotaru do that? Is she somehow working with Monokuma, and that's how she knows where all the evidence is? No...no, that's absurd.

"S-s-s-s...suspicious," Takara notes. He seems to be thinking the same things as me. But, with how Hotaru was acting before, it would make no sense if she somehow joined up with the mastermind. I then motion to him and Takara brings out his handbook. Looking over it together, we notice the new Truth Bullets.

* * *

 **Monokuma File #7**

 **Victim-Kira Iwata, Ultimate Jeweler**

 **Height-Four feet, eleven inches**

 **Weight-One-hundred pounds**

 **Age-Sixteen**

 **Birthday-October 27th**

* * *

 **Kira's cause of death is strangulation with the rope that was found on her neck.**

* * *

One sentence. That's all we get. _One sentence._ One. Fucking. Sentence.

Monokuma must have given somebody the hidden information, but who? I know it is not me, so who is it? They need to reveal it! I mean, they kinda cannot, but they can try to bring the idea up somehow.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #6-Hidden Message**

 **In the hands of Akemi Nakatani and Tsukiko Oda, there was a note that had the numbers 0303 written on it.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #7-Kira's Glasses**

 **Away from the body of Kira Iwata, there are her sunglasses. They have fallen off her person and are severely damaged.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #8-Proof of Struggle**

 **For Tsukiko Oda and Kira Iwata, there is proof of struggle on their bodies. However, there is no such thing for Akemi Nakatani.**

* * *

"Something weird," Takara notes as he looks over the evidence once again. I agree with him, something does not add up here. If there was this much planning, was the murder truly because of the motive? Highly unlikely, it would have not been enough time to plan everything out. Even Namita would have had trouble making this with less than twenty-four hours.

"What did you find out?"

"How d-did Kira...how did she read the note?" he points out. Thinking about it, that doesn't make sense. Kira is blind, it is impossible that she could have read the note. If she asked somebody to read it for her, who was it? What if the killer read it for her? Perhaps with false information to more easily kill her.

"She did not come to me to help." When I talked to her and Kirigiri died, Kira made no mention about the note. Although, if our timeline of events is right, Kira should have had the note by then and possibly knew about the contents. Did she think that the note was mentioning her as the traitor, and that's why she kept it secret? Cannot ask her now, only think about what was going on through her complicated mind.

"Me n-neither." Another question to answer during the trial. If we cannot find the answer, then Monokuma will be himself and reveal it himself. Since it might become very important in finding out who did this.

"Let's investigate the rest of the scene," I suggest. There might be another clue that can be a big hint towards everything. Something that connects all the clues and tells us who possibly can be the killer. Or killers, there must have been more than one of them to kill these many people.

"I'm g-going." Takara is about to throw up as he goes running out of the room. Once again, I find myself alone in this room, but this time Kaneshiro is not here, trying to get to me.

"Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan!" Monokuma comes into the room again, and now I wished that I was with any of the others. Kaneshiro wants to mess with me still. I know it. He wants me to think about other things except for the investigation on hand. Even though he constantly has to fix our mistakes because of his own tampering! Only Kazuhiko killed somebody outside of his own influence, and that whole trial was just him flaunting the amount of power in his corrupt hands.

"..."

"Deep in thought again. You seem to always be lost nowadays," Monokuma laughs as he begins circling me, stepping over Kira's body.

"..." Do not feed Monokuma with anything. Ignore him and he might become bored and move onto somebody else. Though Monokuma has always had an obsession with me because of my position of his so-called protagonist.

"Just know if you do anything again...I'll tell them about the bun in the oven." Monokuma kicks me hard on the ankles. I barely notice it, too inside of my own head. Kaneshiro is really stooping that low to make sure I follow through with his own plans. Only if I could do anything about it, but I know that Kaneshiro has all the power in here. There is nothing we can do to escape from his control.

Death in this game is a mercy. They don't have to suffer anymore. Thoughts go away, as everything else does. There is no Kaneshiro in death. No reality of the situation I am currently in. Since there would be no reality. Nothing. Why can't real life be like that? Having free will is a lie, even outside of this game, the Committee controls everything. Power belongs to the corrupt, while the weak suffer for their own personal gain. Empathy is something the world does not have.

"Just so you know, don't try that whole committing suicide thing. I made sure that the machine doesn't kill you anymore. You're not escaping from me." Of course, Kaneshiro would do that. Take away the only source of escape so I can live for his own amusement. Nothing can be easy. Knowing despairs, they would probably brainwash me when I escape this game and keep me alive no matter the cost. No matter what I want. And despair would make me love my twisted fate.

"Kira...?" Snapping out of my thoughts, I see that Atsuto, Yasu, and Hayato are now with me. Monokuma is nowhere to be seen. Figures.

"We need to figure out who done this. That is the only way to truly grief for them." Hayato keeps up with his way of thinking. He immediately starts looking all over Kira's person, trying to find something else to piece together the puzzle.

"We can look somewhere else." Atsuto then escorts Yasu out of the room. I do not blame him, I can barely handle myself in this horrible room of torture.

Something then calls me over the other bodies in the room, most likely my instinct honed by playing so much of this game. Thinking back to what Tsukiko told me, I look to the person who was electrocuted. Manami, one of Tsukiko's friends. I guess if there is an afterlife Tsukiko would be with Manami. Both of them have suffered but found some sort of twisted sense of peace. There is no true peace yet we are always striving for it.

Manami is of average height, being about five feet and five inches. Her body is slim but her skin color cannot be determined due to all the damage she went through. She has black hair that is put into a high ponytail. Because they are still open, I can see that her eyes are green and narrow. On her body is a light green sundress with a little white jacket over it, accompanied with high heels that match the color of that jacket. However, I notice that there is clearly something in Manami's jacket pocket. I do not remember it from last time so I pull it out.

It's a syringe.

Hearing my gasp, Hayato comes over to me. He begins to stare at the syringe, trying to figure out what it means.

"Would it be safe to assume that this is the weapon that made the mark on Akemi?" Hayato asks. "I remember seeing syringes like this in the Hospital. The killer could have taken it from there and taken Akemi by surprise."

"Let's compare this to Akemi," I suggest. Hayato nods his head, agreeing with me. But I am mostly glad that I made my way out of that room.

* * *

Going to the shrine room, I see that the only one still in here is Takara. Hayato and I go up to Akemi and check the needle on the syringe. Measuring it against the mark on his neck it is a perfect fit. Though there is now another question that comes up in our minds.

What was the meaning of the syringe? Was it to somehow put Akemi out of commission? Is that why Akemi put up no fight, considering his personality would not allow him to accept death easily? But there is no trace of liquid in the syringe. If there was something in it, would some trace of it be noticeable?

"Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan, it seems like you're stuck and need a hint. Let me tell you something. That syringe had nothing in it!" Monokuma is not physically in the room, instead deciding to relay his message through the speakers.

"What is the meaning of this!?" I cannot fathom why somebody would do such a thing. Is the syringe some sort of red herring? If that is why, why inject it into Akemi? Why hide it somewhere that is obvious yet not at the same? What is the meaning of Manami? How can this be possible?

"Ayano, we need to keep a clear head and not give into panic. There is always a reason for everything. We have to think outside the box for this investigation because it is clear that the culprit or culprits did the same." Hayato thinks hard, then his eyes light up. "What were we doing before the motive was announced? There is a possibility that the killer thought up this beforehand and is using the motive as something to throw us off!"

"But why target Tsukiko, Akemi, and Kira? Those three seem to be a random group of targets-"

"The therapy appointments!" Takara points out, now joining in on our conversation. "T-Tsukiko's t-therapy appointments." Wait, that makes sense. The three of them were connected because Tsukiko wanted the two of them to get along. But why target that group? There should have been easier ones and ones that made more sense. For example, Atsuto and Yasu. Atsuto might be strong, but he is strong and unlucky and be taken off guard. Then Yasu would have been easy to kill.

So why these three?

Kira is the traitor and blind. With there being a strong chance the killer planned this before the motive reveal, then it would make more sense to target her based on her blindness. Though there is once again the problem with her being unable to read it. Akemi might be an ass...actually, that could be exactly the reason. Tsukiko, however, is the odd one out. Is it because she is the leader, and the killer thought her death would cause us to fall apart? But the killer must have realized that we are stronger than that, we are too used to horrible things happening to be taken down by something so simple.

"What if it was the traitor that killed one or two of them? Wait, what if one of them was tricked into killing another?" Hayato inquires. He has a point. The traitor could play mind games, especially because they are directly connected to Kaneshiro Kazuma. But none of them is the type to kill another because of mind games, right? The only possible one is Kira, but I do not believe she has the skills to kill either Tsukiko or Akemi. Tsukiko cared too much for us and had too good of a head on her shoulders, while Akemi, although an ass, was severely against the act of murder.

"Y-yeah!" Takara supports. "But a-alibis. Before others." In the process of thinking about this, I almost forgot that Hayato noted that. Sometimes I can be an idiot.

"I was alone in my room. Not sure that helps much," Hayato responds. Takara replies by saying that he did the same exact thing, meaning that the two of them both have no solid alibis for that time.

"Well, I was in the cafeteria talking to Kira. Before that, I saw Atsuto and Yasu together. Tsukiko also came in when I was talking to Kira," I answer. And, just like usual nowadays, nobody knows anything about Hotaru's whereabouts. She is almost too suspicious to truly be so. But Hotaru continues to be Hotaru.

Considering the beep, there must be something important about that testimony. Good thing to note, the mystery still proves to be an interesting one.

"Can I see your handbook, Hayato?"

"If you desire so, Ayano."

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #9-The Syringe**

 **Ayano Kamukura found a syringe on Manami Yamada's, the Ultimate Fashion Designer, body. It is hidden in her jacket poorly.**

 **The needle on the syringe matches up to a wound on Akemi Nakatani's body. What is strange, however, is that there was nothing inside the syringe.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #10-Ayano's Testimony**

 **Ayano Kamukura claims she was with Kira Iwata in the cafeteria before the motive was announced. Tsukiko Oda went to check up on them sometime during the conversation.**

* * *

"There is something we can also do to find more evidence," Hayato notes. "Takara, do you mind if we search through your notebook. We should see if the handwriting matches anything in there." Takara shakes his head as he hands the notebook over to Hayato, who searches the pages quickly.

"Probably not mean anything...but h-handwriting different than with the n-notes for Shinichi." Looking back on my memories, I see that Takara has a point. Whoever wrote those letters was not involved in this case whatsoever. Now thinking about it, do we even know who did that? I do not remember discussing that topic before, and nobody should know who the handwriting belonged to, otherwise, they would have pointed it out. Except if for some reason somebody is working with the person who wrote the letter. Is it possible that we know the mastermind's handwriting? Do we need Yasu to hack into the previous Truth Bullets to compare?

"Wait, why are there so many pages missing?" Hayato questions Takara.

"People take."

"I know, but they took pages that we left in there on purpose. None of my plans with Tsukiko are here anymore." Hayato has a point. The killer getting access to the notebook is easy, even ripping out the pages. But why tear out so many? It is clear that the pages with Tsukiko are not the only ones gone, many others are too.

"Monokuma here with more information! Since, for once, the killer wasn't sloppy. Praise Atua, I was waiting for the day!" This time Monokuma is physically with us. He has something in his hand that I automatically recognize the letter the whole class got during Kyoto's birthday party. The letter that caused all of us to make a stupid decision that ended in Shinichi dying.

"Why are you being so helpful, Monokuma-"

"Can't a bear just care about his darling, bastard students? I'm doing my job with making this trial as fair as possible. And despair-inducing!" Monokuma puts the note in my hands, and I stare at him, not knowing what to do. Remember, Ayano, do nothing and he'll keep you alone. Alone.

And then Monokuma leaves just as always. Never staying long enough to make us comfortable with his presence. In that way, Monokuma is similar to what Kazuhiko called a jump scare. Something that pops out of nowhere and shocks you, but the fear diminishes the longer you are exposed to it.

The three of us examine the note carefully. We see that it said exactly what Tsukiko said it did...

 _Attention students,_

 _Let's play a game~_

 _Each student takes one cup and drinks what is inside._

However, there is nothing the three of us notice about this note. It is nothing like the ones given to Tsukiko, Akemi, and Kira. And, even if the same person wrote this as the piece of paper Hotaru found, there is no way to prove it for sure.

Hayato, stuck on this mystery as well, shows me his handbook, probably hoping it will lead to something new. Monokuma could possibly let something big slip on accident, or purpose. There is a chance as always that he wants us to figure out who did it. Even if it is the traitor, the mastermind would want the despair of causing the death of their 'friend.'

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #11-Takara's Notebook**

 **Takara Miyagi notes that pages have been stolen from his notebook. Though all the pages have been relating to the victims of this case: Tsukiko Oda, Akemi Nakatani, and Kira Iwata.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #12-Handwriting**

 **The handwriting for whoever sent the notes does not match any of the students still alive.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #13-Birthday Letter**

 **Back for Kyoto Kamui's birthday celebration, there was a letter shown to the other students that made them decide to drink the mysterious liquid and cause Shinichi's death.**

 **This letter does not match the notes sent to the victims. However, it is indecisive if the writing matches the code of '0303.'**

* * *

Remembering back the second trial, didn't Monokuma say something back then about having his traitor trick Cassius into playing along? That probably means that the person referred to back then and the one involved in this motive are one in the same. Somehow Kaneshiro's traitor has found a way to stay alive in this game along with the mastermind. They must both be in positions of trust that are not big targets for murder. Or maybe they are, and that's how they remain not caught? After all, Kaneshiro can change the Neo World Program however he likes.

There has to be a clue somewhere else. Just where? Perhaps where Hotaru, Atsuto, or Yasu are at? The three of them have an interesting history involving trials and investigations, so it would not be unheard of if they missed a clue because they thought it was something that didn't matter. I mean, Hotaru might know its important yet purposefully avoid it since she is weird right now.

"I am going downstairs," I announce to Hayato and Takara.

"Just make sure you stay safe, okay?" Hayato responds. Both of the boys stay there, examining the new pieces of evidence more closely. Perhaps discussing theories with themselves.

* * *

Going down the stairs, I head to where I believe Atsuto and Yasu are. It's my gut that tells me. Although I did not know whether or not they left the second floor, I followed it.

It turned out to be wrong.

Instead, I find Hotaru, who is in the cellar, trying to find something. Maybe any more alcohol, but I am pretty sure that Monokuma erased it all. Hotaru notices me when I accidentally step on some glass. She grins at me, reminding me much of a cat who just got away with the act of murdering an innocent bird.

"Ayano!" Hotaru spins around, stepping on some glass herself, though she does not seem to mind. It is times like these I am glad that she stole shoes from Akita's body. Although it was disgusting, it was necessary for her to go on in this game. Thinking about it, that is probably one of the ways that Kaneshiro tried to get rid of Hotaru.

"What do you think about the case, Hotaru?" Even though Hotaru has not found any new evidence, and her previous behavior is weird, to say the least, it is good to have multiple perspectives on this case. And not trying to find a reason to waste time on an investigation with Hotaru, which is not what I am trying to do. Okay, maybe I am.

"Three peeps are dead and another is gonna join them," Hotaru answers. There is nothing I can really piece from that. "But it sucks that so many are dead. Even Izumi."

"Izumi!? How do know Izumi? And what do you mean she's dead?" I cannot believe I am getting this emotional about a computer program. True, I did create her, but I do not even remember that.

"That's for me to know and you to never find out."

Being almost exactly like Monokuma, Hotaru disappears. This is strange. But Izumi is dead? How is that even possible? Did somebody delete her from everything? If so, how? I am pretty sure I would make sure that would be no easy feat. Somebody would have had experience with computers to do something like that.

That has nothing to do with the current case, right? But Izumi being gone makes sense, I have not seen her for a very long time now. She might have been a jerk and a robot, yet she would often have clues to the overall mystery of this place.

Though this is not the time to think about stuff like that. Hayato has a point, we can focus on all of that after we get through all of this together. Even if we are trapped by despairs for the rest of our lives, maybe we can find some sort of solace with each other.

Not having anything else to do, I feel something calling to me. My gut has been wrong many times but I am still dumb enough to follow it. So I go into the hidden hallway, not expecting anything but keeping my mind open to the idea of searching this place.

Going through the hallway, I find myself stopping by the door. Something then clicks in my mind. There is a keypad near the door that has numbers on it. Is that what the numbers mean?

I need to find somebody. This might be the key to everything, even though I am still trapped with this action of mine. Hotaru must still be nearby, or maybe I can Atsuto and/or Yasu. Having a goal inside my mind, I feel myself running, not knowing how much time we still have.

* * *

Hotaru has not made it that far and is walking, making me catching up to her easy. She is taken off-guard, but, when I pull her to the cellar, Hotaru makes no objections.

"Oh la la la, why are you pulling me somewhere secret, Ayano?"

"Trust me, Hotaru, plug in 0303," I tell her. Saying nothing else, Hotaru puts the code into the keypad, and, to our luck, we both find that it opens.

"Well, I didn't expect that." Hotaru and I then go inside the room, with Hotaru using her handbook as a sort of flashlight. She has to search the room a little bit before she finds a light switch, flipping it on. "To be honest, I kinda forgot this existed. It hasn't been important for like, three chapters."

Looking inside, the closest thing to us is a chair and a TV set. It is randomly set in the middle of the room, surrounded by bookcases of random things. Mostly weapons, actually all weapons. I freeze when I see the baseball bat Kazuhiko used to murder Akita. Did Kazuhiko know about the code, or did he sneak in here like I did the first time?

However, there is one thing that catches my attention at the far back of the room. It is another door, with another code locking it. Hotaru notices it as well and types in 0303, only for it to not work.

"Ahem, kiddos, its time for trial. Now Firefly and Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan, stop stooping around in my stuff. Losers get your asses over here, we're going shopping when this is over!"

* * *

 **Short investigation with not that many Truth Bullets but that's the idea. This case is supposed to be harder because of the lack of information about everything. Because, goddammit, Monokuma, give the audience information!**

 **Okay, I've been forgetting these things a lot but, hey, I'm gonna remember to do them every chapter. _Eventually._**

 **QOTC: What has been the most heartwarming moment in Forest of Despair for you?**

 **SYOC Rec: Danganronpa: Crimes Against Hope & Despair by Orlando Butler**

 **Reviews~**

 **QueenofChocolateWinx-No problem, writing with Kira was so much fun so thank you for sending her. Beni is here now to suffer in Kira's absence! BENI YOU HEARD THAT, LET HER DOWN XD**

 **Scissor-Snipper-The original three person trial. Ayano is like...I want AyaHaru to happen but she's acting too crazy right now. That's because Monokuma doesn't know how Akemi died. ;) Yes, cookies are amazing! :D**

 **AnonChan1-Ayano can never have a break, this is the Committee Saga after all. Writing the scene of the empty hallways is what made me realize that I killed the amount of an entire DR cast. Atsuto is just really, really unlucky. Yasu needs a hug. Kira is a morally grey character, being neither good or bad. Hotaru wants some more AyaHaru moments. Hotaru is...*something*. I need some cute so I won't fall into despair. XD Tsukiko can't fatten up the bun bun, she's dead. It does mean something, its the code to the secret room. Hotaru is... _something._ ;) There's no escaping from my wrath, Kira. No, Usami would have not caused despair. ;) I'm so cruel to Kira, I'm sorry my precious jeweler daughter.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Yep, another triple murder. :D Might or might not include suicide. Every plan eventually goes wrong in this saga. Thanks, Rose :D**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-Its actually a wonderful idea, it increases the amount of suffering. :3**


	62. Trial 5-1

**Trial 5-1: Mors Mihi Lucrum**

* * *

Everyone is gathered in the trial room once again. We go to our podiums like the good little soldiers we are and await Monokuma punishing us one more time.

There is only darkness that awaits all of us but we still continue onward, desperate for at least some bit of light.

It surprises me that Mochi is still alive. With all the horrible things that the mastermind has done, somehow the rabbit has not met their maker. That rabbit is truly the luckiest living being here.

"Jeez, all of you are so quiet today? Is it because everybody you know and love is dead?" Monokuma questions all of us. Nobody answers him, which only makes him smile harder.

 **Class Trial: All Rise!**

"Let's begin with a basic explanation of the Class Trial. You bastards find out the killer and don't get executed, or the killer goes free. You guys already know this by now! We have had five of these!" It is annoying hearing him say this all of the time. At this point, I am surprised that nobody has interrupted him and said it themself.

Without Akemi here, there is nobody to be a pain to Monokuma, leaving us alone in silence. We are waiting for the right moment, the moment in which Monokuma will not just randomly decide to mass execute us.

There is nothing better to do, so I decide to look over the evidence again. It would not surprise me if one of the others found something new, or if there was something extremely important Hotaru and I found.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #1-Monokuma Files #Nobody Cares**

 _ **Tsukiko's cause of death is blood loss.** **Due to a knife wound on the neck, Tsukiko died. Beforehand, Tsukiko was injured due to a fight, injuring her legs and hands.**_

 _ **Akemi's cause of death is unknown.** **There is a puncture wound on his neck but that is not related to his death. Something about his unknown cause of death has caused his ears to bleed.**_

 _ **Kira's cause of death is strangulation with the rope that was found on her neck.**_

 **Truth Bullet #2-More Information on the Bodies**

 _ **Both Tsukiko Oda and Akemi Nakatani are laying on the shrine of Kotori Hiraoka. It is something to note that the shrine has none of their blood on it.** **Both Tsukiko Oda and Akemi Nakatani are holding hands. They have tears on their faces and are frowning.**_

 **Truth Bullet #3-Knife**

 _ **There is a knife in Akemi's Nakatani's hands covered in the blood of Tsukiko Oda.**_

 **Truth Bullet #4-Where Everybody Was During the Time of Morning**

 _ **Tsukiko Oda claimed she was going to visit Takara Miyagi and Yasu Matsuhita to tell them about the motive but never did.** **Akemi Nakatani said he would go after Kira Iwata, but neither of them is here to clarify that claim.** **Everybody else was by themselves. There is nobody to prove a person's alibi. Have fun solving this mystery, kids.**_

 **Truth Bullet #5-Notes**

 _ **In the rooms of Tsukiko Oda, Akemi Nakatani, and Kira Iwata, there are notes telling them to come to the shrine room at eight thirty to figure out who the traitor is.**_

 **Truth Bullet #6-Hidden Message**

 ** _In the hands of Akemi Nakatani and Tsukiko Oda, there was a note that had the numbers 0303 written on it._**

 **Truth Bullet #7-Kira's Glasses**

 _ **Away from the body of Kira Iwata, there are her sunglasses. They have fallen off her person and are severely damaged.**_

 **Truth Bullet #8-Proof of Struggle**

 _ **For Tsukiko Oda and Kira Iwata, there is proof of struggle on their bodies. However, there is no such thing for Akemi Nakatani.**_

 **Truth Bullet #9-The Syringe**

 _ **Ayano Kamukura found a syringe on Manami Yamada's, the Ultimate Fashion Designer, body. It is hidden in her jacket poorly.** **The needle on the syringe matches up to a wound on Akemi Nakatani's body. What is strange, however, is that there was nothing inside the syringe.**_

 **Truth Bullet #10-Ayano's Testimony**

 _ **Ayano Kamukura claims she was with Kira Iwata in the cafeteria before the motive was announced. Tsukiko Oda went to check up on them sometime during the conversation.**_

 **Truth Bullet #11-Takara's Notebook**

 _ **Takara Miyagi notes that pages have been stolen from his notebook. Though all the pages have been relating to the victims of this case: Tsukiko Oda, Akemi Nakatani, and Kira Iwata.**_

 **Truth Bullet #12-Handwriting**

 _ **The handwriting for whoever sent the notes does not match any of the students still alive.**_

 **Truth Bullet #13-Birthday Letter**

 _ **Back for Kyoto Kamui's birthday celebration, there was a letter shown to the other students that made them decide to drink the mysterious liquid and cause Shinichi's death.** **This letter does not match the notes sent to the victims. However, it is indecisive if the writing matches the code of '0303.'**_

 **Truth Bullet #14-Messed With Lock**

 _ **The lock of the door to the shrine room has been messed with. It is hard to notice since somebody has seemed to at least try to fix it. However, it was messed with from the side of the shrine room.**_

 **Truth Bullet #15-Connection to Kaneshiro**

 _ **Kaneshiro Kazuma is involved in this case somehow. Because literally, the only murder he wasn't involved with was the first one.**_

 **Truth Bullet #16-Where the Code Goes**

 _ **For the code that was found with Tsukiko Oda and Akemi Nakatani, Ayano Kamukura and Hotaru Amemori found it went to the secret door in the passageway between the cellar and poor area. The door leads to a room full of weapons and a TV set. There is another door that is blocked with a different code and leads to somewhere unknown.**_

* * *

"Time for the trial to begin!" Hotaru exclaims as she climbs on top of her podium, her sense of balance being the only thing keeping her from falling to her death.

"Please do not do that Hotaru, we do not-"

"Stop being a party pooper, Hayyyyyyyyyyyyyyato~" Monokuma slams his fists on his throne, causing all of us to jump. Even Hotaru, who lands right back to safety.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence: Battle Arena Preparation**

"The first avenue of discussion should be the number of victims," Hayato suggests. "There are _three_ , meaning it is impossible that only one person killed all of them."

"Yes~ and at least one of them _couldn't have been done by suicide_." Hotaru's comment strikes me as weird but I pay no real attention to it.

"Could it be that _three different people killed them_ again?" Yasu questions. Although we do not have enough evidence to either support or deny that claim, it is highly unlikely. Mostly because Kaneshiro having the same results would bore him, and that would make Monokuma more pissed off.

"No!" Takara then breaks through Yasu's argument, surprising me. Turns out we do have evidence to prove that claim to be false. That was unexpected.

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"Um...t-the notes."

"What about the notes, Takara?" Atsuto asks, confused. He tilts his head while his eyes search the room, clearly thinking of something. His arms cross.

"U-u-u-u-um..."

"What Takara means that the notes show that there is probably only one person working on this, or two. Whether or not they were planted after or were actually used to lure the victims is still up to debate." Hayato's intervention causes Monokuma to flare up but say nothing. He is determined, not wanting the trial to go off course. It would be harder to do that now, with so little of us left.

"Wasn't Kira blind? How could she read her note?" Yasu points out. Mochi gets out of the box, climbing atop of Yasu's shoulder. They pet the rabbit, with Mochi nuzzling their neck.

"Yasu has a point, Kira would have mentioned to me receiving a note after our conversation." At least I hope so. I would believe that admitting that you have been raped in the past would be harder than saying you got a suspicious note you cannot read. But maybe I do not know Kira as well as I think I do.

"But perhaps Kira received the note after your conversation. We do not know what happened, so it is a possibility."

"That's exactly it, though, Hayato, it's only a possibility. You're jumping the gun a bit," Atsuto comments. Thinking about it, though, it would make sense for Kira to get the note then. But did Akemi receive it at the same time? They were supposed to be together, so it would be possible.

"But we should not erase it entirely."

"Kids, maybe we should talk about something else," Yasu suggests meekly. They still do not like conflict even after witnessing so many trials. "I always thought it weird that Tsukiko didn't come to us. Didn't seem like her."

"Yeah."

"But why would Tsukiko act that way? Maybe she was the mastermind! Plot twist Kaneshiro Kazuma was a girl this entire time!" Hotaru seems to be doing all sorts of stunts to make us notice her but it only works for me. Everybody else is too lost in thought to pay her any sort of attention.

"Hotaru, if Tsukiko was the mastermind, we would not be in this situation right now," I remind her. Though Hotaru gives me an all-knowing smile. Like she already knows what happened, but is deciding to stay silent because of some reason. Figuring out Hotaru is a futile task.

"Perhaps Tsukiko was the first person to receive the note, and she decided to investigate by herself to not worry anyone." Hayato brings up a good point, that does seem to be a Tsukiko thing to do. But she would have prepared for the possibility of getting attacked, not go in there unprepared. At least hint to someone where she would be.

"But what if she died last? Or second?" Yasu questioned.

"We still know that there should more than one killer. The best course of action is to find out the order that they have died. Only the first murder counts to Monokuma," I announce confidently.

"Then we should have another non-stop debate! Hit it, Monokuma~" Hotaru points her finger at the bear, earning her a nod of approval.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence~ (Hotaru, you make this so much more fun)**

"The...order of death!"

"It is most likely not the _order listed in the Monokuma Files_ , it wasn't for the...third trial." Hayato and Atsuto both cannot keep straight faces because of that comment.

Thinking back to the bodies, there is at least a small hint to the order of death. Something that seems obvious but might be more important than we originally thought.

"Tsukiko and Akemi _were holding hands_. That means that they had to die near each other," I point out. But it does strike me as weird that the two of them were doing that, they were never that close. Akemi almost assaulted Tsukiko for the love of everything mighty. And I do not think the two of them together would want to hide the code, except if it was from the killer. There are better ways of doing that, however.

" _Another pair of secret lovers_!? I thought we had enough of those with Namita and Miyuki, and _Atsuto and Yasu_!" Hotaru frowns as she realizes that only I am paying attention once again. She pouts and she sits down on her podium with her legs crisscrossed.

"Still proves nothing," Atsuto blushes. Nobody is surprised by the fact. Literally, everyone knows already, but Atsuto and Yasu are both red as tomatoes.

" _Operation Atsusu was successful_! Disney songs always seem to do the trick~"

"Hotaru, please focus on the trial on hand, we have murders to solve right now," Hayato sighs. He is so different from the Hayato from the beginning, who would just stay on the sidelines and not get involved except necessary. Or for Cassius.

"But why would any of them have the code? What if _the killer planted it there_?" I ask. It does not make sense, except if one of them was the...oh no.

"The traitor. _One of them has to be the traitor_!" Yasu blurts out, their eyes going wide.

"Or the killer was and _planted it there to make them look suspicious_ ," Hotaru adds-on, finally saying something useful to the conversation. "I'm not sure if you guys forgot or not, but the motive said the traitor will kill someone or we kill them."

"But how does Kira fit into this? There would be _no reason to kill her_." Kira might have a traitor but she was for Kirigiri's game, not this one. And she is blind, so she should have posed no threat.

"I'm sorry, Ayano, but that's wrong!" Atsuto is the one who breaks through my argument, catching me off guard. I am not doing so well during this trial. Probably because I am distracted, my mind has other things to worry about. Like...that...

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"It says that this case has a connection to Kaneshiro, right?"

"Like every case has a connection to Kaneshiro. He's too incompetent to make us kill each other like he wants to without his...whatever the Hell he does. Junko was a better mastermind by a long shot. Your point?" Hotaru gets up. She is much like a child in a class that wants the teacher to pay attention to them but they won't pay attention. Not even Monokuma right now.

"Stop interrupting others-"

"Yeah, yeah, it's rude. Whatever. I'm just gonna say silent for the whole trial then." She then gets comfortable on her podium and begins to...sleep.

"...Okay..." Takara searches the room with his eyes but stays mostly silent.

"...If the killer had some sort of connection to Kaneshiro, it would make sense they would target Kira. I know from experience that he hated her." What Atsuto says make sense. But, if the traitor targeted Kira because of that, why Tsukiko and Akemi? Tsukiko never met Ayano Kirigiri before, evidenced by her reaction to seeing her here, and Akemi was also hated by Kirigiri.

"Yes, that makes sense, right Mochi?" Atsuto and Yasu look each other in the eyes. Hayato coughs, bringing the both of them out of their trance.

"Should...we discuss t-that?" Takara questions. All of us nod, except for Hotaru but she is sleeping. How can she sleep on these? They are super uncomfortable and everything is super loud.

 **Free For All: Motive Edition!**

"We have a possible motive for Kira, but what about Tsukiko and Akemi?"

"There are motives for both Tsukiko and Akemi, yet they do not quite match the one for Kira. Tsukiko is...was the leader of us, Akemi was the...um..."

"He was the ass," I say. There was no other reason to target Akemi other than he opposed Monokuma a lot, but that usually went nowhere. Also, Akemi had a horrible relationship with Kirigiri, with that being one of the reasons why Kira started to not like him anymore.

"Ayano, this is not the time." Atsuto and Yasu do not look to be pleased with that answer. Yasu's eyebrow is even raised.

"But...m-multiple?"

"What do you mean, Takara?" Hayato inquires.

"Multiple people...multiple motives." What Takara says makes sense. Especially with the possibility of the crime being planned before the motive, nothing should be off the table.

"But what if there was only one person? Somebody could have tricked another into killing another one, and then killed them...I just confused myself," Atsuto comments. So is he implying this could be a similar situation as the third case in the Hope Peak Academy Killing Game? That could be the case, though we have no idea who would do what right now.

 **Free For All: End!**

"There could be another situation in which that happens, kids," Yasu begins to speak. The session may have already ended but something else is on their mind. "Maybe one of them saw another one attack another and attacked the person to save them but failed."

"Yasu, you seem to be forgetting one thing!" Hotaru pops up as nothing happened. She has a grimace that contrasts her usual demeanor. "Only two of them had injuries! Tsukiko and Kira! If that happened, all three of them would~"

"N-not exactly," Takara replies. "They f-failed."

"Which means that they either could not hurt the attacker or get to them in time. Or maybe they snuck up on the attacker and dealt the finishing blow when they were distracted." That also makes sense. But who would be the people involved?

If it was Akemi and Kira, how did they get each other in the same room? If it was Tsukiko and Akemi attacking each other, why the Hell are they holding hands? If Kira and Tsukiko attacked each other, what would be their motive? And, if it was anybody from outside, just...why?!

"It would be highly unlikely for Kira to be the attacker, with the way that she died. So the attacker either is somebody here, Akemi, or...Tsukiko." Right, there are multiple reasons why Kira cannot be the attacker. Her blindness is one of them, and the other is that she was strangled with a rope. Somebody who is trying to save someone would not choose to kill the attacker that way. Not only is it long, slow, and painful, with the victim being able to fight back, but getting the rope around their neck in the first place would be a challenge.

"But we still need to know how Akemi died. It says nothing about the cause of death." Hoping that the person with extra information will soon reveal it, I decided to voice my thoughts.

"Actually, I'm here to save the day! Let's just say a little birdie told me that somebody died outside the program." Oh, so Hotaru had the secret information. Is that how she knew where everything was? Was she given more useful information than I did? Probably because she is acting so weird and Kaneshiro wants to use that against us.

Wait...what?

"Somebody died outside the program!?" I yell out. I did not know that was possible, but it is. Nobody died that way with my father's Killing Game.

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that's Akemi." We all agree with Yasu. The other two it would not make sense for, but Akemi...for Akemi it answers a lot of questions that we have.

"But how? Why? When!?" Atsuto is just as confused as I am. In fact, everybody but Hotaru looks like they are still trying to wrap tWeir heads around it. None of us thought that something like this would happen. I believe not even Monokuma or the people working on the game since Monokuma did not plan for this event. He probably had to scramble which is why everything is so bare bones.

"Um...d-does Akemi have health c-conditions?" It was a good question for Takara to ask but I highly doubt something that simple is the answer.

"No, he was healthy all the time that I knew him-"

"Speaking of, Atsuto, how _do_ you know Akemi?" Hotaru has no smile, her face is completely serious. I have never seen her like this before, and, judging by the reactions around me, nobody else. "You know what, I think you're the one who killed him! To shut him up!"

"Hotaru, I would not do such a thing." Atsuto is trying to keep calm but I can tell Hotaru's accusation is hurting him. But I want to tell him that Hotaru is only doing this to fulfill her requirement for the extra information...or at least I hope so.

"Are you so sure about that? It could have been you!" Hotaru and Atsuto then go to the middle of the room, with them looking each other in the eye.

 **Rebuttal Showdown Commence!**

"Were you with anybody, Atsuto?"

"Hotaru, literally nobody was with anybody." Atsuto's eyes droop. He is no longer caught off guard, more obviously annoyed than anything.

"But weren't you supposed to be smooching it up with your love? What happened to that? Got a little too bloodthirsty? Why weren't you with Yasu during the motive?" Even though I do not want to agree with Hotaru, I see where she is coming from. But what is with this sudden change of attitude?

"Yasu got tired so they returned early. Then I went to my room as well."

"But somebody outside the room had to do it-"

"No, that's wrong!" Exactly like Makoto...Matoko...I don't even know anymore, used to do, Atsuto points his finger at Hotaru as the words shatter around the two of them.

 **Rebuttal Showdown End!**

"I just realized something because of Hotaru." Atsuto still does not sound pleased. He crosses his arms. Reaching over to him, Yasu hands him over Mochi, causing his face to soften.

"What is it, Atsuto?"

"The lock was messed up, right? What if the three of them were stuck in there because of that, and Kaneshiro fixed it for us to 'help' us with the investigation." When Atsuto says help, he uses air quotes.

"But why would the killer want that? It would trap them too," Hayato pokes a hole in Atsuto's theory. With how hard it was to find evidence, even with Hotaru's help, it would seem that the killer would not want to be found. Trapping themselves would be too stupid for somebody who created this setup.

"Except if they were the traitor..."

"...They would think that the mastermind would help them out," Yasu finishes Atsuto's sentence. Their eyes widen with realization. Is it possible that the mastermind betrayed the traitor? Did the mastermind want this to be more like Junko's games without noticing the true essence of those? I understand Junko more than Kaneshiro.

"That's what they get," Hotaru frowns.

"So, following this line of reasoning, the traitor is the one that targeted them. But how does that make sense? Shouldn't the traitor target only one of them to follow the other games?" I voice out loud. The traitor was revealed the fourth case for Hope's Peak and the fifth for Jabberwock. "If they tampered with the lock, then why would somebody come to their rescue? That's impossible."

"Except...i-if the defender h-had the lock tampered!" Takara shouts out. Figuring out how loud he yelled, Takara covers his mouth and turns red.

"The person who witnessed the crime perhaps knew that trying to stop it was futile, so they tampered with the lock," Hayato agrees with Takara. "They knew it would cause their death but did it anyway."

"But who knew how to tamper with locks? Tsukiko or Akemi?"

"Both of them actually. Don't ask me how I know that," Monokuma responds to our question. Of course, now I want to know the answer, but I know that starting that conversation will get us nowhere. He probably learned all about us by stalking us. It would not be hard to use the internet even though it is not as big and powerful as it used to be. Considering my talent, I know how easy that can be. Because of the internet going out of style, people are becoming less and less careful with it, making information easier to find but less than impressive in most cases.

"This is not gonna be easy," Yasu sighs. They are right, although figuring out the mysteries become easier and easier, nothing about the process is. There is the thrill of solving mysteries, but the immense dread that is always in the pit of your stomach.

"W-we need to find out who did this. For t-their sake too." Takara seems to have sympathy for the traitor, but why is that? Unlike with Kira, this traitor had to know what they were doing was wrong. This traitor wanted to kill us but Kira just wanted to follow Kirigiri's commands out of some twisted form of respect towards her.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"So who is the traitor?" Atsuto questions all of us. I think deeply, trying to find out who it could possibly be. But I feel like we are missing something, or we are jumping to too many conclusions.

"But is there any evidence for that? The traitor has been _very cautious_ , even more so than the mastermind. _One mistake_ is what cost them their lives." Everybody has been on their A game this trial, except for Hotaru. Hotaru herself is trying to help in her own way.

"Both _Tsukiko and Akemi were cautious_ tho," Yasu comments. They were so in different ways, yet both of them would put their guard down every once in a while.

"There is a hint, however, _there has to be_ ," I reply. Just what is it? Perhaps it is not in the bullets themselves but in the experiences outside of it. We need to think outside of the box that Monokuma trapped us in.

"Careful." Takara looks over his Truth Bullets, stumped. Just as I predicted, the truth is outside the lies. Monokuma cannot be trusted to put down evidence that points toward his traitor. If the traitor becomes known, they are closer to being found out. But maybe Monokuma wants that, for they have to follow the other games. However, considering this is Kaneshiro, that is heavily up to debate.

"We need to have this in a _Free For All_! Atsuto, _do your thing_!" Hotaru starts dancing, but nobody is having it. And we thought her behavior during the other trials was something to be desired. Atsuto glares at Hotaru, only for Mochi to comfort him again.

"Everybody is _alive_ ," Atsuto sighs. The words get easily broken as Atsuto starts banging his head against his podium.

"You silly boy, you know that's wrong." Hotaru has her old devious smirk back. Though I used to think of it as cute, this one has some sort of sinister meaning behind it.

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"Or we can use this time. We don't want to waste time, right?" She tilts her entire body to the left. "But I don't have to explain why they're all dead. Kaneshiro didn't want all of us to turn into Junkos so he added a lot of knives."

"Turn into Junko?" Takara still has not been caught up to the date with the other Killing Games. We do not have enough time to fill him in with the whole Jabberwock story.

"We'll explain it later, Takara," Yasu tells him. Atsuto must have told them everything. Makes sense, Atsuto would want people, especially the ones he love, to know what really happened. The Committee is hiding so much information, too much. So much that some did not know who Monokuma was until he said his name.

"Though what do we think about? What can possibly point towards the traitor?" I agree with Hayato, we have to think about something we have not yet.

So the traitor most likely hates Kirigiri? Most of us do, except for Atsuto who seems to have complicating feelings about her. They are somewhat cousins after all. Though there has to something that somebody did that places the pieces together. Something that the traitor could not account for and be not ready for.

The traitor has to either a Despair or somebody who sided with them for the period of this game. So it should be something dealing with Kirigiri or the Saviors. Though I have a sneaking suspicion that Kaneshiro wanted the Saviors to 'save' us so he can do... _that_. So Kirigiri. But many were taken off guard by her, including me.

So what could it possibly be? Kirigiri acted like Kirigiri and tried to make herself seem like a mystery but I am so done with her. Everybody was, considering that either the mastermind or traitor killed her. Her death must have not counted to the game because she was never a part of it.

...Wait a minute, there might be something that reveals who the traitor is...That son of a bitch.

Kirigiri did not find out who the mastermind is, but she must have figured out the secret behind the traitor. Must have been something in his past that they connected to the Despairs. How is it connected to Despairs, however?

But Kirigiri must have told Kira about what she found that. That's why Kira turned on him all the sudden, she found out, but could not reveal it herself because it would tell us about her position as Kirigiri's spy.

I knew he was a piece of shit.

"It's Akemi!" I blurt out, not caring about the looks that everybody else is giving me.

"Ayano, I know you didn't like him, but you can't just randomly accuse him," Atsuto calls me out. I know he may not like me doing this, especially to his recently dead friend, though I know this can lead to us cracking the case. And hopefully everything else.

"Didn't Akemi hate murders? Why would he want to do this, kid?" Yasu poses good questions. If we look purely on that, it should not make sense, yet barely anything in this forest does.

"Think about it, Kira started hating Akemi after Kirigiri told her something. What other reason could it be other than that he is the traitor!?" I plead my case. Maybe I am crazy and blinded with my hate for Akemi, but, even if he is not the traitor, that still seems off.

"Ayano has a point. He could've been lying about his hatred. Or maybe he was one of those crazy people that hate stuff when other people do it but feels like its justified if it comes from his side." Hotaru has on a twisted expression that I cannot fully describe. Something between psychopathy and insanity. I don't know what that means but that is how it feels like. It sends shivers down my spine.

"Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan is right everyone! Congrats on finding the traitor~"

* * *

 **Requiem, where's the Halloween special? Um, I've decided to make it a Thanksgiving special instead because I didn't get the trial out soon enough and it has massive spoilers. And I also don't have it completed, mostly because I've been busy with my horrible family situation and laziness.**

 **But, due to certain events that have transpired, I feel like I need to call out two individuals about their conduct. Dashunterman, the creator of Mitsuru, and ObieSenpai, the creator of Kyoto. I felt like recycling OCs in this SYOC was punishable only by their character's deaths but they have continued doing so. They have not seemed to learn their lesson. Now, don't attack these individuals, I don't want that, I just want them to stop recycling OCs. Their conduct has made it so they will also be not credited in the audiobook or able to audition.**

 **Do not recycle OCs. I wish you learn your lesson. Not only is it lazy, but it ruins the stories of the people you do it too. Kyoto and Mitsuru were originally supposed to both survive so much later yet their stories had to be thrown out because of the conduct of their creators. Just please, do not do this, and follow the rules of the SYOC. Thank you and good night.**

 **Reviews~**

 **RioA-YAS THE QUEEN, KANESHIRO!**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-TURNS OUT IT WASN'T HAYATO!**

 **AnonChan1-Kira is what the cool kids call morally grey. Kaneshiro has too much fun with Aya-Izumi-Chan-Chan. These three have a very important meaning. Something did happen like that because this is Kaneshiro. ;) Akemi is confirmed traitor but we still do not know who the mastermind is. Poor Izumi, Izumi deserved none of this, she just wanted to relax in her computer world and then people came in and started dying. Yep, its been like three chapters and its finally here again! Behind this door...is another door! Rabbit farms are still biased. ;)**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Well, this mystery is gonna to go where nobody expects. ;) Tsukiko, stop having Tearjerker moments, you're dead. Mochi is here to make people wonder how in the world he's not dead yet. Thank you so much, Rose :D**

 **ThePLOThand-Captain America, you are my favorite Avenger. That girl is mood. Hotaru sounds like a bakery, wonder if a girl named Laura is the baker. ;)**


	63. Trial 5-2

**Trial 5-2: It Was For You**

* * *

"...Monokuma...? Why...?"

"For the despair, kiddo! Your very best friend turned to be nothing more than a flithy traitor. Somebody who went behind your backs to help me make you suffer more. You always wondered who tricked Cassius into thinking he was the killer? It was none then your buddy, your pal, Akemi Nakatani! So rejoice that he's deader than a doornail~" Atsuto's face drops and he looks like he is on the brink of tears. Yasu is no better, looking more shellshocked than anything.

"But the...the other traitors...weren't evil!" Atsuto argues, barely able to form a coherent sentence. "Sakura and Chiaki were nice and kind and didn't want to betray! Akemi must have his reasons!"

"I may not know who this Chiaki person is, or that Sakura was a traitor, but I will agree with Atsuto. Considering you are the Ultimate Brainwasher, I highly doubt somebody would join you while not under your control." Hayato stands tall and gives Monokuma a deadly glare. Monokuma does not get discouraged, however, still completely relaxed in his throne of deceit.

"Good! We good!" Takara shouts out. Although I may still not like Akemi, it is somewhat heartwarming that people care this much about the asshole.

"You're a bunch of idealists." Hotaru is the only one that seems to be remotely suspicious of Akemi and his motives. She places her hands on her hips and clicks her tongue.

"Puhuhuhu~ Hotaru seems to be the only one who has any sort of idea of what's going on. Poor, poor Atsuto, betrayed once again! Poor boy can't get a break. Especially since little, sweet, innocent Akemi has been a part of the True Despairs all this time. He was in despair and nobody noticed! What a sad, sad story." Monokuma then gets his jetpack back on and soars over to Atsuto, circling around him and Yasu.

"No...that can't...t-t-t-t..." Yasu's eyes go wide as they fall into sleep once again. Or faint, I could not tell.

"Yasu!"

"Do not freak out, Atsuto, they are perfectly safe...We need to keep our heads about this," Hayato tells him. However, there is hesitation in his voice. Everything on his face looks pained but he is still trying to keep his face neutral. His acting skills have lowered since the beginning of this game.

"Don't want the killer to get free and then off with all of our heads. Trust me, its not a pretty sight." Hotaru definitely knows something. Not about this case, that is cleared up, but outside of this game. I want to learn more about her but her current behavior is making it harder than it used to. This game might be the less of our worries, and the world's. In the grand scheme of things, all of us mean nothing, all of humanity means nothing. In the universe, we are even less than a speck, and, even then, the universe dying means nothing as well.

"Five of us...stick together...find truth..." Takara places one of his hands over his heart, absorbing the warmth that comes from Takayuki's jacket. "No giving up! Too many dead...must go on!"

"..." Takara's words leave me complicated. He shows so much hope but knows not of the pain that awaits us, mostly me, after this game. Would not surprise me that Kaneshiro will kill the rest of the survivors if they refuse to give into his influence. That would be a good way to force me into despair. Especially if he forces me to do it... _again_.

 _ **I'LL BE WITH AKITA AGAIN**_

Their smile...their goddamn smile. Minato should not have been smiling. Well, they were not smiling when it actually happened, but, when I see it again, for some reason their smile comes back to hunt me. And I couldn't even hear their last words? Why am I so certain that those were them? Is Kaneshiro messing with my brain again like he always does?

 _I'll be with Akita again_

 _I'll be with Akita again_

 _I'll be with Akita again-_

"Akemi must have been brainwashed! There was no way he would do this! Didn't Monokuma say something like that-"

"Actually, I was lying. You kids buy into everything I tell you way too easily. I wouldn't just brainwash you to join me, that's no fun. I would do what I did to Hayato and Ayano, break down your sanity and trick you into killing your classmates! Well, except for one, but I'm gonna not say anything more." For some reason, that reveal does not sting as it is supposed to. That is just how Monokuma works.

"That does not matter right now,Monokuma. We both broke out of your influence, right Ayano?...Ayano?" I do not see Hayato's expression but I know what it is. One of pure worry and panic. But I do not want to be here right now, I want to be asleep just like Yasu.

"What's the point!? Why are we still here!? Just fucking kill us, Monokuma, that's what you're gonna do to everybody else but me afterward anyway!" I start crying, not able to stop it. Everything is shaking yet nothing I do can stop it.

"And now here's where the drama starts." Hotaru stares with interest from her podium, leaning more to my direction.

"I won't listen to a single word you say! Akemi didn't mean any of it! Stop bluffing, Monokuma!" Atsuto cries out. Both of us are in tears, as the others stare in horror, except for Hotaru. So I really should say Takara and Hayato, there are not enough of us to use generalizations anymore.

The smile, however, replaces all of their faces, as if they are laughing at me. What used to be pure and innocent has morphed into something that can only bring despair.

"Calm!" Takara is pleading with us now. His voice is shaky as if he is fighting his own demons. Now that I think about it, Takara does have his. All of his friends except for me have been killed and he has not been able to stop it. Good thing that he is starting to bond with Hayato more. Those two can guide us, I don't want to. I have never been a leader even though the protagonists before me, except for Akita, have been...sort of. At least in trials. I am useless in trials compared to them.

"I know this is hard, but we have to continue the trial. We have to do it for the sake...of Tsukiko..." Hayato tears up a bit yet do not break down like Atsuto and me.

"But Akemi is not the traitor! I won't let you continue until you show me some more proof! We can't trust Monokuma! He said Cassius was the killer and look at how wrong that was!" At the mention of the second trial, both Takara and Hayato's faces drop but they continue onward. "No, no, no! I won't listen to you! There's no way Akemi betrayed me!"

"Is Atsuto really doing this again?" Hotaru groans but never replaces her attention off of me. It is a little bit creepy yet I am used to Kaneshiro doing this. Having somebody like Hotaru do it should not make me feel anything.

 _Did I break you already? Where did that spark go?_ Kaneshiro would never admit it but he likes the spark. Maybe, if I'm lucky after I get turned into his personal slave, he will get bored of me and end my suffering. Yet even that is too optimistic, Kaneshiro would probably just give me into another despair, who would give me another, and I would get passed around like an unwanted toy.

"Give me the evidence! Right now! I don't believe you!"

 **Panic Time Action: Start!**

"Why would Akemi side with Kaneshiro anyway? He hates killers! Did the conversation between him and Namita mean nothing to you!?" he shouts out. I remember that clearly, mostly because of what happens afterward.

 _Good girl, good girl, good girl..._

"But you must remember that Akemi almost fell into despair because of it. I do not know why he is siding with Kaneshiro but there is something more happening here. Just listen to us, we can grieve when we finally get out of here. Akemi will be mourned, just like the rest, we will not remember him for his mistakes." Hayato may say that but if somebody figures out these events are happening, many of us, including me, would be viewed as monsters. Monsters who have killed for stupid reasons, just because Kaneshiro got to us. We might think that we broke away from him but we are still Kaneshiro's puppets.

"You're just saying that to calm me down! But listen to me, why would Akemi go against Monokuma so much if he was working with him?!" Even in his mental anguish, Atsuto brings up good points. But then again, why bring up these points? Throwing a fit is just making Kaneshiro get more of a hard-on.

"Scripted...or planned...or something..." Takara mumbles but the holographic words make his intentions clear. He cannot meet Atsuto in the eyes. Instead, he finds comfort playing with the seams of his jacket. Moments later, he faces Atsuto directly and points his finger at him. "The mastermind gave him a job and he played along with it!"

"That's impossible!...If that's true...then was everything a lie? _Did he not care for us...for me...at all_?" Atsuto's voice cracks as he slams his head against the podium.

"Wait...that's wrong! He did care for us...in his own way!" Takara surprises all of us, breaking through Atsuto's words. Atsuto looks at the screen with pure intrigue. " _That's what the other fight in the fourth trial was about_!"

 **Panic Time Action: End!**

"H-he did?" Atsuto hiccups as he begins to wipe away the tears from his face.

"I know that this is against the rules right now but I want to see you guys figure this mystery out. Its bound to put you in a fit of despair!" Monokuma announces. Is Takara playing Monokuma's own sadism against him? Did Takara figure out you can break the rules as long as you entertain Monokuma?

"What are you talking about, Takara? Did you figure out the mystery about the fights?" I ask him, my voice a little bit stronger. This interests me, the thought that Akemi was not just a horrible piece of shit.

"Not all...but think about it..." Takara takes a deep breath as his voice becomes clearer. "There were t-two fights...correct? One of them was with Miyuki and the m-mastermind. The other was between...the traitor and the mastermind!" All of us grasp at that assertion. What reason would Akemi have to try to go against Kaneshiro?

"Interesting, interesting, all of you are finding out the truth behind this plot. There's no escaping Kaneshiro," Hotaru explains. Her tone is flat, monotone, and so unlike her. She has grey eyes except for her usual teal ones.

"That's...weird..." Takara takes a step back even though he is nowhere near her.

"Hotaru, what happened to you-"

"Nah, nah, nah, Hayato. We discuss that later! But, that's right, Akemi and the mastermind did fight, ya know? But this is Kaneshiro we're talking about, once you get involved with him, there's no leaving." Hotaru might be acting weird but her words are right. She must have just realized that every fight we get into is futile in the end.

"Let's stop talking about meaningless things! We have murders to solve! Akemi is the traitor, get over it." Monokuma, however, is acting suspiciously. There is clearly something else he does not want us figuring out about. But what? "You know what, since I'm a good despair headmaster, I'll give you the next topic even! Isn't that fun? What about the knife?"

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence! Knife Edition!**

"The...k-knife? Oh!" Takara plays around with his jacket once again. He closes his eyes and then opens them when he speaks again. "...What if _it was planted_? Too easy."

"So you are saying that the killer _planted it there_? But, _with the lock_ , and the fact that Akemi was the traitor, it would not make sense for _any of us alive to be behind it_. Except if Kaneshiro _got dirty again_ ," Hayato says. This is basically a locked room mystery that Kaneshiro tried to hide away from us. Because there is no escape from his torture. Only Takara and Hayato seem to be the ones actively solving this mystery.

"It matches with Tsukiko," Atsuto comments. He may be emotionally destroyed but he is trying to be somewhat useful, unlike me who is staying mostly silent. Me figuring out about Akemi seems to be planned by Monokuma like everything is. Even if it isn't planned, Monokuma finds a way to make it fit into his scheme. But maybe I should be more of a part of the conversation...

"But where did the killer get the knife? Hayato and I were in the kitchen for a while, where they were," I point out. As I say that, Hayato's head drops but he quickly corrects himself.

"Well, duh, the killer waited until the _two of you left and went through the way of the secret passageway_. That way they could get the _rope and knife without arousing suspicion_. Then they made their way to the second floor where _somehow lured Kira, Akemi, and Tsukiko_." Hotaru's words make sense. Nobody was there at the time, and, even if they did get caught, they could create some kind of lie.

"If we continue on this line of thinking, they got two weapons because _they were planning on something going wrong_ ," Hayato replies. Or they were planning on Kaneshiro ruining everything like he always does.

"Well, something did go wrong, _they're dead_!" Hotaru shouts out. There is nothing to break that claim so can it be taken as fact? That the original killer is among the students who are the victims? It sinks in for everybody in the room, except for Hotaru who seems to know everything about the case. And I do not believe that the secret information is that good. If it is, then I got ripped off for mine. Though I highly doubt Kaneshiro of all people would do that for their protagonist. Kaneshiro, if anything, would be nicer to me, as a weird type of worship.

"You are saying that the killer is among the dead. Monokuma, can we somehow compare handwriting-"

"I'm not making this easy like the fourth trial! You're on your own, kiddos!" Or any trial he should add. But we truly cannot believe what Monokuma tells us. After all, he works for Kaneshiro, and Kaneshiro can change too easily. Monokuma just does whatever he wants without any concern. The only audience he needs to take about is his fellow Despairs, too high on the intensity of the drama and horror to question his actions.

"What about the _syringe_? How does that relate to the rope and the knife?" Atsuto questions us. It is a good question. Considering that going that way might break the illusion the killer wanted, can it be presumed somebody else got it?

"And why a rope of all things? There are way more fun and cool ways to kill someone in that room. Trust me, Ayano and I checked it out! The killer could have just Kazuhikoed their victim!" That...this is not funny. Kazuhiko was manipulated just like everyone else by Kaneshiro, just not in the way that Kaneshiro planned. He does not deserve to be made fun of. So, after looking after his picture, I hide my face with his hat.

"We are getting off topic. The knife was the weapon that killed Tsukiko, while the rope Kira, with Akemi, somehow dying in the real world. There are no marks on either Akemi or Kira's body to hint at them _being attacked with the knife_." Hayato is deep in thought, trying to figure out the mysteries of this case. Instead of talking about the knife, it might be more useful to clarify the order of death. This conversation is leading us nowhere, and, if we do figure something out, we could have just as easily done so with something else.

"Do I really have to do this again?" Atsuto's voice sounds duller than usual. "Fine, whatever. _Akemi is still alive_ or something." Both him and I both want to be like Yasu, out of this trial already. I cannot believe I am becoming jealous at a person for their narcolepsy but here I am.

"...That's wrong..." I am less than enthused to counter his words, but I still want some say in this trial. Plus, Kaneshiro might rule our very lives, but it is fun to see him shocked every once in a while. He might use it for his advantage later on but it is still thrilling to feel the heat of the moment.

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"Do I really have to say it, Monokuma? We already know by now," I complain. Monokuma stays silent so I believe that is enough justification. Now that I officially have the floor next time, we can focus on the order of deaths. I feel like understanding that will be the key to this mystery.

"But why would the killer take the syringe? That would make no sense. It would be more plausible if somebody else took it, but then how did they get the idea? And, of all things, why hide it on a body in which has no relation to the case and was not hard to find?" As much as I want to know the secret of the order, I agree with Hayato that needs to be solved as well. It was not placed there on accident, there must be some sort of purpose.

"Yeah...and why s-syringe? Nothing in it." Another good point. I highly doubt somebody would bring an empty syringe with them for no reason. And it disturbs me that there was nothing ever in it. If that is the case, why stab it into Akemi? Some sort of placebo effect? But Akemi, as much as it pains me to say it, was too smart for a trick like that.

"To scare somebody off?" Atsuto suggests. As much as that makes sense, it would have been easier to get something else from the Hospital or the kitchen or anywhere even. It would have been easier to just get everybody else.

"No! There's a greater reason than that!" Hotaru screams, her voice deeper and more full of emotion than I have ever heard. She is breathing heavily and looks like she is just about to pass out. "Don't trust me! And don't trust that motherfucker-" Before she can say anything else, Hotaru's mouth closes and she tries to pry it open with no success.

"Hotaru!?...What's going on?!" Without thinking, I rush to Hotaru, jumping perilous distances and barely unable to complete the journey. I catch her just in time before she falls down. Her eyes begin to close and her body stiffen. "Hotaru! Come on! Tell us what the Hell is going on!"

"...Natsumi...Fuuma..." Hotaru then passes out, with all of us staring with worried expressions on our face. But, most of all, how the fuck does Natsumi Fuuma of all people have anything to do with this? He is the Ultimate Coder for the Committee, sure, but he doesn't have a backbone to speak of.

"Puhuhuhuhu~ Hahahahahaha! Hehehehehehehe! Time to return to the trial, my beautiful children. Can't be distracted by meaningless things." Monokuma's laugh is nothing like it was before. I might have thought others were full of malice, but that is wrong since this one is full of a crude mixture of hatred and pure sadistic joy.

"Goddammit, Monokuma...but if we must..." Atsuto gulps as he stares down at me, still lying right by Hotaru's side. She is so peaceful like this and I find myself wanting to be like this for a long time. So I stay there, sitting down at Hotaru's podium, placing her head on my lap.

"Fine," Takara responds. With that, only the three surviving boys are taking a serious, active position in this trial. Also me, but I want to make sure that Hotaru stays safe more than anything. I cannot let her experience the pain that I have.

"I won't let anybody else harm you, Hotaru," I whisper in her ear. Although I know its a lie, and she cannot hear me, I cannot stop myself. I want to protect her no matter the cost.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"Oh...its my turn..." Perhaps the order of death should be talked about later, we do not have enough evidence as of yet. There has to be a way to get to that conclusion. Something that has a lot of bullets about it but is not solved yet. "...The notes! What do the notes have with this murder?"

"The culprit must have used them to _lure all the victims_ -"

"No, that's wrong!" Atsuto interrupts Hayato. He looks exactly like his uncle, Makoto. Kaneshiro should make him the protagonist, Atsuto would fit much better than me.

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"That's impossible! Kira is...was blind and she's the only one that can't be the killer! It had to be somebody else in that room, but it wasn't Kira," Atsuto explains. "It had to be...Akemi or Tsukiko."

"Akemi or...Tsukiko? The killer?" Hayato's head drops again, along with all of his facial features. He sighs as he fixes his posture, but it is not how it used to be. At the beginning of the game, Hayato's back was straight, but now there is a noticeable bend to it. Most of us look disturbingly different from where we began. Even Hotaru, the least changed of us all, has developed a horrible alcohol addiction and is sickly pale. Circles are underneath all of our eyes, our sleep all interrupted by those damn Monokuma Theatres. Wonder if Hotaru or Yasu are experiencing one right now. Hotaru is not moving a lot, so I hope she is not experiencing any sort of nightmares.

"Explains...a lot..." Takara agrees. Yes, it would make sense if one of the dead is the killer, which is why there were two other victims alongside them. Something must have gone wrong, however, that caused in their death as well.

"The notes must have been planted afterward, much like how we are theorizing about the knife. So we can presume that Kaneshiro is, once again, an accomplice." Hayato sounds so sick of Kaneshiro. His words and tone turn into poison as if hoping he could affect the mastermind one way or another. "We can presume that Akemi must have been the one to write the letters at Shinichi's birthday party. That means, his handwriting can't be the one found on the notes. Of course...nevermind, that means nothing. Anyways, the accomplice worked with the murderer before they died to make these."

"Now I'm curious-"

"Let Hayato say what he wants. The truth will come out sooner than later," Monokuma laughs as he relaxes more into his chair. It looks more comfortable than anything we have been given, including the beds, but none of us try to get it, fearful of what the consequences would be.

"If you say so, but, if this is all true, then who was it?" Atsuto questions. It should be obvious to everybody by now but it seems like they do not want to jump to conclusions. But I will give Akemi no mercy. I knew he was bad news, and, look at that, my insight was right.

"It was Akemi! I will prove to you...right here and now..." With all this information, I should be able to paint a clearer version of the case. Hopefully, they will listen to me and we can stop this nightmare. Even if we are destined to live in pain, I want to spend at least some more time with my friends before we get brutally tortured and turned into monsters.

"Ayano! Please calm down! We haven't discussed everything yet! There might be a way an unknown third party could be involved! Stop blaming Akemi dammit!" Atsuto is in tears again, but I fight back my urge to help him. Everybody needs to listen to this. Putting Hotaru softly down, I make my way back to my podium.

"Ayano, Atsuto is right, we cannot jump to conclusions! This is too premature, this trial has basically just started! This is not like the fourth where we had decisive evidence!" Hayato pleads to me. But, once they hear my theory, they will be more on board to be a part of my plan. Even if I am wrong, they should be grateful that I have saved them from a life of suffering that I will have to endure no matter what.

"Calm, Ayano! Calm!" Takara is with their side. Whatever, guess I am by myself, I am used to that. No matter what happens, I will continue being that as well. Kaneshiro has made it so. Grabbing onto Kazuhiko's hat, and sparing another glance at his portrait, I make it back, ready to plead my case.

 _Good girl, good girl, good girl~_

No matter what, I'll have revenge! Akemi is the traitor, right? That means he has caused at least some of this suffering! He only lived to make others suffer, like...Kyoto. Kyoto, my...friend...we might have been something more if things just went a little bit differently. Hayato might have been the one who killed you but Akemi was the one who bullied you! Who did so for only his own personal enjoyment, not to save Kira as Hayato did! Akemi was just a self-serving brat who knew nothing about how to be a decent fucking human being! That _fucker_ is going down!"

"This case started when Kaneshiro told Akemi about his plan! And then he told us the motive so we won't be suspicious of the traitor when it was so early afterward! Akemi, with his knowledge Kaneshiro gave him, gathered all the supplies he needed! Then he went up to Kira because she is defenseless and Kirigiri's traitor! Tsukiko noticed the two of them so she went up with them! Simple as that. As Akemi was strangling the poor life out of Kira, Tsukiko walked in on accident. In a state of panic, she ran to the Hospital and got a syringe that she forgot to fill with anything. As a form of self-defense, she stabbed it into Akemi's neck, who then, with the knife, slit her throat and continued to strangle Kira. Then, for some reason, he was killed outside the game, probably by Kaneshiro who thought he outlived his usefulness. And that's the mystery behind this case." It feels so good getting all of that out there, to spite Akemi even after he has met his demise.

"That actually makes sense," Atsuto sighs as the reality of the situation kicks in. It is good to know that somebody is on my side, even though Hayato and Takara still look unconvinced. Mochi comforts him once again, causing there to be a small smile on his face.

"If that is the case, then why were Tsukiko and Akemi holding hands? And why would the traitor need to know the code?" Hayato tries to poke holes in my theory but he has to try harder than that!

"Plus...why syringe?" Takara asks. It might have not made the most sense in the world but Tsukiko was in a state of panic and did not have the most time in the world. "It...m-make more sense if knife...something e-else."

"No, I think it makes sense-"

"Looks like we have a split opinion!" Monokuma sounds way too excited about that. Like he is planning something but he is not going to make me back down from making sure Akemi faces justice for his actions.

My pad is locked in, as it is shown to me versus Hayato. Good to know that I am the one in the right! I will make sure that we find out the truth, Kira and Tsukiko deserve their deaths being properly avenged! Once again, the podiums get into position, and I look over to Hotaru to see that she is still perfectly safe.

 **Votes In: Debate Scrum Start**

"Akemi Nakatani was the killer. There was no other person who could have done it! He is the traitor so he has a perfectly good motive and a timeline to do it in!" I exclaim while crossing my arms. This is a waste of time but we do need Hayato and Takara on our side to make sure that we do not die.

"That is wrong, Ayano, there are many possibilities still open to us. We need to discuss this case further. Kaneshiro could have easily tricked somebody else into murdering one or two of them and then messing with the door after they left to make us think it was a locked room mystery," Hayato counters. Kaneshiro would find that too boring to actually do. It is clear what the mystery is already, so I wish they will just accept it already.

"There is no evidence of that happening. As much as I don't want to admit it, Ayano's theory makes sense. What other reason would the code be there?" Atsuto stays by my side. However, I have the instinct to tell him it will be alright and hug him, he has definitely seen better days.

"Why traitor need c-code? Make sense if other needs it," Takara replies. Even though it was a long time along, I remember that the traitor did not remember the passcode. It would make sense if they have learned it already, but that does not prove anything! Akemi can still be the killer!

"Who else could have done it!? Who else could have killed them in such a brutal way?"

"We need more of the facts. Akemi might have done it but we need to make sure that it is right or all of us will die!" When Hayato says that, my whole body feels heavy. Like I am being dragged down into the ocean. This is not how it was supposed to go but looks like I have been proven wrong once again. But...maybe not...maybe there is a chance that I am still right! Just have to make sure that I have everything right next time and not repeat the same mistakes.

 **Debate Scrum End!**

"Now we should discuss something else. We may understand everything about the letters but there are still many other unsolved questions," Hayato says. "I think we should observe everything more closely. Nothing might be what it seems."

"Determining the order?" Atsuto voices his opinion. Though we still do not have enough evidence, figuring that out will finally prove my theory to the two other boys.

"No, we should look over the injuries again, there might be something you are missing. Something that everybody else is looking over but shows that it one person, in general, is suspicious." Hayato closes his eyes but looks like he is about to be in tears. I can already tell that this can go nowhere good.

"Hayato? Meaning?" Takara is just as confused as Atsuto and I. Nobody but Hayato seems to know what he is talking about. Taking what is supposed to be a deep breath but is nowhere near it, Hayato finally voices his opinion.

"I elect...Tsukiko Oda as our next suspect!" Hayato's voice cracks so much that I could barely recognize it as his.

* * *

 **Dun dun dun.**

 **All the TsuHaya shippers are crying right now. Including me.**

 **QOTC: What has been your favorite trial? Which one was your least favorite?**

 **SYOC Rec: Two for one!**

 **-Scarlet Stained Snow by zephryr**

 **-The Melancholia Experiment by Crimson Spider Lily**

 **Reviews~**

 **AnonChan1-If Monokuma hurts Mochi, we riot. Hotaru is still acting very weird. Well, hopefully, this chapter both clarifies and confuses you even more. It depends on who the killer is~ I WILL HAVE MY SHIP MOMENTS! Hayato is my innocent boi and I love him so much and nobody touches my boi except for me. Ayano just really, _really_ doesn't like Akemi. Takara is a good boi and I also love him and he cares for everybody. Poor Atsuto. Kaneshiro wants you to step on him. The doors are the mastermind.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Here's some more. I'm just waiting for this chapter to brutally murder you, Rose~ Hotaru is...not exactly herself right now. Thank you, here's some more despair for you Rose! ;)**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Yeah, Mochi is somehow still alive, and that's a wonder because this is me that we're talking about. These questions will be answered in the next trial. ;) Good, its supposed to be odd~ Yes, Akemi is the traitor, but we have not learned everything about him. Ayano might be a good judge of character even if she does not know it.**


	64. Trial 5-3

**Trial 5-3: The Pretty Lies In the Ugly Truth**

* * *

For a second, I thought I heard Hayato wrong. There was no way that he was saying what I just heard. But, as the words process more in my mind, the cold truth of the situation is dropped on my shoulders. Both Takara and Atsuto stare at him, with blank looks on their faces.

"What are you talking about?" I ask him. Tsukiko was our leader, there was no way that she would kill the two of them. She was kind, sweet, and strong, not somebody who would easily give into Monokuma's motives. This is Tsukiko we are talking about, she would not give into Monokuma because Namita and Miyuki would not want her too!

"...I know what Tsukiko, Namita, and Miyuki were planning...I should have known something like was going to happen!" Hayato slams his fist into the podium, causing all of us to jump. "Dammit! I can't do anything right!" Hayato hides his face, but, by his words alone, I can tell he is crying.

"How...how does that have anything to do with this case?!" Atsuto questions him. Instead of saying anything, Hayato does not face us. He bites his lip.

"Stay on task!" Takara replies. He must realize that trying to get the truth out of Hayato now would be hopeless. With only three of us investigating this case now, I take a deep breath. Hayato must know something, and maybe we can figure out what it is if we continue questioning Tsukiko's role in everything.

"Takara is right kids, you gotta figure out everything~ I'm not gonna ruin this surprise." Even if he says that, if we try to rebel again, I highly doubt Monokuma would think the same thing. But none of us are stupid enough to do that again. Escape is impossible in a game such as this.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence~**

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Um, Hayato, you gotta say something." Monokuma looks bored. Hayato, however, does not open his mouth. In response, the bear just rolls his eyes and points his paw at Takara. "Your buddy old pal won't say anything! Take his job instead!"

"Huh!?"

"You heard me, kiddo! Buckle up, you're about to go on a wild ride!" Monokuma laughs as he always does as if we are all part of his sick stand-up act. It is as if Monokuma views us as only puppets, but, if he did that, Monokuma would treat us nicely. He views us as lower than that, lower than the dirt on the bottom of our shoes. At least the dirt cannot feel pain like we do. And that's part of the fun for that sick bastard.

"...T-Tsukiko's motive..." Takara can barely speak, his voice so quiet that the only way I can understand him is the words that appear. "Akemi h-had _no reason to kill K-Kira_."

" _He did_ , the mastermind gave out the motive, remember?" I disagree. Akemi is...was a cowardly traitor, something like that is not beyond him. Something as disdainful as targeting a blind, weaker person. Considering he easily overpowered Tsukiko and Namita, strength is not out of the question for him.

"Doesn't it seem too early for the motive? Even Kaneshiro isn't that impatient," Atsuto points out. Guess he is now on their side.

"Akemi liked Kira, it was Kira who did not like him." Hayato joins in the conversation. He seems to want us to come to the conclusion that he already knows. But why does Hayato just not tell us? "Tsukiko, on the other hand..."

"There's _nothing pointing to Tsukiko's motive_ though..."

"No, that's wrong!" With more force than usual, Takara breaks apart Atsuto's words. I do not understand how yet but there is always a reason for everything.

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"Um..." Then Takara's newfound confidence fades, causing his cheeks to redden. "...The syringe...U-um...It's on Manami Yamada's body in p-plain sight." Although Manami was one of Tsukiko's best friends, what does that have anything to do with the murder? Wasn't that there to distract us, and, if Tsukiko was the killer, she wouldn't have brought up the syringe.

"She put it there to tell us it was her..." Hayato keeps his eye contact on the floor. "Tsukiko murdered Kira to get revenge on Manami." When Hayato tells me those words, suddenly everything clicks even though I did not want it to.

Tsukiko was extremely upset about Manami and was acting strangely before our conversation, looking through the experiments. She also checked up on Kira and I even though there was no reason to.

Oh shit.

If Tsukiko was the killer, it would make sense of how she could guide Kira away. Kira was all by herself, and Kira would naturally trust Tsukiko as our leader. She would also have no idea where she is going since Kira did not go to the second floor that much. Tricking her would have been way too easy, even considering her tendency to not always trust others.

"But how did Tsukiko get the passcode then?" Atsuto questions. That is a good thing to ask, but now that I think about it, I know the answer. Everything is truly starting to come together.

"...She found it while looking through the experiments. Atsuto, when you came up there with Yasu, what was Tsukiko doing?"

"Tsukiko? She was searching through some old files." Atsuto only proves my worries. Akemi might have been the traitor and responsible for so much despair yet it might seem he is completely innocent in this case. Dammit. With those files, Tsukiko could have figured out the code. It could even be written on one of them but I have not had the time to search through all of them yet.

"And Tsukiko was around during the night and able to get the setup prepared without having anybody notice her," Hayato says. He finally raises his eyes but he is not looking at any of us, but the wall. "Even if somebody interrupted her, Tsukiko would have been able to make an excuse and all of us would believe her."

"T-that's why they're...T-Tsukiko and Kira...t-the ones with i-injuries," Takara adds-on. "Tsukiko attacked her."

"During their fight, Kira's sunglasses fell and were destroyed. Kira struggled against Tsukiko, but Kira could only reach Tsukiko's legs with her frantic kicking. That's why Akemi isn't hurt, he was not involved then." I cannot believe what I am saying but it makes sense. Why does everything in this Killing Game be so painful? There cannot ever be something that is easy or uncomplicated, only confusion and pain.

"Tsukiko was in the room, correct?" Atsuto asks. For some reason, he seems to be on edge. "...Kaneshiro was involved in this case again, correct?"

"Kaneshiro Kazuma _fucking_ brainwashed Tsukiko!" Hayato shouts. There is so much hatred in his voice that it catches all of us off-guard.

"But that doesn't change the fact that she has murdered somebody~" Monokuma butts into our conversation. He has a weird tone that I cannot fully describe. Something strangely casual but sounds like he is about to blow a fuse at a party that he enjoys. That makes no sense but nothing about this damn bear does.

"Stop brainwashing people and maybe we would stop rebelling so much! The reason why we keep rebelling against you is that you don't fucking know how to stop your kink over forcing people into killing each other!" Hayato glares at Monokuma with such emotion that it is hard to tell he is even himself. Unlike some of the other times, Monokuma is not fazed, not showing any signs of feeling anything whatsoever.

"If you care so much, why don't you tell them everything about the plan?" The both of them continue staring, leaving the rest of the room in silence. A part of me wants more answers, to finally figure out what Tsukiko, Namita, and Miyuki were planning since the end of the first trial, but I know that there's a chance I won't like the answer.

"Tsukiko, Namita, and Miyuki were planning to kill the mastermind."

It should have been obvious but, for some reason, I still gasp. Even way back from the beginning, they were planning a murder. They must have met with each other so they could discuss possible suspects.

"But it turns out killing me is harder than poor little Kiko could've imagined. So I just did some brainwashing magic and now she's on my side~ I always wanted somebody to finally kill that blind brat." Monokuma then relaxes in his chair. My legs ache as I see him on such a comfortable throne.

"If that is the truth...why is Tsukiko dead!?"

"Excellent question you former stick in the mud! Time for you to discuss that with yourselves!" Unlike in the third case, Monokuma wants us to figure it all out. Earlier he would have just ended it yet perhaps he finds that giving us all the information will make us despair more, feeding more into his perverted ideas of entertainment.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence! Tsukiko's Death Edition!**

"Why did T-Tsukiko die?" Takara starts the conversation. He then takes the hood from his parka and places it over his head. His arms wrap around him as if he is cold.

"Perhaps _she killed herself_ with the guilt?" Atsuto throws out of there. That is likely but none of the evidence points to it as the truth. There would be the question on how Akemi got hold of the knife.

"But that doesn't make sense, she was _in despair_. I guess _despair works differently_ for everyone but Tsukiko seemed like she _wanted to live_ ," I reply. While I was in despair, I wanted to live so I could inflict more pain on myself and others, yet Hayato tried to kill himself in his downward spiral. Both of us fell into Kaneshiro's trap though it affected the two of us very differently.

"We can assume that the _knife is the murder weapon_ ," Hayato says. That much is obvious but it is more of the question of why. It was found in Akemi's hands but it could have easily been planted. I would not put that behind Kaneshiro. He would do anything to make sure that this game goes how he wants to even though his actions only cause more complications. "The surrounding area is not a mess so we can assume that Tsukiko _did not pick a fight with her attacker_."

"Huh?" Atsuto is a little lost which surprises me. Ever since he revealed his identity, he had been better with the trials. But it seems that Atsuto still has trouble keeping up with our logic.

"The injuries were from the _fight from Kira_. There was blood on Tsukiko but not the surroundings. It could be assumed she was killed _elsewhere and taken to that place_. We can assume right now it was the _same room as with Kira_ , as that room is already covered with dried blood. The blood would dry and blend in with the rest of the surroundings." Hayato has a point, we also did not examine the surroundings too much with Kira since we primarily focused on the bodies. It is hard to focus in that room because of the horrible smell.

"Only _two people can be the killer_ , the mastermind or Akemi. And I have a feeling that the mastermind _wouldn't want to kill Tsukiko_ ," Atsuto responds with his voice swaying through vastly different emotions. Ones of shame, guilt, and also ones of fears and sadness. All I want is to protect him from this cruel world and always be by his side.

"T-there are _no hints that A-Akemi is the killer_ t-though-" Thinking on my feet, I know something is wrong with that statement. Perhaps we have been thinking too much about one piece of evidence and need to see it as it truly is.

"Akemi is the killer of Tsukiko and here's how we know!"

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"The knife in Akemi's hands. Since Kaneshiro has no motive to kill Tsukiko, it could be assumed that Akemi murdered Tsukiko after he saw what she did to Kira." It is weird, both of them killed for revenge but they were completely different. Akemi, even with his disdain of killers, decided to become one himself because of Tsukiko's actions.

"Wait, what if Tsukiko wasn't killed instantly? Akemi has the syringe wound and I highly doubt it was caused by the mastermind or himself." Atsuto seems to have finally caught up with what is happening. And that is a good theory. Tsukiko might have not been able to do much but she could still put up some sort of fight.

"H-how?"

"Perhaps they both decided to fight against the mastermind!" Hayato's eyes are still sad but there is a newfound spark in them.

"T-they were both-th in despair but s-still wanted to fight a-against Kaneshiro," Takara adds-on to the theory. It makes sense, that is why they were holding hands even though they were never really close when they were alive. In the past moments of insanity, something in the two of them clicked and they learned how to understand each other. None of us can truly understand the logic of their actions or how they were thinking.

"That's why they had the code in their hands. It was for us to find but for Kaneshiro not to know about or tamper with if he did. They must have wanted us to escape." That makes sense since that is what happened to me. It helped reveal what can lead us to the truth or some semblance of freedom. Tsukiko does not know what lies beyond there, but Akemi does. If Akemi rebelled against the mastermind...that must mean that he thinks there is a chance of hope for all of us.

"Akemi has been fighting against the mastermind lately. Perhaps it was as some sort of rebellion?" I cannot believe I am the one that is saying nice things about Akemi but here I am. Akemi has done it before, and the game putting the end to Kira's life might have been the last straw. He was already having doubts before.

"Did he want to save us at the pierce of himself? Along with what remained of Tsukiko after she was brainwashed?" Atsuto is solemn. Even with the brainwashing, Tsukiko was so strong-willed that she would not fully become one of Kaneshiro's slaves. She was not a weak person like I am. Somebody like her should be alive instead of me.

"Akemi was supposed to be the killer and alive...you know, live so he can get executed and all that shit...but then something happened!" Hotaru then springs up from her podium. Her actions are not human-like, it is as if she is a puppet being controlled by many strings.

"Something happened?"

"Hahaha~ yep. Things did not go according to plan, so Kaneshiro did some things. But he did not kill him. No, that would be boring, this is much more fun!" Hotaru smiles as Atsuto, Takara, Hayato, and I look at her with horror. She is not changed by this, only beginning to laugh at all of us.

"How are we supposed to know what happened? There is no evidence on what happened in the outside world," Hayato finally says to her. She tilts her head and giggles like a demented little child.

"Perhaps it has something to do with the syringe? Nothing might have been in it but his body could have thought so and caused his death because it thought it was poison or something like that." It could make sense yet Akemi seems smarter than that. If he is the one who bought the syringe up, perhaps he should know that nothing was inside it. He probably meant it as something to scare Tsukiko into doing nothing.

"Guess you guys need some help from Monokuma! Monokuma, give them what they need!" Hotaru smirks. Monokuma repositions himself as he slams his paw into his throne. Somehow that gives us new updates in our notebooks.

"Alright, here you go my dreadful children!" Taken back with the new nickname, I check to see what Monokuma decided to show us. The key to solving a big mystery. With this mystery, we can finally stop this part of the game. We might be slaves but we have each other, even for a small time. A small part of ourselves will continue on, knowing that we have survived the torture of the despairs once before.

 **Truth Bullet #17-Akemi's Cause of Death**

 **In the outside world, Akemi Nakatani suffered a heart attack, or something close to it, thanks to an event that transpired during the game.**

"A h-heart attack? W-wasn't he healthy?" I want to ask the same thing as Takara. Akemi might have been severely underweight, yet, if his heart gave out because of that, it would have probably happened a long time ago. But I am not a health professional, nobody here is.

"Well, we know what the conversation is now!" Hotaru is the one leading this discussion and I have no idea how I think about that. Since that is clearly not entirely her. Something happened to Hotaru and all I want to do is help her. Help her against whatever that damn coder did to her. Maybe then Hotaru could realize my true feelings for her. Although I do not deserve her, a part of me just wants to confess, but I do not want to betray Kazuhiko. It's a vicious thought process I know will only get worse but cannot stop.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence! Akemi's Death Edition**

"Oh, it's my turn..." I think about what I should say. "So we know that Akemi's death was a heart attack yet the matter is _clearly not caused by health conditions_. Something _must have happened_ for his body to fail." Hopefully, somebody knows more about the medical world than I do. Naoko and Takayuki would have made this trial easier yet both of them are gone. This is not my father's game, nobody is coming back, no matter how hard we try.

"T-there was this t-thing Naoko t-told me about..." Takara tells everyone. "It's called...B-broken heart s-syndrome...It is l-like a heart a-attack but happens b-because of severe e-emotional distress...or something like t-that. Akemi could have _d-died because of t-that_."

"What could have caused that though?" Atsuto asks Takara. Hotaru is now being strangely silent, watching us with her eyes. Her eyes are full of so much life but it looks fake like she is dead inside.

" _Kaneshiro Kazuma_..." I accidentally say out loud. Akemi might have been a piece of shit yet he was a victim of Kaneshiro's shit like all of us. Not all of us. Even though I do not want to believe it, one of us must be Kaneshiro. One of us still breathing is the person who has caused all of this. And I do not want it to anybody. I want it to be easy, for it just to be Junko again, yet that is not how our reality works.

"Yeah! I literally broke his heart. Proved him right." Monokuma's words catch everybody but Hotaru off-guard. Seeing him admit it so easily is a shock.

"Turns out that traitor still had feelings for his former master. What a poor soul indeed, crushing his heart proved to be easier than we thought." Hotaru finally does what Monokuma never could have, snap her fingers. Her face is oddly neutral, with one of her hands being placed on her hip. "Turns out telling somebody that you caused the deaths of the two people you care about most doesn't make them react well. Especially if they joined you to find and kill those people~"

 **End session!**

"What do we do now?" Atsuto questions the rest of us. Hotaru starts shaking her fingers and clicks her tongue, causing all of us to pay attention to her.

"We should do a case overview just in case the readers at home are confused!" She looks around the room but none of us move. Hotaru sighs and crosses her arms. "Guess I gotta do this because of all the survivors being lazy asses. It would be a lot more fun if one of them do it, but, _noooooooooooooooooo_ , gotta give the responsibility to somebody who has been passed out for most of the interesting parts of the trial!"

"Just get on with it, Natsumi." The two of them are not even hiding it now that Hotaru is not in full control of herself. Though, if Natsumi is involved in this, what is their reason? Natsumi was purely a slave for the Committee, to broken by their treatment of him to ever think of breaking through their rule. How powerful is Kaneshiro in the real world that he has somebody like Natsumi on his side?

"Finnnnnnnnnnnneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...Ahem, attention, please! I'll only be saying this once, and don't complain if you don't understand anything. Complain somewhere else, we already have too much despair here..."

* * *

 _There are three people that are too stupid to survive a Killing Game that is part of this case...Kira Iwata, the true Ultimate Jeweler, Tsukiko Oda, the Ultimate Band Manager, and Akemi Nakatani, the Ultimate Chess Player._

 _This case started_ with _Tsukiko Oda being stupid and deciding that trying to kill the mastermind on her own was a good idea. She began to research where she found a suspicious number, 0303. She then had a conversation with Ayano Nishiki, who could have stopped her if only she wasn't so stupid. Tsukiko then wandered around the school, waiting for everybody to go to bed. Tsukiko knew that Kira was still up, which is why she was checking for her._

 _Checking up on Kira and Ayano and seeing they were deep in conversation, Tsukiko went to the secret passageway using the pool entrance. She then went to the secret room using the code, getting weapons to attack the mastermind. However, the mastermind ended up being there, and, because of her idiotic decisions, Tsukiko got herself brainwashed. Way to go, grand leader. There she grabbed a knife and rope, having a backup weapon just in case things went wrong._

 _After the motive got announced, Tsukiko saw that Kira was all alone, and, blaming her for everything in her state of despair, decided to use her setup to kill her instead. She is able to lead Kira out of there. However, with Akemi looking for her too, he noticed them going up the stairs, and he rushes up to try to get to them but not before getting a syringe from the Hospital to use as a weapon just in case. Nothing was inside it but the needle was sharp. He was shocked to see Kaneshiro going up as well, rushing beyond him. Kaneshiro told Akemi to stay where he is but Akemi does not listen to him since he's a traitorous ass._

 _The four of them are in the shrine room when Kaneshiro jams the lock. Akemi knows something is wrong, but Kaneshiro leads Tsukiko and Kira into the hidden room while forcing Akemi to stay back with him. In the other room, Tsukiko starts to strangle Kira, whose sunglasses fall off and get destroyed in the struggle. Kira and Tsukiko get injured in the struggle, but Kira eventually succumbs to death. At this point, Kaneshiro leaves the room using his code to get out. Meanwhile, Akemi is finally allowed to go inside the room and sees Tsukiko with Kira dead._

 _Akemi is overcome with rage, but instead of killing her, Akemi reasons with Tsukiko, creating a plan since Akemi was tired of working with the mastermind. Don't know why Kaneshiro is a pretty chill dude. Anyway, Tsukiko injected the syringe into Akemi's neck and then places it with her friend Manami Yamada. Then, for the true point of no return, Akemi kills Tsukiko by slashing her throat. He waits until her bleeding slows down to move her to the shrine room. He places the note with the code on it in the palm of her hand beforehand._

 _In the shrine room, Akemi sees that Kaneshiro is now there so Akemi places Tsukiko down. Akemi decides to sit down with her, just to annoy the shit out of our master. What a dumb move. There, Kaneshiro tells Akemi the truth, and, burdened with the psychological stress of everything, and already had a body on the weaker side due to his pitiful weight, Akemi suffers from a heart attack and dies in the real world. Guess his wounds are what happens to people who die caused by reasons, not in the Neo World Program. Interesting to know for later._

 _Now with all of them dead, Kaneshiro begins to work on some other details in the case. Making sure Takara was asleep, Kaneshiro ripped out the pages with the handwriting belonging to any of the victims. He then leaves the room and writes the notes, trying his best to mimic the handwriting from Tsukiko. Then he placed the notes inside the rooms of the victims since he knew people would be stupid enough to think those actually meant something._

 _And that's the truth about the case! If I forgot something, bother Kaneshiro, not me._

 _The Blackened behind the murder of Kira Iwata is Tsukiko Oda! Wait, who the fuck gets executed?_

* * *

With that over, Hotaru finally shuts her mouth, voice tired for talking for so long without any breaks. Monokuma, laying about in his throne with no care in the world, perks up when Hotaru finishes.

"Finally! Voting time! I was getting so bored! You guys know the drill by now." Then the screen on our handbooks changes. There are so many greyed out faces. I never expected to pick one as a Blackened except if it was by suicide, but that is not the case here. Tsukiko might have sacrificed, or something of the sort, herself yet she did not commit suicide. For this being based on the Suicide Forest, there has been a surprising lack of somebody succeeding in their attempt.

I look over to see that Atsuto, finished with casting his vote, makes Yasu cast theirs in as well. Knowing that Yasu is safe, I press the picture of Tsukiko and my vote goes through.

 _ **Tsukiko Oda - Votes: 6**_

 ** _Congrats on finding the Blackened, kids!_**

It is bittersweet but it is the truth. Just one more, I tell myself, and then this is over. A new age of despair will begin but at least it won't be this. Perhaps having a kid would somehow make this better, give me a reason to live. They might be Kaneshiro's yet I will make damn sure that they don't end up like him. Somehow I will find the courage to tell everybody else. Who knows? Even if the child was created out of...a horrible situation, Atsuto might still be proud to become an uncle.

The podiums all reach down and all of us are wondering what happens next. All of us leave and there is an awkward silence.

"Ahem! Natsumi, do something."

"Really? Fine!" Hotaru, rolling her eyes, walks over to Hayato. Hayato tries to get away from her but she grabs onto him. Feeling my body filling up with adrenaline, I try to rush to Hayato, along with Takara and Atsuto. Everything feels like it is going into slow motion yet moving too fast all at once.

I may never forgive Hayato for killing Kyoto, but I don't want anything to happen to him! He is the closest thing we have to a leader right now. Yet, most of all...Hayato is our friend. Hayato is _my_ friend.

None of us can stop Hotaru by dragging Hayato away and then pushing him into Monokuma. He tries to stop himself but it is too late. Everything stops as my body struggles to process what is being said.

"Violence against headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited! There's nobody else to execute, and none of you were dumb enough to create a sentient computer program, so looks like this poor soul has to experience an execution! He did kill Kyoto _and_ Mirabilis so I guess this is for officially becoming a serial killer of sorts!" Monokuma exclaims. My eyes dilate as everything finally registers in my brain. Kaneshiro is officially so desperate for death and despair that he is forcing innocent students to take part of everything.

"This is not fair, Monokuma, and you know it-"

"Oh, Hayato, how long does it take you all to realize this? _Nothing about this game is supposed to be fair_." Monokuma's eye turns into a dastardly blue for a second yet reverts back to normal. At least Kaneshiro is not denying it anymore. This whole game has been stacked against us even though there used to be twenty of us and only one of him. "Natsumi, prepare everything else!"

"You can't do t-this!" Takara demands. "I have i-information you d-don't have! Spare h-him for it!" That causes my mouth to drop. Although it is not shocking for Takara to be hiding something, because we all are, it is more than he was able to keep it hidden away from Monokuma.

"Alright, hit me with your best shot, kid. Let's see what treasure the hunter has found." With Monokuma and Hotaru looking away, Hayato slowly inches back to where Atsuto and Yasu are.

"Tell him, Takara! We got to save Hayato!" Atsuto shouts. Monokuma is untrustworthy but maybe this can buy us some time to think of something else. But what else is there? We cannot have Monokuma executing Tsukiko since she is dead, and none of us should sacrifice themselves. I would love to yet I know Kaneshiro will not let me die for something so small in his book.

"...I...I-I know the secrets of Shinichi's diary..." Takara cannot look Monokuma in the eye. "Now don't execute Hayato! He no deserves dying!"

"So it was you, Takara! Should have guessed, you're the only one left he was really close to...Oh well! Time to continue-"

"No, you can't-"

"We can do anything we want in this program. None of you have free will anymore," Hotaru interrupts. She is then the one that goes to the throne and takes out the gravel. Takara tries to stop her from pressing down on the button, yet he is too late. He then does not realize the Monokumas until it is too late and he is thrown into the torture room.

"My rejects, it's time for the moment you have all been waiting for! It's **_PUNISHMENT TIME~_** "

* * *

 **Pitch Over**

 **Hayato has been found innocent by the court of Monokuma**

 **Too bad that's still the worse crime of all!**

 **TIME FOR DESPAIR!**

* * *

 **Death of a Salesman**

 **Ultimate Salesman Hayato Akimoto's Execution**

* * *

Taking Atsuto off-guard, Hayato disappears because of the floor disappearing underneath him. Atsuto attempts to jump after him but he is too late.

With none of us having the time to go to the execution viewing room, the projectors turn on. It turns on just in time for Hayato to land on a driver's side of a white convertible car. Everything is a piercing white except for the grey road. Trapping him inside, there are bounds over him acting as an unsafe replacement for a seatbelt. Without his say-so, the car begins to move forward at a high speed, and, no matter how hard Hayato presses on the brake, the car will not stop.

Suddenly, something appears on the road, it is a cardboard cutout of Kyoto. Hayato does not have time to dodge so he runs straight to it. The car, however, does not stop. Hayato starts trying to mess with the car, yet, before he can make any progress, Hayato notices he runs into another figure. This time it is Mirabilis, with her head flying to the passenger seat of the car.

Now, for the third, Hayato realizes it is Tsukiko. This time, Hayato tries to swerve out of the way. The car misses Tsukiko but it is now out of control. Hayato tries to fix the problem, yet he only causes it to become worse. The car flips once but then hits into a wall of some kind. With Hayato getting his bearings back together, he realizes the blinds are no longer there and struggles to get out of the car. One of his legs seem to be broken, his left one.

Hayato tries to run out of the execution, but then a door leading to whatever is inside the building the wall is apart of opens. Monokuma dressed in a tux comes out and, with his jetpack, easily catches up to Hayato. Hayato is then pulled by the ear into the building, where he is pushed into a chair. Looking around, Hayato realizes the room is more of the blinding white with the also white chair being the only other thing inside it.

Now, in the chair, Hayato is bound again, and Monokuma leaves him into the room. Then a screen pops into existence, with something written on it with black letters...

 _Convince me to let you live._

Hayato tries to say something but his mouth has a gag over with. As Hayato tries to struggle out of his prison, I notice that the walls are starting to close in on him. The walls get closer and closer to him and Hayato attempts to free himself.

But, then Hayato takes a breath. He stops to struggle and then looks death right in the face. Now accepting his fate, he waits for the walls to crush him but then they stop.

"C'mon, kid, at least be fair!" Yasu smirks. All of us look at them. Monokuma and Hotaru have expressions of pure anger. "If you're gonna break the rules, then I'm gonna do so too!"

* * *

 **Yasu comes in with another save. Thank God for Yasu. Stop trying to execution innocent people, Kaneshiro, its gonna make you look even worse for the fans.**

 **Reviews~**

 **captaindallas-Welcome back to this suffering! :D We hope you enjoy your second stay here in the Suicide Forest. Miyuki x Namita was so adorable but I took it all away. THEY WERE HAPPY BUT I'M A HORRIBLE PERSON, ESPECIALLY TO MY CHARACTERS!**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-FUCKING HAYATO YOU ALMOST GOT YOURSELF EXECUTED! Now let's see how you'll react to this despair~**

 **AnonChan1-Akemi's intentions are hinted at in this chapter but Akemi was at least a decent person. I can be very mean. ;) You know me way too well Anon. You can hug all these children at the beginning of the story where most of them would be like what the fuck. Except for like Minato and Mirabilis, who would love em hugs. Hotaru isn't exactly Hotaru anymore. Poor Hotaru. Kaneshiro is actually the Ultimate Fucker. ;) Tsukiko was the killer, and I think I just broke Rose. Yummy Mirabilis. Thank you, all the people die like that their deaths weren't in vain. :D Especially Mirabilis. SHIPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP! Everybody in this story needs em huggles. LISTEN TO AKITA FOLKS!**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Whelp, you're going be broken by this chapter. Yes, Tsukiko is a killer. Poor Tsukiko, another victim of my insanity. Here's the reason...FUCKING KANESHIRO! Thank you so much. I should but I'm too tired right now to do that. XD**


	65. After Trial 5-1

**After Trial 5-1: All the Cracks in my Skin Let the Light in**

* * *

"What!?"

"Did Yasu literally do the exact same trick as before? You really need to check a better eye on them," Hotaru sighs. She then grabs onto the back of my jacket, catching me by surprise. I did not realize how close she was to me. Then Hotaru gets a knife out and then points the knife to the back of my neck. "Continue or you'll make this one die as well-"

"Natsumi, stop it. We don't need any of this pointless violence," a voice tells her over the intercom. It is a woman's voice I have a feeling I have heard before but do not exactly remember. At the sound of the voice, Hotaru lets go of me. I hurry over to Atsuto and Yasu, with Atsuto placing one of his hands on my shoulder. Hayato comes out of the execution room, out of breath, and then falls flat on his face.

"Let all of them live for now. There are greater things they must be used for." Hearing those words, my body begins to shake. There is something so threatening yet soothing about the voice. Something that lulls you into sleep just to give you the worse of nightmares.

"Fine, you heard the boss man." Instead of facing any of us, Hotaru just walks casually out of the room. Monokuma is silent but has his head pointed toward us.

"What do we do now?" Yasu questions Atsuto and I. Atsuto goes over to Hayato and carries him over to us. Hayato looks like he is about to wake up but remains asleep. Instead of the usual peace of those in the realm of sleep, Hayato's face is pained and makes him look so much older than he actually is. Looking closer at him, I can notice that grey hairs are starting to form on his head.

"I guess I should get Takara then," I say. But while I head my way there, I see Monokuma jump to his feet in his chair. I automatically think of the worse, not moving into the bear makes any movement himself.

"Well, we still gotta have an execution."

"An execution? There's nobody left!" Atsuto, Yasu, and I are thinking the same thing. Executing anybody would be against whoever was on the stereo's instructions as well.

"Sometimes you just gotta get creative~" Being directed in front of him, I try to stop the bear as he starts up the execution once again. All of us stare at each other while we wait for something to happen.

Full of adrenaline, I rush to Takara, opening the door with so much force that it almost breaks. Takara might not be the person I'm closest to but I don't want to see him suffer. We have been through too much together, Takara has lost everybody just like me. I see that Takara is still in the torture chair, so I help him out of it. Though, before any of us can make it out of there, we see that the TV turns on and is showing us footage that I never thought I would see.

* * *

 **Betrayal Over**

 **Tsukiko and Akemi have both been found guilty by the court of Monokuma**

 **TIME FOR PUNISHMENT!**

* * *

 **Allegro Checkmate**

 **Ultimate Chess Player Akemi Nakatani and Ultimate Band Manager Tsukiko Oda's Execution**

* * *

Before the words can fully process in my mind, I see the execution room changing from the previous one. It is now some kind of chessboard with two stages on both sides. Surrounding the board and stages is a hoard of Monokuma, all dressed up crazy and with glow sticks in their paws. I realize that Tsukiko and Akemi are the king and queen on the white side, their bodies keep on by being nailed onto what seems to be some sort of cross. This seems like it should be obvious symbolism but I do not understand it. Meanwhile, there are only typical chess pieces on the black side. That is when the reality of the situation finally gets to me, Monokuma is _this_ desperate for an execution. He is willing to do anything to make it happen.

That is when I see that there is a place for the taken pieces and immediately feel my skin crawl. There is nothing separating it from the currently restless crowd.

It officially starts with one of the pieces for Tsukiko and Akemi moving with what I assume something dealing with some sort of machine. With the game starting, the crowd gets excited, especially when more Monokumas come out to start singing on the two stages. As they begin singing, I have to cover my ears, but Takara does not seem bothered by it.

The game continues at the fast pace, with none of the pieces being caught. Bored by the lack of progress, the Monokumas start to try to get onto the board, but they have trouble doing so. A part of me wants to pray that nothing else will happen yet I know that is pointless like everything else in this game.

Then, in a swift turn of events, Tsukiko's piece is taken. Akemi's is taken soon after, and, just like trash, the taken pieces are thrown away with the others to the mercy of the gathering Monokumas. Before the crowd can get to them, some sort of management team stops them with security to fit what seems to be some kind of wire around them that connects to something on the ceiling that none of us can see. Kaneshiro must be getting such a high from this bullshit. Finished, they allow the crowd to continue the execution.

All the Monokumas turn into a twisted stampede. Trying to get to Tsukiko and Akemi, the Monokumas destroy the other pieces. Then the wires finally get used, with them acting as a sick version of strings. Every moment cuts into their skin, as they are flown over the Monokumas like they are only props in a show. They get behind the stampede and try to run somewhere else, only to realize there are more of them.

For some reason, whoever is controlling them (it is probably Kaneshiro because this is his sense of humor), separates the two of them. Tsukiko goes to the white side, while Akemi goes black. Ha, I see what you're doing, Kaneshiro, _how funny_. Half of the Monokumas go after Tsukiko with the rest after that damn traitor.

Both of them run to the stage and get onto it, not affected by the damn music for obvious reasons. The bands do not react to them there, only the stampede. With nowhere to run, Tsukiko and Akemi can go nowhere while the crowd tries to get onto the stage. That is when the stampede causes both of the stages to collapse. All of the Monokumas get crushed in the chaos along with Tsukiko and Akemi. However, Tsukiko and Akemi somehow get through, but their bodies are so twisted that they are barely recognizable. Somehow the wires stay on, probably due to the wonders of this being inside a computer program.

The two of them crawl to each other even though none of their body parts should be actually working. They meet in the middle of the chest board, leaving a trail of blood behind them. Both of their hands meet for each other until they are holding once again. That is the moment that the wires are dropped from the ceiling.

Kaneshiro...that damn bastard is still playing God with us.

* * *

 **Shorter chapter like most of the After Trials. And I tried something new with this After Trial so hopefully you guys like a double execution with two dead people.**

 **QOTC: Which character arc has been the most interesting in FoD? The least interesting?**

 **Req's Rec (I have taken TheRoseShadow21's idea. Thanks Rose): Danganronpa: Distorted Dreams by QueenofChocolateWinx**

 **Reviews~**

 **AnonChan1-Being Hayato is suffering, poor boy is turning grey because of me. Tsukiko tried to be Kaede but figured out the hard way she wasn't the protagonist. Poor Atsuto is currently my fanbase. You got it right so far, Anon. :D Natsumi is a bastard but at least he isn't Kaneshiro. THERE IS SUFFERING HERE. BUT HOTARU WILL DIE IF NATSUMI DIES. Being crushed to death has always been a way to go I would be like...nope on. YASU IS TRUE MVP. YES HUG THE BABIES! Hotaru will never stop suffering, like all of these poor souls. All of us always need hugs. Good choice of words. ;) Mirabilis was too precious and good for this world. Yes, let's ship characters with Kaneshiro, that's fun.**


	66. After Trial 5-2

**After Trial 5-2: Aria of Sorrow**

* * *

It surprised me how quiet everybody is while we make our way back to the main building. There is nothing much to talk about. Another trial, more pain and misery, but there is the comfort that this will be hopefully the last time anything like this happens to any of us.

Atsuto and Yasu drag after us, while Hayato, who woke up sometime during the execution, leads with Takara. I am in the middle, although closer to front. Never in my wildest dreams I would have guessed that this is the group of people that get close to each other. Percentages would be low for these connections, but, here we are, defying logic.

Inside the building, I notice that there is so sign of Hotaru. Most likely, she is asleep, but there is a chance that she is still hanging around the school. Atsuto and Yasu go to their rooms while Hayato and Takara stay. I am about to retire as well until Hayato grabs onto my wrist.

"Ayano, listen to me, alright?" Hayato whispers into my ear as he begins to look around. Being this close to him makes me truly realize the bags underneath his eyes, his bloodshot eyes, and chapped lips. "You and Takara are the only people that I trust in this Killing Game."

"What about Hotaru, Atsuto, and Yasu?" I question him. Although I get not trusting Hotaru, Atsuto and Yasu have done nothing to put any suspicion on them.

"Something is wrong here and I need you to trust me." With a worried look in his eyes, Hayato lets go of me, yet it is a slow process. He is still shaking, not that I blame him. I thought being executed in my dreams was bad yet it is nothing compared to what he just had to experience.

"Why should I trust you over them?" Hayato might be slowly getting back into my good graces yet I will never forget his killing of Kyoto. Atsuto might have killed Mitsuru but he had more of a reason to do so. But both of them are better than me, who bloodied her hands out for nothing more than a sick thrill.

"That is a good point. One point is that I could use my talent to bring you over easily yet I am not doing so-"

"How can I be sure you're not using it right now?" Though I want to trust Hayato, he has done some shady things in the past. He literally used to run a smuggling ring with Cassius!

"If I was, you would follow me without question. Unlike Kaneshiro, I don't like controlling people except when needed." Hayato brings up a point. In some ways, the two are similar, yet Hayato has morals when Kaneshiro does not. Hayato wouldn't do...that to me. But I would like to think nobody here would do so yet there is no way the truth would be that simple. The mastermind is not Junko Enoshima once again, this is the real world where the answers are hard and complicated.

Looking around, I see that Takara has gone somewhere else as well, leaving the two of us alone. Hayato crosses his arms and sighs. He is reminding me more and more of Takayuki of all people and I do not know whether or not that is a good or bad thing. I do miss Takayuki, he may have been an asshole but he had a good heart. Everybody that has been unfairly taken from us I miss. Especially Kazuhiko.

"...What do you need, Hayato?"

"First, we should go to the hidden room. There might be something we have overlooked in there." Hayato brings up a good point. Whenever somebody has gone in there, they were either rushed or turned insane afterward. Something more than the TV, weapons, and that door might await for us there. Kaneshiro probably does not want us to figure out whats the true purpose of that room.

"Sure." With that, the two of us make our way there. A part of me is anxious that I am all alone with Hayato, especially since he has shown himself to be ready to kill if the situation calls for it. The other, however, is strangely at peace. There is no reason for Hayato to kill me. Even if he turns out to be the mastermind, Kaneshiro wants me alive. Pretty sure that means he will learn from his mistakes with Akita and keep me alive.

We search quietly for what seems to be hours through the cluttered room. There is so much junk in here that neither of us make a dent. Everything so far has only been weapons. I have to be careful through the whole process to not hurt myself or accidentally trigger my action. My death here might not cause mine in the real world but it is something I do not want to experience. Although a part of me still wants death, I do not desire needless pain.

With heavy eyes, I almost fall over into one of the weapon piles. Hayato acts with quick reflexes and gets to me before anything serious can happen. That is when I realize how tired I truly am, unable to move any of my muscles without my body screaming for some kind of rest.

"Ayano, I think you should go to bed." Hayato's face and words also paint him as tired but not nearly as much as me.

"If you say so..." Leaving the room, I wave to Hayato, who waves back. Afterward, he focuses on the project, unable to accept defeat. I think Cassius and Tsukiko would be proud of him if they saw him right now. He might be stressed and not always a good decision maker but Hayato keeps on trying. Both of us have to survive after all, along with Atsuto, to make sure we can make it up to our victims.

* * *

Making my way over to my room, I open up the door to the kitchen and see that Takara is there pouring himself a cup of coffee. He looks as tired as I am yet he must be doing something he views more important than sleep.

"Takara?" He jumps as he touch his shoulder, not knowing how else to make my presence clear. Though, once he realizes who I am, Takara calms down and takes a deep breath that sounds a lot like a sigh.

"A-Ayano!? You scared me!"

"Sorry about that. Just wondering what you're doing up so late." Seeing that I am also there, Takara begins to get some coffee for me. I may want to go to bed already but something tells me this conversation will be important.

"R-researching," Takara replies. "Its what N-Naoko, Kyoto, T-Takayuki, Kira, Misao, and...S-Shinichi would want." The order strikes me as odd. There must be something on his mind and he must have figured something out.

"What exactly?" I press him for more details. The way we defeat Kaneshiro is by working together and communicating. I realize that now, especially with the amount of deaths that could have been avoided with proper communication. Though I guess I am a hypocrite since I have not told anyone about what happened what really happened during my short time outside the program.

"T-the library." Then Takara takes out something that I have not seen in such a long time and almost forgot about. Its the book recording all the deaths. "T-Takayuki t-thought t-this book has t-the answers."

"...The missing page..."

"T-the mastermind!" Once the coffee is finished, Takara hands it to me. I am about to thank him but am accidentally cut off. "He must have r-removed it because it r-revealed something!"

"But where is it? If the mastermind was smart, they would have it removed from the program the very moment Kirigiri had no more control." It strikes me as weird the library is even there. It is almost like Kaneshiro wants us to catch him. Although it is the sixth chapter right now, or at least close to it, I would believe Kaneshiro would rather have us figure it out during the trial using hints he gives us rather than us accidentally coming across a piece of paper that reveals everything.

"Except if t-this is some sort of p-punishment!" Takara is getting overly excited, like he is getting something off his chest. "T-that's why Hotaru s-stopped! P-punishment!"

"Somebody told her too over the intercom," I tell Takara. Reading the words off my lips, Takara's mouth drops.

"Really!? What did t-they say? How did t-they sound like!?" Takara gets takes out his notebook and starts writing in it. Looking at the page, I see there are a lot of other notes with nicely drawn pieces of evidence nearby them.

"She said something like...don't hurt them because we have greater things planned. Her voice is feminine and the tone is...I don't know exactly how to describe it," I explain to him. His eyes begin to light up as his hand zooms across the paper. The speed reminding me of my own fingers pressing lightly on my keyboard early in the morning with Kazuhiko sleeping on my shoulder.

"T-thanks Ayano!" He smiles, catching me off-guard. Even with all of his friends besides Hayato and I dead, Takara still has the willpower to do an action many of us took for granted before coming here. Much as I will do anything to see Kazuhiko's precious smile just one more time. "...I should...I should t-tell you s-somet-thing in return."

"You don't have to-"

"But I want to," Takara interrupts me with surprising amount of clarity in his voice. His eyes are full of so much conviction that I feel like I cannot possibly say no.

"Alright..."

"Shinichi made me read his journal," Takara admits. It comes as a shock at first but then I realize how much sense it makes. The two of them were close after all. "I...t-think I should go." Without explaining anything else, Takara leaves me alone in the kitchen. The conversation went on for so long that I only now realize that my coffee is now cold.

"Who is it?"

 _You know who it is. Stop lying to yourself, Ayano. We all know that you know._

Hearing that voice, I drop my coffee, resulting the cup to break into pieces and get coffee all over my shoes and legs. My legs are so hairy thanks to lack of razors yet that is the least of my worries. Whatever that voices is does not bring any good news.

There is nothing better to do so I return to my room. Sleep might be hard but it is better than standing alone in the kitchen. Hopefully somebody else cleans up the mess since that is the last thing I want to do right now.

* * *

Reaching the room, I immediately fall onto the bed face first. Today is something I do not want to experience again but I tell myself one more time. One more time and then you can finally write the wrongs of killing an innocent soul like Minato.

I will miss Kira and Tsukiko...not so much Akemi. There are three more graves to dig with three more brutalized bodies. Even though I know it is not going to happen, I imagine Kaneshiro's head on a stick. It is probably not good to think about such things yet thinking about it with Kaneshiro brings a twisted smile on my face. Despair might not be in my system yet that does not mind I am an entirely innocent person.

Things may be harder after this whole game ends yet I still have some hope. There must be something that we are missing that will point us directly to the mastermind.

...Wait a minute, is Kaneshiro working for someone...that voice over the intercoms? Are you telling me all this time we were suffering because of an underling for somebody greater!? If Kaneshiro is somebody who works for them, how powerful would this person have to be?

Is the reason Kaneshiro is being punished because he screwed up so badly with this game? He was supposed to keep Akita and Takayuki alive, right? But they're dead, very dead. If this is the failed version, how much worse or better would be the correct version?

"A-Ayano?" Surprising me, Atsuto enters my room looking much like a small child. "Sorry for coming on."

"It's alright. You're the closest thing I have to a brother, you're allowed in my room anytime you want, remember?" I smile. I move over in my bed, allowing him to sit right next to me.

"Well, you know...you're a girl, and I'm a guy-"

"Shush and get to sleep. Its gotta be one AM or something. I have a feeling we're going to have a big day tomorrow." Although it is still awkward sleeping with him, for some reason, I feel safe. There is something calming to Atsuto's presence. Like I am able to relax with him here even though there is nothing but pain in this damn program.

"I love you, Ayano," Atsuto tells me as he hugs me. I return the cuddle, snuggling closer to the warmth of Atsuto's chest.

"I love you, too Atsuto." And, just like that, I am able to close my eyes and drift into the land of sleep.

* * *

 ** _Monokuma Theatre_**

 ** _Congrats, kids, to making it to our last Monokuma Theatre. Its sad having to end this program but not as sad as the loss of Bob. A moment of silence for that brave soul._**

 ** _We also want to thank our sponsors, the True Despairs for making this show responsible. Also, it couldn't have been possible without the Committee or Saviors of Sanity...I mean, Humanity but I don't think we need to mention them. Wait, shit, I did!_**

 ** _Anyway, let's thank the members of the main team-_**

* * *

 _"Not so fast!" Pulling me out of the theatre, I see that I am still in the realm of sleep. There is a mirror in front of me but not much else. I examine my appearance in the mirror to truly see how miserable I look. There might be mirrors here but they are not that clear. The showers could only improve so much. My appearance has aged many years in the program as I notice, like Hayato, my hair is starting to grey._

 _Suddenly, however, I notice my appearance change. It is no longer me but somebody that I know all too well even though she has been dead for decades._

 _"Junko Enoshima."_

 _"Sae Emiya...oh wait, you're not her...Ayano Kamukura." Junko smiles as she grabs onto my wrist and then starts trying to pull me into the mirror. I stand my ground, doing my best to pull her out._

 _"Junko, I'll never forgive you for what you did to my father-"_

 _"Why do you think I want forgiveness? That's so boring! Despair is much better!" Junko, with one last tug, is able to get me to lose my balance and then fall into the mirror. There I fall into what could only be described as darkness. I almost mistake it as nothing yet is too warm. Nothing is cold and unforgiving, not like whatever this is._

 _And then I close my eyes. With nothing else to do, I fall deeper and deeper into the abyss._

* * *

 **Next chapter is the start of chapter six and I'm both excited and scared. This story is almost over and its my baby. And then I have to have focusing on MoDE and DiOS. XD**

 **QoTC: Which chapter (meaning 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) has been your favorite? Least favorite?**

 **Req's Rec: Danganronpa: A Tragic Time Capsule by Pand0ra's Box**

 **Reviews~**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Of course, this is me we're talking about. I never let any of my characters, alive or not, have a break. Damn you, whoever Kaneshiro is working for! Thanks so much~ Here's some more because favoritism.**

 **AnonChan1-Yasu is amazing and deserves all the love in the world. Ayano is getting grey too, none of them can escape from me. Alright, got it, Anon is on board with whatever they are planning. Monokuma just really wants to execute someone. Ayano and Atsuto are our precious children. Poor Mitsuru had to have all of her character arc cut because she got recycled (and RIP the Mitsuru and Miyuki battle). ALRIGHT WE'RE GONNA DO SO!**


	67. Chapter 6-1

**Chapter 6-1: Kazuma**

* * *

Days go by without any sort of horrible experiences happening. The five of us, Atsuto, Yasu, Hayato, Takara, and I, try to find some normalcy in our crazy lives. Hotaru stays upstairs without interacting with anybody. She runs away the moment somebody even lays eyes on her.

It is rather peaceful actually, only going through the motions of living. Perhaps we should be more worried about Kaneshiro screwing us over, but our minds are too tired of all the stress. Most of my time is with Atsuto and Yasu, as Takara and Hayato spend a lot of their time researching everything. And Hotaru doing...whatever she's doing. Its nothing good and we should probably stop her, but Kaneshiro would just make trying worthless. Spending our last few days in peace is more productive than attempting to reach a dead end we already know doesn't truly matter.

"Ayano, what's the matter?" Atsuto questions me, pulling me out of my deep thinking. Yasu is also with us. We are currently in the library, with Takara being on the upper level making no sound. The three of us are at one of the tables, which are starting to get dusty and disorganized again without Tsukiko, Namita, or Miyuki here.

"Nothing, just deep in thought."

"If you say so…" Yasu raises their eyebrow but then shakes their head. "What should we do now? Its actually pretty boring in here without the constant threat of death." Mochi is on the table, relaxing. Yasu said something about 'flopping' before yet I have no idea what that means. Rabbit terminology confuses me.

"Um, we could...use that slingshot of yours?"

"Slingshot? Wait, Yasu has a slingshot now!?" I yell out loud. First Yasu has a grappling hook, now this? Yasu is getting better with creating and Kaneshiro is just letting them get away with this. Why? Why would Kaneshiro want Yasu to continuing creating if all that creates is trouble down the line? Is this some way to create despair, or is there a deeper, hidden meaning like there is in everything in this game?

"I asked them for one! It'll be so cool!" Atsuto's eyes begin to sparkle. "Of course, we can't really do it inside...because, you know, the whole not wanting to break the rules thing." He has a point. Especially since nothing has happened over the past few days, Monokuma might find any reason to execute a student to be a perfectly sound one.

"Well, there's always outside," Yasu replies. Mochi hops back into the tool box. There might be many mysteries in this place but that tool box is what confuses me the most. This might be a computer program where everything is possible yet I still find it weird.

"Such a good idea!" Atsuto then hugs Yasu, causing them to blush. Although everybody knows the two of them are a thing by now, they are not the sort to enjoy public displays of affection. I do not blame them, Kazuhiko and I did the same thing yet it still caused his untimely death. It surprises me that the mastermind has allowed the two of them to be this happy with each other for so long.

"But how are we going to have Yasu get down there? There are stairs."

"The two of us can easily carry them!" Atsuto exclaims. "Come on, let's do it!" With Atsuto's cheer, both Yasu and I follow him.

* * *

When we reach the patio, I cannot stop thinking about the time where Akita's body was still on it, rotting away. I may not be the leading expert in decaying bodies but I would not want to dig her up. All of them are just rotting flesh. That is how we all end up no matter how hard we all try in life. Eventually I will be just like there, with nothing that I have done affecting anything in the world other than feeding some meaningless plants.

However, Atsuto and Yasu stop for an entirely different reason. I see that they are looking at the graves and look over there. All of the graves are gone except for one. It has small writing on the cross that none of us could make out on the patio so, with Atsuto and I carrying Yasu, we all hurry down the stairs.

We make it down the stairs and Atsuto rushes up to get Yasu's wheelchair. It is surprisingly easy carrying Yasu, especially since it seems our food is almost out of stock. All of us are losing weight fast. Tsukiko, Namita, and Miyuki rationed the food for longer yet it seems like the mastermind does not want us to stay here for very much longer. So what better way than slowly delete everything?

Atsuto reaches us with the wheelchair so we make our way toward the cross. I reach there first and have to stand on top of the grave to make out the absurdly small text.

"Here lies...Yasuke Matsuda?"

"Whose Yasuke Matsuda?" Yasu asks me. Catching everybody else up to date with all of the information about the games is hard. There is so much to explain, so little time.

"What's Junko's boyfriend doing here?!"

"Wait, what? Junko had a boyfriend?!"

"Yes, she did, she killed him. He is one of the ones that originally worked on the program, with Chihiro Fujisaki and Miaya Gekkogahara." Though it is probably not because of his work on the program, since the other two would be here as well if that was the case. Must be because of his connection to Junko.

"Whose Miaya...Gecko...not even gonna try saying that last name, kid. But what's their connection?" Yasu questions. Junko is dead so this might be some strange tribute to her. But why Yasuke? If that is solely the reason, wouldn't Mukuro be here as well? Maybe this is just some way to make us confused, would not surprise me.

"Didn't he have the tech to alter memories and that kind of thing?" Atsuto adds-on the conversation. Didn't he also work directly with the Steering Committee on the Izuru Kamukura Project?

"Yes-" All of the sudden, the ground from underneath me gives out. Everybody else is unaffected except for the shock of such an event transpiring.

Somehow landing on my legs, I feel something off underneath my shoes. The light still shines from above, so at least I am not being buried alive. That must mean I can still make out whatever I am standing on. Looking underneath my feet, I see something that I cannot recognize at first glance. It is...disgusting yet tragic.

I wonder where all the dirt from before is but that is probably somebody messing around with the program again. Whatever is underneath here, they must want me to find it. But why?

"Ayano, are you alright?" Atsuto asks me. I see him looking down, possibly accessing the situation. It might not be that deep yet I still cannot easily get out. My legs slightly hurt by me falling on them weirdly.

"I'm fine!" Looking down on the new thing again, I try to figure out what it is. But that is when I realize...

This is Yasuke Matsuda's grave...which means this must be his brutalized body. A body that has been decaying for over five decades.

Without any of my input, my body throws up, suddenly overwhelmed by the horrible smell. My legs give out from underneath me and I scream as my hand makes contact with the last remains of the body. It surprises me that I have experienced a whole Killing Game yet Kaneshiro still finds ways to get inside my head. Guess he really is the Ultimate Brainwasher after all.

Thinking of which, it has been all this time yet I still haven't told anybody about... _that_. Surprised Kaneshiro has not even used Monokuma to give everybody else a hint, or say it out loud since that is how Kaneshiro usually works. Yet Monokuma has not been around since the last trial. It is like the game is paused and perhaps I should be more suspicious of that fact. Especially since this is supposed to be the last chapter of it.

"Kid, still doing fine? We're gonna get you out, don't ya worry. Atsuto went to find the rope. You know, to use it for something else than murdering people."

"Don't worry, I'm just hanging out with a fifty-year old corpse."

"Um...okay? I think this might work." Catching me off guard, I see that Yasu fires their grappling hook into the ground. It attaches to the body which cannot be good. There is no harm is trying so I try to climb it up but fail miserably. The material is just not made for that sort of thing.

"I'm back!" Atsuto then throws the rope down. I am able to grab a hold of it, but, right before I do, something catches my eye. It is a piece of paper in one of Yasuke's hands. Being as quick as possible, I take the paper from the hand but nearly puke doing so. Taking a shower and cleaning my clothes is a must after this.

I stick the paper into my jacket pocket and then go up the rope. Something inside me tells not to show it to Atsuto and Yasu. Although I do trust the both of them, I have to think of all of the things that can happen. It is not like I know everything. One of them could even be controlled by Natsumi as well. Natsumi might have that amount of prowess with a whole team by his side.

Getting my way up, I see Yasu and Atsuto are still in relatively the same places. They both look exactly the same but, for some reason, my suspicious part of the brain is acting up. Nothing can be trusted as long as we are in the program. Even if we get outside, there will be the chance that we are actually still stuck in the simulation.

"I should take a shower," I tell the both of them.

"Well, have fun, Ayano! We're gonna be out here," Atsuto responds. While I reach the door to the school, I see that Atsuto and Yasu are together, holding hands, watching over Mochi who is running around the yard.

* * *

When I reach the showers, I close the doors and look if there is anybody else around. There is nobody so I reach into my pocket. I open the paper up and see that it is an outline of some room with a place circled. Flipping the paper over reveals some numbers '0420' with a red dot at the end that looks strangely of that of dried up blood.

I place the paper down, hiding it inside Kazuhiko's hat. Right before I take any of my clothes off, I notice that the door opens, revealing Hotaru. Perhaps I should call her Natsumi but something about that just feels wrong.

"Ayano Kamukura."

"Natsumi Fuuma-"

"God, this feels so tropey...or however you say or spell or whatever that word!" Hotaru grins. I am immediately put on edge. She is blocking the only way out of this place. "I betcha my name never left your mind during this whole game!"

"Actually, I barely thought about you-"

"Because the people of the Committee wouldn't shut up about you! They put you into this mess and they were like 'Ayano would've been better' or some shit like that! Well, guess what, I beat you, Ayano!" Natsumi is acting childish, which is weird since he never expressed anything like this before. What happened between me getting into this game and now?

"Natsumi-"

"That's what the master does, give you things you never knew you truly wanted-"

"Wait, what!?" Is Natsumi referring to the person possibly pulling Kaneshiro's strings? What is going on here? I have been so focused on what's happening here that I have not thought about the bigger picture. The motive that got Namita mentioned that there hundreds, if not thousands of these games. How can we be so certain that we are the only ones being currently forced to do something like this?

"Screw this!" And, just like that, Hotaru leaves, leaving me all alone. Hotaru might come back any moment so I decide to delay the shower for now. There is a hint I have to figure out after all. Even though it is clearly a room, I do not know yet which one. The person who will be most able to help me might be interested in a clue such as this.

Placing Kazuhiko's hat back on my head, I once again place the piece of paper in my jacket pocket.

* * *

Visiting the library again, I go upstairs and see that Takara is still researching. Not wanting to scare him, I touch his shoulder. Though that seems to do what I was trying to avoid for he jumps at my touch.

"A-Ayano!?" Takara shouts out. I might not be able to trust everybody but checking all the rooms for this spot would take up precious time I do not know we have. Kaneshiro can end this whatever time he wants so I have to make it quick.

"I found a clue, Takara. Do you know what room this is?" I give Takara the paper and he starts examining it very closely. Seconds feel like hours as the two of us stand in silence, waiting for his results.

"Hidden...r-room," he answers. With me taking the lead, the two of us make our way there, fast walking the whole way. Time is of the essence and I do not know if Kaneshiro knows that we are possibly onto him or not. Him figuring this out might lead to him erasing our memories and having all of this all for naught.

* * *

The two of us surprise Hayato, who probably was not expecting any visitors anytime soon. He is looking through one of the piles of weapons and almost accidentally drops a knife.

"Excuse my asking, but why are the two of you here?" Hayato questions us.

"We found a clue to something. Can you point to where it leads, Takara?" Takara then goes near the back of the room and then finds one of the weapon piles that has not been sorted through as of yet.

"Do you know where this leads, Ayano? For all we know, this may be a trap set up by the mastermind. How did you find this even?" Hayato has a habit of asking questions, perhaps too many. That is probably the main reason why he has been put on Kaneshiro's radar. Would not surprise me if Kaneshiro tries to kill him again before this ends. We three are all putting our lives in danger and we all understand that. Standing up to Kaneshiro is more important than living a life that is nothing but despair.

"It is better than giving up." No matter what, Kaneshiro will win, yet that does not mean we cannot make his life absolute Hell beforehand.

That is when we begin our search through the pile. Careful to not accidentally kill ourselves, we treat all the weapons with absolute care. Getting killed this way would not just be bad for everybody still left in this game, including Kaneshiro, but it would also just be really embarrassing.

But which of the four of them is Kaneshiro? It is not Hotaru, that much has been made clear. At this point, a part of me just wishes that somehow I'm Kaneshiro, but, considering he did... _that_ to me, that is pretty much impossible. These four are close to me. Considering all that we have been through together, all of us are close. Thinking this way is something I don't like doing but I think everybody else is doing the same thing.

Nobody can trust each other but we are holding onto anything we have. Takara and I are proof of that. The dead are taken off the list, and we choose the wear their old belongings to remember them. Its the only comfort people like us have a situation like this.

For hours, the three of us work on that singular pile. The craziest thing we found was a chainsaw that we promptly placed out of the way. There are a bunch of needles with an unknown substance on them, so we spend a lot of time working on making sure none of us get hurt by those.

It seems like forever but we finally hit the end. What awaits us is another piece of paper with something written on it. I get down to my knees and pick it up from the ground. This time, the clue read Hiraoka 121, pg 10135.5. Seeing that last name again sends a shiver down my spine.

"Hiraoka? Does Kazuhiko have anything to do with this?"

"No, that's Kotori. I believe that's the Dewey Decimal System and that's psychology! The bitch!" I then storm out of the room. Kaneshiro hid something in one of the books, knowing we should only skim through some of them and then deem it worthless!

"How do you know the Dewey Decimal System, Ayano?"

"Its part of hacking code and such...and it would take forever to explain! Come on, we have to figure out where this is at the library." Takara and Hayato exchange glances but then decide to continue after me. The three of us then make the journey to the library. This whole day has been going from place to place but I feel like what we find will make it all worth it.

But the continuing lack of Monokumas gives me a bad feeling.

* * *

The three of us make it to the library and immediately split up to cover more ground. I search through a sea of books in the nonfiction section to try to find what we are looking for. All the dust in the air causes me to sneeze.

"I f-found it-t!" Takara exclaims. With those words, Hayato and I rush to Takara's side. Its a big book and a part of me thought the note lied to us. How can a book be this large? It takes Takara, Hayato, and I all working together to transfer the monster. Can there really be this much information about Kotori's experiments? I find that hard to believe. Especially since the book upstairs has everything in a way that is much more easier to access.

Now comes the hard part. The pages all seem to be way harder than those of average books. Is Kaneshiro somehow messing with the program to make this harder to find? No, it is not Kaneshiro, we would just have our memories messed with. Somebody else is trying to help us but make us fight for all the answers.

"Perhaps we should talk about something to past the time?" I suggest. Getting their opinions might be helpful here. One of them might be Kaneshiro, however, and just using the other two to get the information. Then he'll erase our memories once we have served our purpose.

"There has to be evidence that points to the mastermind that we are overlooking. Like all the puzzle pieces are there, we just have to find where they all belong," Hayato says. He is thinking heavily as he flips over another page.

"Hmmmm...perhaps code h-help? Zero t-three zero t-three." Takara has a point, that number is somehow important to the mastermind. Adding on the 0420 code, there might be a clue of who it is.

"But maybe we should talk about something else so we can better understand that hint. 0303 can mean so many different things and we have no clues...wait..." At that second, I suddenly remember something. Takayuki and Naoko mentioned me something a really long time ago.

"What is it-t, A-Ayano?"

"Our Akita Yamazaki was rescued from her imprisonment by Hideyoshi on March Third! That date makes the number 0303-"

"Wait, I t-think I know somet-thign else!" Takara hurries up to the upper library, leaving Hayato and I alone. Before we are able to say anything, Takara returns with the book of experiments. He starts flipping through the pages until he finds something and then shows Hayato and I.

The page itself seems to be detailing the personal information of the people involved in Personality Experiment #045, something I do not remember. Whoever gave us this information must have added it afterward. Though there is one thing that sticks out to me.

"Hideyoshi's birthday is...March Third?" Hayato voices.

"Wait, if Takayuki and Hideyoshi were the same person by then, that must mean that Hideyoshi allowed Takayuki to find him on his birthday no less! And Hideyoshi didn't get found because he was the one leading the investigation!" Everything makes slightly more sense now, even though there are so many different mysteries to solve. So many it might take multiple different stories, only people with the experienced needed can get some of the clues and then everybody puts them together to solve all the mysteries!

"But how does figuring that out get us any closer to finding Kaneshiro's true identity?"

"T-that's...well..." Takara cannot debunk Hayato's point, much like I. It might solve some questions but it does not bring us any closer.

While we think about new avenues of discussion, the three of us finally make it to the page. It details the events of a...

"Conversation therapy? I thought they got rid of those..." Even with me living with Kotori, I never heard of this. Is this implying she did even more immoral things? How much can one person accomplish? There are two names crossed off the list of many of them, leaving me curious.

But there is also something that catches my attention, a photo that does not have anything to do with the page it is on. It shows seventeen people in a room all posing for the picture. He might look very different but I immediately recognize one of them.

"That's Kaneshiro!" I point to him, finger shaking. It is not his appearance that is different (although there are key differences) but his expression. There is none of that darkness.

"How do you know how Kaneshiro-"

"That's not what's important right now!" I then flip the photo over to see really small handwriting but it seems to be the code that we need.

 _Kazuma Kaneshiro-_ The information is crossed out like everything else. His birthday must be a clue to who he is. Probably more so to the ones that have access to the collection of birthdays on the handbooks. There is a chance Kaneshiro was stupid about his personal information but I would not bet on it.

 _Jin Saeki- 0122_

 _Amaku Dokusei- 1207_

 _Machi Sakamoto- 1024_

 _Yuzuki Kuromiya- 0320_

 _Beni Nashio- 0420_

 _Touki Yukimori- 1030_

 _Asahi Ito- 0720_

 _Yaroslava Valeryevna Suzuki- 0101_

 _Chitose Nobira- 0503_

 _Norika Kihara- 0919_

 _Yugi Bessho- 1212_

 _Riko Igarashi- 0204_

 _Heiwai Musubino- 0623_

 _Gennai Doromizu- 1001_

 _Ivan Pavlov- 0406_

 _Hanami Fukushima- 0303_

I notice that two of the names are connected to the codes: Beni and Hanami. But why? And, like before, this leads us nowhere closer to figuring out who Kaneshiro is. Might help us find out motive, but, at this point, the only reason I would care for motive is if it gets us closer to who he really is. Nothing can justify the actions he has done. He will win yet that does not mean that he is right.

There is only one more thing I can do. But, before then, I have to get away from Takara and Hayato somehow.

"I'll search the other rooms if I can find something that will help." Hayato and Takara cannot say anything before I leave the room. I know that my behavior is suspicious but it is what is needed.

I may not know how Beni and Hanami are involved, but it is clear that those two are important to Kaneshiro somehow. That is not important, however, as I think that will reveal itself in time. The other code must be the key to something. But what? Though, in the hallway, I realize something...

"Crap, I still can't touch it."

* * *

Outside again, I see that Atsuto and Yasu have left the yard. There is nobody but me. Looking at the graves, I see that it is exactly the same. I then look at the trees on the edge of the forest. The ground has what I want, as I reach for a stick.

"And what do you think you're doing, Aya?" That nickname catches me off-guard. Hotaru is there, strangely relaxed.

"I'm not going to tell you-"

"You think I'm entirely with Kaneshiro. No, my alliances are more... _complicated_ than that. I only serve my master and master does what master does." Hearing those words come out of Hotaru's mouth causes me to frown. I thought I had Natsumi all figured out in the Committee but I now know that I was wrong. My percentages back then were a bunch of bullshit.

"I don't care about you right now-"

"By doing this, you pass the point of no return! There's no going back!" Hotaru is suddenly tense, with her voice sounding like she is begging. She grabs onto my hand and I try to shake her off.

"What do you mean? How is this a point of no return?" Although this information might change everything about the game, I do not realize why Natsumi is making Hotaru so tense. Natsumi himself admitted that he is not loyal to Kaneshiro. So what does he have to lose if Kaneshiro gets found out? Or does Natsumi still care for Kaneshiro? Most likely Natsumi wants us to wait until the last trial.

"Its too late to convince you. I know how you get. Goodbye." Without explaining anything, Hotaru walks away. All I could do is watch, wondering what agony Hotaru must be in to have no control over her body. Especially since this goes against everything she stands for.

All I want to do is hug Hotaru and tell her everything is going to be okay. But I know that cannot happen.

* * *

Once I enter the school, however, I see another obstacle in my path. Takara. He must have left Hayato in the library.

"Ayano, what are you doing?" His voice is clear again. Hearing him actually speak may still be a new experience, but Takara's voice is calming yet like a child's.

"That is of no concern-"

"It is! You my f-friend!" Takara pleads with me. His right hand is clenching onto his heart tightly.

"If you want to, Takara...then I guess its alright if you come to." Having Takara here defeats the purpose of the stick but it is good to have in any future situations. Just in case I am alone and Kaneshiro tries to force me to touch any technology. I place the stick in my jacket pocket. It is too big for it and is weirdly shaped but that will do for now.

Now it is the two of us, possibly marching our ways to freedom, truth, or despair. Somehow all three of them scare me.

* * *

It is now the moment of truth. Takara and I are in front of the last door, the last code until we are able to at least have some more answers.

My heart races as Takara types in 0420. I see that his hands are very sweaty. Both of us are out of breath. The code takes a moment to process but then we are authorized to see what secrets it holds.

The door opens to yet another secret room, but this one is much more smaller. It can barely hold the two of us inside it, with us squeezing to fit. There is nothing inside, or that is what it seems until we find a newspaper article on the ground. On the front cover there is only information about the Committee so we are going to have to flip it to see what secrets it truly holds.

"Are you sure about this, Takara? You can turn back now." I do not know why I am asking him, maybe sense of habit? Only dread is in my system, the overwhelming emotion of finally having some kind of closure. But at what cost? A part of me wants to play along with Kaneshiro has planned. It keeps telling me that going against Kaneshiro only brings pain. Yet I ignore that part of my mind since Kaneshiro has done everything. He took Kazuhiko from me, he is going to pay.

"I'm s-sure."

"Alright, I'm going to turn it now..." Flipping it to the next page I just see a bunch of meaningless advertisements. One of them is for Bunny Island, claiming it will be the funniest place you will ever visit. The rabbit on the cover reminds me of Mochi, if not only just a bit bigger.

"Cute," Takara comments. Then I grab Takara's hand, catching him off guard. He, however, recovers fairly quickly. Both of us just need each other right now. Because I have a feeling whatever is on the next page will never leave our minds.

"Ok, are you ready?" Takara nods his head. Gulping, I flip the page. The sight of what is on it almost causes me to drop the paper.

 _ **Two found dead, suspect on the run**_

 _Satoshi Nakajima and Atsuto Togami were both found dead in their shared apartment. The murderer is none other than Kazuma Kaneshiro, somebody who has been missing for about a year. If anybody knows his whereabouts, please contact the police._

...

...

...

...

...

It can't be. There must be some sort of mistake! What kind of sick joke is this!? Kaneshiro must have created this to throw us off! Kazuhiko would have said something if he knew about this! Of course, his memory could be deleted...no, that can't...it can't.

Not knowing what to think, I fall onto my knees. Takara joins me, but for a different reason. He hugs me as I cry into his shoulder.

"Gonna be a-alright." Takara pats me on the back but it does not change anything. The person I trusted the most was the one that fucking... _fucking_...raped me. All those times he comforted me, gave me somebody to talk to, anything...it was all a fucking lie! How..how dare he!?

"Takara, let go," I demand. Not knowing what to do, Takara does exactly that. Then I step over him and begin to head out of the room.

"Ayano! Calm d-down! Get t-the ot-thers-"

"That son of a bitch thought he could be my brother! Nobody kills my brother and then fucking rapes me!" With the confession, Takara is still on the ground, with his eyes wide and mouth open.

"I-I-I'm sorry t-that happened to y-you-"

"What's worse is that I've to deal with the fact that I'm gonna have his child no matter what I do!" I shout out loud. "You don't know how it feels like to have...whatever this is happen to you!" Takara then gets up and tries to come after me but I slam the door on his face. It hurts being this mean to Takara but that is not what matters right now.

Yasu is alone with that monster and I cannot allow him to do anything to them or that rabbit of theirs.

* * *

Storming away from the hallway so Takara cannot find me, I find myself in the pool room. The pool has only grown more hideous. I did not think that was possible...that should not be the worry right now.

I hear the other door in the pool room open and then I see Atsuto...no, Kaneshiro, walk into the room.

"Kaneshiro."

"A-Ayano?...Why are you so mad?" He laughs innocently. He walks closer to me but I only back away from him. Being stupid would only cause pain. Everything about him seems so normal, so familiar, but now I cannot erase the darkness that must be in his soul.

"You're Kaneshiro, you son of a bitch!"

"K-Kaneshiro? You must be mistaken. He's fooling you-"

"Then explain me how you killed Atsuto and Satoshi, the two people you pretended to be during this!" I shout at him. With that, he stops. He looks down to the ground, his eyes not visible.

"How did you figure that out, Ayano? Did the master finally decide that I'm not worth it anymore? Well, never mind that, I'll make sure our master is proud of me in some way..."

When he makes eye contact with me, I cannot believe what I am seeing. The most terrifying thing, so horrifying that I cannot help but take a step back. No words could describe the pure despair that emulates from his endless void of eyes. An endless void of nothing but apathy and darkness.

"There's no point hiding it anymore then! Congrats, Ayano, you're the sixth person to figure it all out! My true name is Kaneshiro Kazuma, the Ultimate Brainwasher!"

* * *

 **Ultimate Brainwasher**

 **Kaneshiro Kazuma**

* * *

Hearing him admit it so easily...its...its surreal. He...he really did all of this. That fucking sick, sadistic, son of a bitch!

"I'm going to kill you!" I charge at him but then I fall down on the floor, having stressed out my injured legs too much. My ankle hurts so much I cannot help but whimper, though that is hardly anything compared to my heartbreak. "H-how...how could you!?"

"...I'm not going to tell you that." I try to move out of the way, but, before I know it, Kaneshiro's foot is to my face. His shoe digs into my skin, with him pressing down harder and harder.

"Get off her!" Suddenly, Takara knocks into Kaneshiro, forcing him off me. I get up on my feet again, even if the act brings me nothing but pain and agony. Takara is much weaker than Kaneshiro so the mastermind easily overpowers him. Kaneshiro then throws Takara hard against the wall, knocking him down cold.

Next is me. I try to stop him from getting to me, but it is no use. Kaneshiro has too much power in this damn program. Kazuhiko's hat falls down yet there is no way for me to get it back at the moment.

"I'll never bow down to you!"

"Or you so sure about that? Oh well...sweet dreams." Next thing I know, I am harshly thrown against the wall too. Somehow my conscious stays for a couple more moments. Enough time to see Kaneshiro's goddamn smile one last time.

* * *

Next thing I know, I am floating down a familiar nothingness. A nothingness that has been with me in my dreams for some time now. It is comforting by now, at least compared to the world that is known as reality.

Though, suddenly, I land on something softly. The floor feels like clouds, or the fluffiest blanket. Looking around, I only see one thing in the distance, a mirror. Something calls me to it, and I have no choice but to follow.

I reach the mirror and all I saw was...was...

I could do nothing but scream until the same nothingness welcomes me in its calming, mother-like embrace.

* * *

 **We got the mastermind reveal! Yep, its my boy, Atsuto Togami. You guys really shouldn't trust characters made by me.**

 **I've been looking forward to writing this scene since forever. I'm just overall a very happy person right now, especially because of personal reasons I go over in more detail on platforms such as Discord. Let's just say I finally left my personal Hell and finally creating a new life for myself.**

 **QOTC: What has been your personal favorite plot twist in the current Committee Saga canon? Your least favorite?**

 **Req's Rec: Danganronpa: Salty Waves and Bloody Coral by Prince PokePersona**

 **Reviews~**

 **Scissor-Snipper-That would just make solving the other mysteries in the Committee Saga canon way too easy. We can't have that. ;) I would be like OH HELL NAH, I AIN'T GONNA SLEEP! Thanks, I try to make them have the same quality. I mean, I'm already suffering writing this chapter and I have almost two years of prep time to prepare my emotions, so I can't imagine how painful it is to the people reading this story, especially Atsuto fans. Sorry Anon, it had to be done.**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-Yasu truly is MVP who got away with everything because _loovveeeeee_. It is cheating, stop cheating Natsumi, that's not how these games work. Hayato is completely innocent...except for the deaths of Kyoto and Mirabilis, but besides that. I dare to dream. I did say that the after trial does make the mastermind more clear. Mochi is their master. Here's the absolute angst of a reveal!**

 **AnonChan1 (please don't kill me)-I would also be like OH HELL NAH! Ayano sometimes goes back to her old, more simple ways. Hayato cannot brainwash people but influence them, that's how he held a successful smuggling business with an idiot like Cassius as his business partner. Takara feared for his life, that's why (and Shinichi was Shinichi so, you know, paranoia). The mysterious voice's meaning gets cleared up later. I'm imagining very creative things with Kaneshiro. ITS NOT PURE ANYMORE! You shouldn't trust the cute. I think I'm gonna make you turn grey with this chapter, Anon.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-ITS NOT SWEET ANYMORE! Mochi is too cute to be trusted. Hayato knows not to trust the cute, he is smart. Thanks so much, Rose! :D**


	68. Chapter 6-2

**Chapter 6-2: True Friends Stab You in the Front**

* * *

 _Where...Where am I?_

 _I look around to only see darkness. A part of me thinks that I'm dead, but it can't be that easy. Kaneshiro will never allow it to be that easy. I thought I could trust Atsuto but that shows how much of a fucking idiot I am._

 _"Now I'm truly sorry about this, Ayano. I really did love you but you leave me no choice."_

 _"Fuck you."_

 _The last thing I see is a light turning on in the distance. Then it is all static. Static that reminds me of the familiar embrace of nothingness._

 _And the despair of what is in the mirror._

* * *

Although believing in something as far away from reality as a 'gut feeling' is ridiculous, even I know that this is too strong to not be considered. Everything is wrong, Kaneshiro is planning something. Ayano, Atsuto, and Yasu were way too relaxed the last couple of days, but Ayano slipped out of it somehow. Laying back will only get you killed, that is how things work on the other side of the law. There is no taking a day off when you are a smuggler, constantly looking behind your back. Cassius was the only one I could trust but I should have remembered that getting close to people will only hurt in the end.

Takara is taking too much time, and Ayano was acting suspicious. Adding onto the theory, Takara, like me, is serious about this investigation. He has investigative knowledge learned from Takayuki that makes him a threat to Kaneshiro. Hotaru...is not here anymore. That means, out of all of us, only two of us could be Kaneshiro. Yasu or Atsuto. Both of them are an equal possibility, there must be something that points to either one of them. Natsumi could provide more clues but whoever they are, they are holding their cards safe to their chest. The second floor is not interesting but Natsumi has to be doing something up there. There must be a way for them to get food as well, because none of us have seen them get anything essentials such as food.

Most of all, there is the clue that was found. Kirigiri is dead so there should be no reason why we should still have access to this information. Natsumi could not be loyal to Kaneshiro, but, if that is the reason, why are they risking everything for him? Nothing makes sense. But, as a filthy criminal killer scum, there must be a way to get inside their mindset. More clues are needed, jumping to conclusions based on conjectures is what gets people either killed or manipulated in this game. Somehow I have made it this far, and I do not think giving up here will write my previous wrongs. I have a family to go back too, they should be worried sick, but there is a chance that all of them have meet their ends.

There must be a clue to the names written down in this book. Comparing the crossed out names to the others, one has to be fairly short, while the other one is longer. Their Ultimates are not listed, as they seem to be the only Ultimates on this list. Whatever this is must not be involved with Hope's Peak Academy at all. Kotori Hiraoka is a mysterious woman so it is best if I ask Ayano more about her. Ayano is warming up to me and I cannot decide whether or not that is a good or bad thing. At this point in my life, I have accepted that I am a horrible person, for I suspect that if I have not meet Cassius, I would have ended up just like Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro and I are oddly alike and I have no idea that he has realized that truth yet. If I wanted to, I could make everyone follow after me without question...

Wait...wait a minute...

This can only mean one of two things. First, Kaneshiro is dumber than I expected and is doing this entirely for the thrill. But there is so much evidence that is pointing against that conclusion. However, if I am correct with this theory, then whoever everybody is working for is much more powerful than originally predicted. For somebody to have all of these connections, and to cause this much death without the general populace suspecting anything, they have to be a force to be reckoned with. Kaneshiro might be the mastermind of this game but he is following the commands of somebody else. And so was Kirigiri, that is how she was able to gain access to the servers even when Kaneshiro took full control. Their master is planning something but I cannot figure out what. The three of them, Kaneshiro, Kirigiri, and Natsumi, were working towards the same goal but...their actions make no sense, they should be working together, not killing each other. Not even despair would cause somebody to act so rashly.

Not only that, but Kaneshiro's talent itself makes no sense. He could brainwash us all to act the way he wanted if he truly wanted to. The actions he perform is more akin to hypnosis than brainwashing. Kaneshiro has only brainwashed Ayano through the entire course of the game and none of us know what happened to cause that sort of reaction. Ayano reached the outside world so it could be assumed that somebody else could have gotten to her as well. There is the matter of my falling to despair as well, but that was mostly caused by Hideyoshi, no matter what anybody else tries to calm. Sometimes I still hear Hideyoshi's haunting me in my dreams, never allowing me to truly break free from my past's misgivings. The phantom only worsens because he was right. Whether or not a person should be judged by their past actions is not what I should be focusing on, but my mind sort of wanders when I am all alone.

"You seem deep in thought." Realizing I was not paying attention to my surroundings, I see...Natsumi. She lays on the table, examining the contents of the book. It is too late to hide it from her so I do not even try. "Hayato, you should get moving. Everybody is in danger."

"Why would you concern yourself with that? I thought you were on Kaneshiro's side. Especially the part where you tried to kill me!" I do not like thinking about the incident but it has to be addressed. Having walls come close to crushing me is something I do not want to experience again. And then there was the horror the Tsukiko and Akemi's execution, which is an inarguable act of true depravity. Tsukiko did not deserve the fate she received, and she was too good for all of us still in the Killing Game, except for Yasu if they prove not to be the mastermind. All of us are criminals somehow, even Takara. Takara may have not broke the law in any way but he indirectly helped with the Committee by providing funding for many immoral projects and experiments. A part of me thinks that it is sort of funny that half of the people currently alive have killed somebody through the course of this demented excuse of a game.

"You need to pay attention, Hayato. This is serious! The mastermind has access to somebody but I do not know who!"

...The mastermind. Only Yasu and Atsuto are the only two people currently alive that make sense. Yasu might have saved my life, but they could have done that to get to my good graces. But, for some reason, I never quite trusted Atsuto, the only three that have done so are Ayano, Yasu, and Akemi. Akemi turned out to be the traitor, and Atsuto claims to have known Ayano from before. That must mean if he is not who he says he is, that the real Atsuto was killed so somebody can take his identity, along with Satoshi. But, I must not jump to conclusions, Atsuto might be innocent, or framed by somebody else. Atsuto and Yasu are romantically involved so the two of them have a different bond from everybody else here. Though there are other students that could be dating if they were up for it. It is clear to me that Ayano has a crush on Hotaru, with the way she looks at her I cannot come with any other conclusion, but Hotaru's will has been overwritten with code.

This is no time to be thinking about matchmaking, for I am not a part of the three that put Yasu and Atsuto together. I might have been the only one that missed that. The mastermind is more important than the personal lives of my classmates or myself. And, thinking back to what Atsuto has done, there are many incidents that are suspicious. Such as, when he fell into coma and nothing strange transpired until he awoke. Or that he was with Kazuhiko about the time that he killed Akita. Kazuhiko figured out something and it must have something to do with Atsuto, but was somehow silenced. Was Ayano threatened somehow, or is there something else going on behind the scenes? There is also the suspicious facts about Mitsuru's murder. Kaneshiro is proven to always stay in the games and be one of us, but Atsuto and Mitsuru could have been the only ones not out of commission at the time. He might claim to be the Ultimate Unlucky Student yet accidentally decapitating someone is too far from reality. Why haven't I considered this sooner?

"If you do not mind my asking, Natsumi, but is Kaneshiro pretending to be Atsuto?" I ask her.

"Finally, somebody figures it out. But I'm not Natsumi right on, Natsumi went to go sulk after talking to Ayano," Hotaru answers. I take a deep breath. Although that means Natsumi can come back at any time, it is good to have more numbers on my side. Hotaru and I might not be the closest, she is still a friend. Not many of us are left and, if we do not stop Kaneshiro from what he is planning, there is a chance that all of us will die.

"We need to go now! There is a chance Yasu is all alone with Kaneshiro." However, Hotaru stays, and then begins to look at me with an uncharacteristic amount of concern on her face. She is much different from when we first started the game, but I believe that could be said about everyone here, including Kaneshiro. Not having the game go in an opposite direction that planned must be stressing Kaneshiro out. There are other games so perhaps that is a way to test how ready certain people are? But, if this is indeed the test for the mastermind, what is the reason? Why so many games? With some of us being public figures, or important to the Committee, or both, there was great danger that this could blow their cover. So there must be a method to their madness. In the smuggling world, it is a generally accepted rule nowadays that one should not target subjects that are too important. But the despairs have different rules than most of the other criminal underground.

"Hayato, pay attention, and stop retreating in your head. We don't have the most amount of time." Hotaru then places rope on the table and holds her hands out. "I need you to bound me tight, okay?"

"Hotaru, are you sure this is the best course of action?"

"Listen, I don't like this either. But you don't have somebody that can literally take control of your body any second!" Whatever has happened to Hotaru under Natsumi's control, it is clear that it has changed her. She is tense, her muscles way tighter than they usually are.

"If you are truly certain this is what you personally want, then I will do my best," I respond to Hotaru. She nods her head. Taking the rope, I begin to tell myself notes of how to do this correctly. When I was planning my murder of Kyoto, I prepared for many different plans. One of them involved the possibly of tying the victim up so I practiced making knots during the night in the privacy of my room. I regret what I have done so much. Though I do not believe in the afterlife, a part of me wants it to exist, so I could just tell Kyoto and Mirabilis I am sorry. Kyoto might not forgive me, yet Mirabilis would, she loved the world too much to hold grudges. I might have been the one behind the trigger but Mirabilis was dead no matter what we did. Getting shot is a much better alternative than being slowly hanged.

"Thanks, Hayato."

"You're welcome." When I leave the room, I see that Hotaru is smiling at me. Her smile is bittersweet, full of happiness but dripping in pain.

* * *

Outside of the library, I take out my E-handbook and look where everybody is. Something strikes me as odd, however, as I notice that Takara, Ayano, and Ats...Kaneshiro are nowhere to be found. Perhaps I should try to find a way to the third floor, though I highly doubt that will be possible. I am the only person that I can trust right now since Cassius and Tsukiko are dead. And I highly doubt I have the skills to fix a floor and not get noticed by Kaneshiro. There might be no Monokumas but that does not mean that Kaneshiro has less power. It is either that he is getting cocky or something bigger is being planned.

There is only one more person to find then, Yasu. They have saved my life so I will pay them back by possibly saving theirs. The E-handbook says that they are in the gym and that should be the first place that I check. Chances are that they are still in there, probably waiting for who they think is Atsuto to return, but I must prepare for possibility that only their E-handbook is there. Yasu could have dropped it, or Kaneshiro could have taken it from them. Due to Yasu's narcolepsy, it is not hard to overpower them. I want to know the story of how Yasu became an engineer with that sleeping disorder, that must have not been easy to do.

I open the door to the gym to see that Yasu was still there, playing around with their rabbit. Mochi is still alive which is something I would have never predicted. Cassius told me stories about certain cultures believing in lucky rabbit feet, or something like that, and, even though I do not believe in things such as luck, it could be true in the case of Mochi.

"Hey, Hayato...why are you so tense? Did you find something?" Yasu questions while tilting their head. They gently place Mochi back into their toolbox. I have stopped trying to figure out how that works a long time ago.

"Yasu, there is something I have to tell you, but-"

"Ahem, my precious, bastard students, I hate to inform you but the system must be shut down in five hours. Sorry I couldn't be here but I have to follow the plot! So long, suckers!" Monokuma's voice causes the both of us to jump. Five hours? What happens in five hours? There has been no mention of us being pulled out of the program so there is a chance that we will be forced to stay inside. So what happens to the people still inside? The most likely answer is that we will be erased from existence, our bodies in the real world becoming nothing but empty shells.

"What should we do? Where's everyone is!?" Yasu once again has that look of determination on their face. That must mean that they are planning something so it is best to go with them.

"Also, for the stick in the mud and pain in my ass, there's a certain...present for you before you do the whole breaking the system thing. Just head to the secret room from the pool side. Trust me, you don't want to miss this." Whenever Monokuma says something like that, it means that something horrible is about to happen. Though there is nothing else to do, Monokuma might shut down the program immediately if we deny him. There can be a hint to what Kaneshiro is planning if we go as well. Telling Yasu outright without any hard evidence that Atsuto is Kaneshiro can create horrible results. Bringing Yasu to the secret room can let them reach to the conclusion themselves. They will not react well so it would be best if somebody else is there with them. Though I might not be the best in emotional support, maybe my talent in convincing people things could finally come in handy. I could just use my talent now, yet I would feel too much like Kaneshiro.

"Should we go, Hayato? It could be a trap." Yasu has a point. Though everything in this game could be a trap. For all we know, us staying could be part of Kaneshiro's plan, and, because he decided this room out of all of them to take Yasu, it could be because he planted something here before.

"We have gotten out of worse scenarios. Going would be in our best interests." That is when Yasu and I leave the room. The pool is somewhere I do not want to be but we must go. It is too disgusting for anyone's tastes and, when I am near, I feel uneasy. Everybody does, that is why I practically felt like I was going to throw up whenever someone went inside it.

* * *

Yasu and I reach the door that leads to the pool. Knowing that no matter what, something bad will happen, I take a deep breath to compose myself. Monokuma has done so much to us, but he still finds a way to get under our skin. It is like an art form with him, not even Junko Enoshima could do it as well. Though my knowledge of history is severely flawed since it comes from the bias of the Committee.

Then I open the door, making sure that Yasu can come in as well. Yasu is on edge immediately and I do not blame them. Not even looking near the pool, I can feel that my hair is standing up. For some reason, there is a camera pointed directly at the pool, and that can never mean anything good. The light on its side in blinking red so I think that means that it is recording. Cassius was always the one more interested in that side of everything. Though I wonder how somebody was able to get a camera with a tripod and everything. It is not like the other low-budget security cameras in this place, this model is the state of the art.

But I did not come here to just examine a camera. Looking back to Yasu, I notice that they have already seen what is in the pool, with their eyes dilated and body shaking. It must not be good then, but I have to face the music. That was something that Tsukiko used to say. Refusing to accept reality is not what a good salesman does. After all, part of our job is to twist that reality to make people fall into our traps. Who can truly manipulate something that they cannot understand?

Then I begin to walk over to the camera, something about it calling me to continue. There is no logical reasoning for why only that it does. A weird type of pull that I have only experienced when I first meet Cassius. Though I know that this will lead to something very different than that encounter.

* * *

Looking through the camera, the first thing I notice is the body that is in the middle of the pool, face down, floating, but clearly dead. Dead bodies float after all, and nobody alive is that still. There are no wounds on their body which hints that their cause of death is drowning. Their face cannot be seen. Though it is the last thing that either Yasu or I would want to do, it looks like we will have to bring their body out of the pool. The jacket that they always wear is currently missing and so is their parka.

Around the pool, there is water and whatever else was inside everywhere. Some of it is strangely yellow. From having three younger siblings, I know that messing with anything that color is not a good idea. There was a fight here and it ended with death. That much is obvious but there might be more involved than meets the eye. After all, that is how it is with all of these cases so far.

The scene is brutal even though there is no blood. It is the death of one of our dear friends...

Takara Miyagi, the Ultimate Treasure Hunter, has meet his end.

* * *

Seeing Takara being killed in such a brutal way catches me off guard. Takara did not deserve any of this but Kaneshiro targeted because he made himself too big of a target. He knew too much so Kaneshiro sought to silence him. Except if somebody else killed him, but why would somebody do that? There is always Natsumi but I believe Hotaru would have mentioned something if she experienced Natsumi killing someone using her very own body. There is always Ayano but she would not do something like this. No evidence proving that yet I think I know Ayano well enough to know that, although she has killed Minato, she is what most would call a good person. There is only Kaneshiro that could have done this.

"I know you're sad and all about your buddy but you still need to go to the secret room. So get over yourselves and get your ass moving! Also, a body has been discovered, all the same old, same old. You guys know this shit already." Monokuma announces over the speakers. With his involvement right now, I can only wonder about where he has been the last couple of days. Kaneshiro was preparing for something, with the added proof being the shut down of the system and Kaneshiro feeling the need to murder Takara. That means that we must find where Ayano is. Either she is alive or we are not going to enjoy this even more.

Yasu is now back to their senses but their eyes do not leave the body of Takara. Monokuma might want us to go to the secret room right away, though the two of us are not known to listen to his orders well. Since they cannot do anything with their legs, guess it is on me to get the information that we need. This suit is ruined enough already so it will not matter getting it more dirty.

Catching Yasu off guard, I jump into the pool. It is the last thing I want to do but Takara's body could have the evidence we need to truly implicate 'Atsuto.' I get to Takara's body and then swim with it to the edge, where Yasu moved their chair to meet with me. Takara was most likely drowned but, for some weird reason, his body is in the middle of the pool. At first, it could have been possible that it drifted there yet the water is not moving is such a way to much that so. Also, the lack of jacket or parka anywhere near the crime scene is concerning. Either one of two things happened: the killer took them away because they are somehow evidence, or Takara tried to stop his death by removing articles of clothing that clearly did not work out for him.

Yasu helps me bring up Takara's body and then myself from the pool. My clothes are very uncomfortable right now but that is not of concern. I begin to search Takara's body, as Yasu cannot position their body onto the floor. Searching the body, the only thing that I find his E-handbook. Takara could have been carrying nothing...or it was all in his missing belongings or Kaneshiro or his killer stole it.

"For the love of...get a move on or I'm gonna be very angry! And you wouldn't like me when I'm angry!"

"We should get moving."

"Yes, we should," I reply to Yasu. Closing Takara's eyes, Yasu and I make our way to the secret room. Its an unspoken truth between us that the only thing that awaits us is despair but there is no other way to continue on.

* * *

The first thing that strikes the two of us as odd is the status of the door. It is damaged along with the keypad. Somebody destroyed the keypad with a knife and then found a way to put half the door off its hinges. Considering that Monokuma has not punished the guilty party of this incident, it is safe to assume it was Kaneshiro or that he wanted this to happen. But what would Kaneshiro have to gain with the destruction of this door and leading us here? This would have happened before the system shutdown announcement. Kaneshiro would still need to plan it but he would know that none of us have that knowledge. So why would he allow such a thing?

So much time could be reserved to observing a door, however. The lights are off so none of the inside is visible at the moment. With that, I take a step inside, and then pull Yasu along with me. Yasu's wheelchair cannot fit. That is a problem since I am not strong enough to keep carrying them. My arms almost give out so I place them down as gently as I can. That is when two of us take out our E-handbooks to start examining our surroundings. Before we find anything interesting, something catches the two of us by surprise. The TV in the room lights up with static, a painful sound ringing through our ears. That is not the most disturbing thing in the room, however.

Yasu is in tears and I cannot blame them. Even though I have already been through so much, including just finding my other friend's dead body, something about this makes my heart sink. It is not quite despair as it is an emotion that cannot be explained properly through words. Not even a salesman who is fluent in multiple different languages cannot find one to describe this exact emotion...

* * *

In the chair in front of the TV, there is a body tied down to it. Around the body is the same weapon piles I have spent all these days searching through but they are out of place and arranged oddly. The shelves are knocked over and have nothing on them. At the end of the room, the addition keypad and the room that it leads to have been completely destroyed, like they were bombed. But how is that possible when none of us have heard anything? An explosion would have also rocked the entire building.

That is not what we should be focusing on, however. Moving closer to the chair to get a better look, I see that they have not been brutalized like many past victims. There is only a cut to her neck, which is the most likely cause of death. All other injuries are ones that they have received before. Their eyes are still open and how they always look like, they did not fall into despair before or during their death like some others. Tears are running down their cheeks and their facial expression is filled with bitter agony and pure hatred.

...It is sad to see Ayano Kamukura, the Ultimate Hacker, to be taken away from us so soon...

* * *

 **Hahaha, yep, I just killed yet another protagonist. At this point, Shiro should be really concerned about his safety.**

 **I've always both dreaded and looked forward to this point of the story. My poor child, she's in a better place now.**

 **Thank you notadeadguy for sending in Takara Miyagi. Our precious deaf cinnamon roll has meet his end. At least he can still be with his girlfriend in the afterlife theatre (and Ayano and Kazuhiko get to be with each other again...wonder how weird it would be for Ayano to admit she actually likes Hotaru now).**

 **Reviews~**

 **dashunterman-And I see somebody has not listened to me calling you out for recycling characters.**

 **ThePlothand-Now I want to make a MCU crossover. The funny thing is, if the cast was snapped, more of them would be alive then there actually is right now. XD Yep, they're here, being like, heya, making a cameo even before I'm officially intro'd. YIPPEE!**

 **TheRoseShadow21-MOCHI IS GOOD! Thanks. Now here's some more screaming, and on Christmas no less!**

 **Scissor-Snipper-It is brutal and it was hard for me to write that suffering. Thanks for pointing those out. :D Well, now both of them are dead. Something is going on and its gonna make people scream. Hanami is Hanami. ;) It gets explained later, and its crazy, y'all. Its supposed to seem that way. ;) Thanks. Ayano is even gonna have to go through the awkward talk of telling Kazuhiko she's over him in the afterlife.**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-I dare.**

 **SanityRequiem-True that, me.**

 **AnonChan1-Hope you feel better, Anon. :D If something horrible hasn't happen yet, then be very scared. Because plot. Its there for the plot. Don't worry, she's just hanging out with a fifty year old corpse. Yes, Natsumi is pissed that he only got mentioned a couple of times before this. Yep, Takara, and now he's dead. As evidenced in his narration, _Hayato asks a lot of questions._ Kotori is like, I'm still important to the plot. Connections! Yep, you know who it is. ;) Hello, the MoDE plot. Being Ayano was suffering. The True Despairs are very...interesting. Um, the little buddy and Ms. Protagonist has been killed. It ends with death, lovely. THEY'RE DEAD! Ayano is awesome, but the full consequences of two masterminds have not been seen yet. ;) Yasu is safe, but Takara and Ayano ain't yet. Yes, Kaneshiro and Hayato are. **


	69. Chapter 6-3

**Chapter 6-3: I Call For Your Name But No One is There**

* * *

"Another body! Goddamn, you guys really are setting a record for these things with your bloodthirsty ways. I should be so proud of you. Its true that you've tried to escape way too many times but I still taught my bastard students how to put on a damn entertaining Killing Game!"

There is always a chance of death happening in these games, but that never lessens the punch of when it does inevitably happen.

This is no time to mourn, however, as there are many mysteries to unravel. I look at my handbook, yet, to my surprise, nothing has been updated. There are no bullets whatsoever, even the Monokuma Files. Something is going on here. And, to top it off, Monokuma is acting weirdly as well. It is best to move from this point onward very carefully. Whether or not Kaneshiro knows that I know he is Atsuto, he still views me as a threat. That is why he tried to kill me last trial after all. It is possible that Kaneshiro has always viewed me as somebody to be feared but thought that he could bring me over to his side, and, if it was not for Tsukiko, Kaneshiro could have been very well right.

"A-Ayano...where's Atsuto? He has to be with them!" Yasu's eyes dilate as they try to get up on their feet. They fall down the moment before I am able to reach them. "He's dead, isn't he? He got blown up!" I do not know what to say once they begin to cry. Though I do pull them in for an embrace, its not tight or loving, knowing any moment Kaneshiro or Monokuma or whoever can show up and end our lives. The both of us did not make it just far in the game just to be killed so easily. If I die without getting anything accomplished, those who I have unfairly killed or caused the suffering of would never forgive me.

With this reaction, however, it might be the right time to tell Yasu. Yasu would keep trying to find Atsuto, or insist that he is dead if it does not happen now. Later on would cause them to be in an even bigger panic. Although with what has happened, telling them earlier would have been the best option, yet I could have not predicted any of this. This might not be the best timing but any later will only cause even more chaos. Worse of all, the possibility of Atsuto coming back and manipulating them on his side. It is not going to be easy but nothing in this game is. Just like selling an item to somebody in grief...just a lot harder.

"Yasu, you have to listen to me and swear you will not freak out, okay? You are not going to like what I am about to tell you. Stay strong, though, that is what your friends and Mochi would want." That gets their attention, as I slowly take Mochi out of their toolbox. Mochi begins to nuzzle with Yasu, although they are still stressed. Probably could have phrased it better but it is too late to turn back now.

"What is it?" Yasu's voice wavers. Mochi makes a sound I have no idea how to describe as Yasu pets him more aggressively than usual.

"We can't have you spoiling the fun! Can't believe you've already figured it out, but that's what makes you a pain in our ass!" Suddenly, catching me off guard, Natsumi sneaks up from behind me and puts me into a neck hold. Thinking of my self defense classes, I attempt to get out, but it is to no avail. Natsumi is too strong while using Hotaru's body for his own desires. Though it can be viewed as a waste of energy, I continue to struggle against him, not wanting to show Kaneshiro and the other people involved that I have given up yet again.

"Hayato!" Yasu shouts. At the sound of their loud voice, Mochi freezes up and then hops back into the toolbox. "Don't hurt him, take me instead-"

"Nah! Plans cannot be changed that easily, _Yumiko_." Before any of us can reply, the scenery goes dark around me. The last thing I experience as my body fades into the unconscious is the cold, hard floor and Yasu screaming out my name.

* * *

Hayato falls. Right in front of me. I'm a failure like I always am, unable to do anything. The only person that I'm of use to is Atsuto. My father is right. Everything about me is useless. Useless, useless, useless.

"Just in case you were wondering, he's not dead dimwit. Can't ruin the fun that easily. But, you know, figure out the mystery yourself, its not like its that hard anymore," Natsumi says. What confidence, I wished I had that confidence. But no, I'm stuck like this. Paralyzed and unable to do anything. Useless, useless, useless. "Are you going to say something, kid?"

"..."

"Well, I don't want to do anything too stressful and you're still there, being, what's the word, _useless_. So perhaps there should be some...motivation. You're the only active player in our game after all! That hasn't happened before in a Killing Game, Kaneshiro really outdid himself for this one." I'm tired of hearing that name. Kaneshiro. Something inside me tells me I should know more. Though I prove once again how much of a burden I am.

"Active player?" I ask. It bugs me. Kaneshiro should have killed me a long time ago. There are people that deserve life way more than I.

"We got plans for this one and you. So you're gonna have some fun not with each other for the moment." Natsumi snaps their fingers. Something feels...different. Like there is not a constant pain in my back anymore. Legs can be felt. It is like being on top of the world! The feeling overwhelms me as I try to get up. The act works for a couple seconds before I fall face first onto the ground.

"I...I can walk!"

"Oh yes, sweetie, you gotta get out of this room somehow. So have fun doing that while I just chill or something." Natsumi relaxes against the chair of what remains of yet another one of my friends. Their boot is on top of Hayato's chest. Digging deeper and deeper. His body does not react. Like so many others. No movement. These kids do not deserve this shit.

I can finally walk! That is one good thing. My newfound mobility will help me find Atsuto or what happened to him. It takes a couple of tries but I get moving.

Investigating later. Must find Atsuto. Mochi moves around in my toolbox. It might not be safe for him so I don't open it. Never forgive myself if anything happens to Mochi. Mochi is the only living thing that has always been there for me. There were the others here but it hasn't always been that way. My rabbit has loved me since first sight. These years have been great with him. Father less mean when Mochi is around. Don't know why. No mean words, only ignores me. Like I'm some thing. Not their child, only a punching bag.

But something needs to be said. Those heels are very sharp. Very bad if something like this continues for longer. Plus, Hayato is a good kid that has made a lot... _a lot_ of mistakes. Mirabilis would forgive him though. So will I.

"Stop doing that to him, kid." I don't know why I always stand up. Only causes pain but need to do what's right. Atsuto would want me to do this. If Mochi was human and understood whats going on, he too.

"Alright, alright. You win." Natsumi is too laid-back. Something is up but no time for that. Must investigate the rest of the school for Atsuto. Hayato was trying to tell me something. Perhaps something dealing with the rest of the school? They get their foot off of Hayato. No reaction like before.

I don't want to deal with Natsumi any longer. They make me feel sick. What even is their deal anyway? How do they relate to everything? And why are all the people in Despair such assholes? I make my way through the door barely. My wheelchair is in sight. So I do what I think everybody would do. Kick it as far as possible. It causes me to fall over but its worth it. Damn that chair.

Next moment I cannot feel my legs anymore. I try to get up but cannot. My lower half is numb again.

"Sorry to not mention to you, but that whole getting to use your legs trick was only temporary. See you later." Natsumi waves as they walk down the hallway. They grab onto my wheelchair. Next thing I know, they're taking it with them. So much for that.

But no time to sulk. I free Mochi and he hops around me. Him nuzzling his wet nose against my cheek gives me the strength to continue. Useless I may be but there is no point to just stay here. I slowly move with my elbows. Mochi acts as some sort of cheerleader. He does binkies in front of me. After he likes my nose. That's my good boy.

"I would pet you...but your parent is kinda busy now..." Think, Yasu, think. Where to next? Only places I can think of are on the second floor. Everything here has been investigated to death by Atsuto and I. But something is bugging me. The previous Killing Game.

* * *

Mochi is the only reason I make it to the first checkpoint. Now it is for the truly hard part. The stairs. This is a program. Sometimes I wished there was a save-point to reload over and over again to rewrite all of our wrongs. Not safe for Mochi now so I force him back into the toolbox. I am not happy about it but it has to be done. Mochi can poop or pee in there if he is upset about it.

First step. This is for Atsuto, remember that Yasu. I get my body on the first step and realize how out of breath I am. Working out has never been my forte. This is too much exercise for someone like me that prefers to take it easy. Taking naps in this weather is what I like to do, not overexert myself. But here I am, doing exactly that. Not the best with medical knowledge but I move slowly. Don't want to open up any past wounds.

"Look at you go, Yumiko. Never giving up! Being such a good girl~ Good girls deserve to be rewarded!" Natsumi exclaims over the speakers. Good girl?...Girl...? I do not realize I am up on my feet again. Too busy being frozen in time.

 _"Why can't I have a normal daughter!? These tools aren't for you, they're for me! Engineering is a man's job, you fucking retard. Can't believe Aiko died just for somebody like you to be in the world!"_

 _"Daddy, those are mean words-"_

 _"I don't fucking care you poor excuse of a daughter. Go play with your dolls or whatever. They're the only true friends you've have."_

Dad is not here. Atsuto can make me feel better. He knows what to say when I get like this. Have to find out what happened to Atsuto.

My legs are wobbly. That does not matter as I try to move as fast as I can. Up the stairs, to the first floor. Must be able to do so. What kind of failure would I be if I can't even do this? There is some dizziness and discomfort and pain but this is not the time for that! I have to do this! Somebody as useless as me can do this!

That is when I reach the top. I did something right! Though, something happens before I am able to continue. My eyes begin to drop without any of my say. Everything in my body begins to shut down.

"Why...why of all times?" I open my toolbox with my weak hands. Mochi jumps out automatically. He has quick the jump to the floor but is okay. That's good. Still don't know what I would do without Mochi. Then I fall backwards the moment my eyes force themselves closed. Just like usual. Because everything about me is a failure.

* * *

Waking up, I am automatically on edge. My last memory was being with Yasu and Natsumi in the secret room but this is a hospital. Not the badly named Hospital from the Killing Game either, but one that is legit. Everything in my body is weak and heavy, probably due to the month of non-use. Although I have lost track of the days long ago, that seems like a fair assumption, just like my theory that this is the outside world. My arrogant past self did not think it important enough to track time so I believe that only Kaneshiro knows how long it has truly been.

Next thing I know, there are loud shouts coming what I would assume to be a hallway. I attempt to get out of bed but I then notice the restraints. They are tight but not so much to be uncomfortable.

Somebody breaks through the door, breaking me out of my train of thought. I see that the person is an old man wearing a suit with long black hair. One of his eyes is green, while the other red. For whatever reason, my body relaxes around him.

"Are you Hayato Akimoto, the Ultimate Salesman?" the stranger asks, getting directly to the point. He works on my restraints as my body begins to remember how to speak properly. Like everything else, the vocal cords have not been used for a long time.

"Y-yes, sir..." I then cough. The silly soap operas Cassius used to indulge in made waking up from what I presume to be a coma a lot more easier than this.

"Pleasure to meet you, Akimoto. Now get out of here immediately, the next group of reinforcements are almost here. Use this map to find your escape. Remember, meet up with Ran, Hiroki, and the others near the entrance of this building. The passcode is 11037." The moment he frees me from my restraints, the man strolls to the door. Walking like there is not a firefight awaiting him soon.

"A-alright." Going slowly but surely, I get on my feet. My business suit is gone, replaced with a standard hospital gown. That does not matter as I notice the man is gone. Looking at the map that he left on my bed, I quickly analyze the layout of this building. There are four floors, all with twenty-one rooms each. None of the rooms are labeled but I assume whatever floor I am on is preserved for the hospital section. This building must have been made beforehand to properly care for everything in the Killing Game. The best course of action is what appears to be a vent system, but that is nearly impossible because I highly doubt they would leave those sections unmanned during an emergency. And the stairs would be protected as well.

Examining the map closer, I see that there is a storage closest. That is the best bet. It is on the third floor so there is some luck involved. Waiting there until the fight goes somewhere else would be the best course of action. A guard might be needed as reinforcement, and that would create an opportunity to sneak past their post.

I have not done something like this before so everything is new to me. A part of me wishes that the stranger brought me with him, although I know that would be a horrible course of action because that would involve me being directly in the crossfire. I am probably the one person in the program Kaneshiro would not mind losing right now.

Opening the door, I look both ways and see that the coast is clear. A part of me is frustrated that the map was not labeled more clearly, yet, by the looks of it, whatever rebel group that man was in created it themselves. Getting this much intel must have been hard and they might have not had the time to perfect it. Something sprung them into action before every part of their plan can be finalized.

I tiptoe my ways through the halls, careful to not make a sound. Gunfire and screaming can be heard on the other side, which means they have not left yet. Bodies litter the ground, all of them with their necks snapped like it was nothing. That is when I notice what appears to be a supply closet. But, before I can go inside, I hear something from behind me.

"Stop right there or we'll shoot!" My feet plant themselves to the ground while I feel my hands put themselves up. "Now turn around!" I do as they say and see that they are two women that are still clearly in their teen years. It depresses me knowing whatever organization or group Kaneshiro is a part of has this much people in their ranks. The one with a gun, who cannot be more than five feet tall, is not even holding it right. Her hands are shaking. She has short red hair and green piercing eyes, like her much taller counterpart. It is easy to tell that the two girls are twins, or at least sisters.

"Listen-"

"Go back to your hospital bad, Akimoto. Everything here is under control," the short one commands me as a few more people scream in the distance.

"Under control my ass-"

"Master said this one is a salesman. Better to not make him talk-"

"Yeah, yeah, enough with the boring shit." The taller girl rolls her eyes as she begins to play with her hair. It is assuming to see what I assume to the despairs acting like normal teenagers. So much so that the shorter one sighs, reminding me of the dynamic between my two sisters.

"I'm trying to help you-"

"Like I said, yeah, yeah-"

"Shut up, Kokoro!" I then follow the demands of the short one, going back with the two of them tailing me. However, right before I enter my room again, I see the man in black again, covered in blood.

"Its him-" Before she can finish anything, the shorter one has her neck snapped. Kokoro shakes in anger as she pulls out a knife from her pocket.

"I was supposed to kill Minako, you fucker!" Kokoro charges at the man but he easily stops her. The next moment, she is dead as well, with her body laying on top of her sister's. Then, seeing that everybody on this level is most likely dead, and hearing footsteps coming from all sides, the man begins to leave me.

"If you do not mind me asking, w-what's your name?" The man gives the predictable response of saying nothing. Though there is something new that is beginning to bother me. "Why have you not done this before?"

At that, the man begins to stare at me with a great amount of malice in his eyes, so much that they seem to glow with it. Nothing needs to be said as the man continues his way. Not knowing what else to do, I go along with my original plan.

In a hurried state, I reach the storage closet. There are footsteps nearby so I enter it quickly, even though I cough at first due to the massive amounts of dust. The moment that the footsteps come to door, I remain silent. None of them seem to be checking any of the rooms. Like whoever is involved in that squad, since they continue onward without saying anything.

For the next couple hours, I stay there, thinking about what my next step should be. Staying in the storage closet can only work for so long, as they will be soon checking for me if word gets out that I have escaped. Just have to think of a solid plan, and figure out why the organization involved decided to get me out sooner than Yasu and Hotaru. Not much time is left for them.

* * *

"Thirty minutes until the shutdown, sleeping beauty. Its about time you get up and face the music!" Natsumi's voice. The pain almost drowns it out. I can't believe my body decided to do that on me. Everything hurts but nothing seems to be broken. Can't believe luck finally decided to give me a break. Mochi is right by me, curled up on my stomach.

"Don't worry, little dude, I'm fine." I reach out one of my hands to start petting him. He is a strange little bunny that likes his cheeks rubbed. That is not usual, at least according to all my rabbit books. But Mochi does whatever he wants and I love him for it. Mochi used to be so lazy before this game. This game has even changed the rabbit.

"Yasu, sweetheart, how's everything?" Literally out of nowhere, somebody I haven't seen before pops into existence. Something about him is familiar. I have not seen a man with long brown hair like his before.

"Kid, who are you?"

"That's not important. I'm just the antagonist of the story, a villain everyone wants to see fall." He then lays down right next to me. "But you already know everything...don't you? Well, no you don't, but you should. Denial is a pretty little thing. Something that makes hearts like yours easy to manipulate but hard to. But its way beyond the point of no return now."

"Hm, what you do? You don't seem so bad to me." Mochi is not reacting to him. It could be that Mochi has not realized yet. He is probably entirely focused on me. Silly rabbit. He really is too good for a failure like me.

"For one, I created this entire Killing Game." My body tenses. This is Kaneshiro? He seems more...sane than I imagined. Like somebody I would actually get along with. Turns out I'm a horrible judge of character. Figures, there's nothing good about me. Even my engineer skills are laughable. Ultimate my ass.

"You ass." I would punch him in the face but nothing in my body feels like working now. This is an oddly peaceful moment.

"Believe it or not, this'll make the world a better place. Master said so. I regret nothing I did." Seeing his face might clear up things. Though I cannot see it right now. Kaneshiro wears a mask. Its an opera mask. A white, plain one that covers all his face.

"Not gonna believe it."

"But I wanted to have one more conversation with you before your death. I like that little rebellious spark of yours." Kaneshiro is looking into my eyes. His face may be covered but I know it so. Mochi finally realizes him. He jumps into the toolbox and I close it.

"Just kill me now."

"No, no, no, that would ruin everything. And I love you too much to do that. I won't allow you to share the same fate as Ayano. Its too cruel." Then he rolls over. He will not stop doing so until he is on top of me. I should be hating this! This man has taken almost everything away from me! He could've even taken Atsuto away. But, like some freak of nature, feeling his breath against my skin makes me feel nothing. Not excited, not scared.

"Don't try anything, kid."

"And what would you do to stop me?" Kaneshiro takes off his mask to reveal a normal face. I am about to make a comment before I feel something down my throat. He presses his lips against mine. Too harsh for anyone to find comfortable. My hands begin to try to push him off. They do nothing. Powerless like I always am. Then he gets off me for air.

"Atsuto! Help me!" I cry out. It's in vain. Atsuto is nowhere to be seen. Nobody is in the halls. Just the two of us.

"Atsuto...?" Kaneshiro stops for a moment. I then open my toolbox. He does not seem to notice. Mochi hops out and notices my discomfort. Such a good bunny. "Enough of that! Let's see you scream again."

"No-" Once again interrupted. This time, however, Mochi is on my side. The one living thing that won't ever betray me. Mochi bites Kaneshiro, stopping him. Kaneshiro then throws Mochi against one of walls. He cries out in pain. "Mochi!"

"Enough of this!" Kaneshiro shouts. He attempts to do it again. I have other plans. Natsumi with their weird coding magic still has my legs working. So I do the simple thing. Knee Kaneshiro where it hurts. "Fuck!"

"That's what you get asshole! Nobody hurts Mochi!" Not enough feeling to fully walk yet. Still just fell down a flight of stairs. Like an idiot.

The first thing I do is pull myself to Mochi. I check his pulse to see he is still fine. That's good. Don't know what I would do without my best friend. Need to find my boyfriend next and get out of here.

"You've much more fire than Ayano without the obsessive potty mouth." Kaneshiro catches me off guard and pins me to the ground again. "Hotaru did that before, so I know how much it hurts. Too bad for you I'm in charge of this program and can lower down the pain."

"Fuck you-"

"Okay, now you're saying it too. Whats with you guys and thinking that'll stop anything? Three for three, I'm gonna have to pay up Eiri big time." I should hate Kaneshiro. With everything, I should hate him. I hated him before. Whats happening with my brain? Why am I like this!? My father was right, I'm only a disgrace. Useless, useless, useless. My father...my father...

 _"Why don't you dress up like this more often? You look so much like your mother with that makeup and long hair. So beautiful. But you could always decide to be the useless 'Yasu', Yumiko, with that ugly short hair and whatever else you do. Kids these days, with their mental illnesses, other gender bullshit, and gay propaganda. We should really make Japan great again with the Committee."_

 _"Daddy...you've gone off topic again...I don't like dressing like this..."_

 _"Do whatever I say, sweetheart. Don't you want to have fun with Daddy again-"_

 _"No!"_

 _"Don't boss me around, you damn brat. I'm your father and you'll do anything I say! This time I'm really gonna send you to that camp. Then they'll teach you some goddamn manners-"_

"Why are you spending so much time with me, kid? Somebody useless," I ask. Memory is too painful to continue living. Kaneshiro freezes but then smiles.

"No, Yasu, don't let anybody tell you that... _I love the way you are now_..."

...

...

...

"No, no it can't be! No, its not possible! Tell me its not true!" There is no way!...Kaneshiro cannot be Atsuto! Atsuto is caring, loving, and kind. He's always there for me even though I don't deserve it! There's no way!

"Its the truth." My legs do not work anymore. Or anything else. There is no way that's true! Atsuto was always there for me. Sure, he might've killed one of my friends, Mitsu-cho, but he's not evil! He's not that monster!

...Except he is.

He is. I've been played again. Mochi truly is the only living thing to never betray me. Humans live to hurt each other. Humanity is despair.

"Oh no! No, no, no! U-um!" Kaneshiro looks over for a brief second. He is then knocked out cold. Somebody punched him. But that's not possible. Nobody else should be here. Natsumi would never do such a thing, right? And that's clearly not Natsumi.

"W-who are you, kid?" Can't believe I'm focusing more on the kid other than Atsuto...or Kaneshiro...or whatever I fucking call him. I'm an idiot for allowing myself to fall in love! It was too good to be true! Nothing good can ever happen to me. Besides Mochi.

"U-um...I haven't planned for this...my name is Madoka Ueno. And, um, I guess I'm kinda here to rescue you," she introduces herself. She is trying to help out Mochi. Her lack of rabbit care is clear.

Madoka has dark blue hair. It is short. Her eyes are green that reminds me of the many green eyed people that were here before. They're all dead. Because my dumbass that couldn't realize I was being played like a violin. She is a kid being around our age. What she has on currently is a suit that looks like an uniform. Must not be her casual clothing. Kids seems trustworthy but I wouldn't trust my own judgments considering what just happened.

"Who the Hell are you?" Natsumi questions the girl. Madoka freezes up so I decide to act. I pull out my slingshot and fire one of my bolts from my toolbox at Natsumi. They fall down when it hits their head.

"Well, that worked."

"We n-need to go now!" Mochi is softly placed into my toolbox. Madoka then begins to carry me. Her arms are not that strong though. But time is limited. It's almost time for the system shutdown.

I see Kaneshiro...Atsuto...I don't know what to think anymore...laying there, peacefully. All I can do is cry.

* * *

The coast is clear but I wait to see if anything else happens. I predict, no matter what, more bodies will await me outside. Whoever the stranger is, he is not to be taken lightly. Him being on the opposite side would mean absolute disaster. Something about him gives me a feeling he is or used to be an Ultimate. But for what...I do not know. Nobody is this good at killing people and not routed by the now corrupt talent scouts. There is one that is not, but I feel like something horrible will happen to him. That happens to everybody not insane in a position of power in the Committee. Case in point, Mirabilis, who must have brothers or sisters considering she said she was second in line. It would be naive to hope that they have just a good of heart as the hope I personally took away from the Earth.

Two light footsteps. The stranger must be on another floor and they are scouting the others for various possible reasons. Like seeing if there are other people involve, collecting their dead, or waiting to ambush him.

"Man, the system is about to shutdown and there's a fight downstairs. But we're stuck doing scouting duty," one of the them complains, a man. I must have lost track of time or perhaps time moves faster in the system? It did not seem to be five hours.

Whatever, I cannot leave Yasu and Hotaru alone there. The man might have told me otherwise but I have to make sure those two are safe. Letting them die for my own selfish gain would only prove that I am, indeed, an irremediable monster. Those two need me and I will find them no matter the cost.

"Stop whining and man up, use the despair to power you, whim!" The other is a female. "Anyways, better start cleaning, newbie. The Master still doesn't like his buildings getting dirty."

"Fine." Then the door opens and the two of them see me there. Both of them point their guns at me.

"Akimoto! Go back to your room at once! Or...screw this, you're too much trouble. Never liked you! You killed my two favorite characters!" The lady is about to shoot her gun before a knife goes through her head. She falls down. Then the man tries to kill the attacker, but his gun jams as she sticks her knife into his throat.

"Sorry about that, wished we meet in better circumstances. Get these on. I'll be waiting outside the door." Not knowing whether or not to trust her, I decide to take the clothes from her anyway. Its the uniform that she and the man are wearing. The girl herself is fairly pretty, with long blonde hair and pretty green eyes.

I close the door and get changed. The clothes are a little too big on me but it feels good to be in something actually clean. Opening the door again, I see the woman is still there.

"I want to help my friends."

"Cool! I wanted to do that too, but I also have another reason to help you. Izuru can be such a grump sometimes. He was like, stay at the helicopter, but he knew some of us wouldn't listen. So now you're stuck with me~"

"What do you want to do...Oh, I don't have your name yet. My name is Hayato Akimoto, Ultimate Salesman, but you probably already know that. Pleasure to meet you, miss."

"You don't have to be so formal," the girl laughs. She reaches into one of her pockets and then puts a new knife in my hands.

"I guess its more habit than anything."

"Well, I'm Hanami Fukushima. Pleased to meet you." The both of us have a handshake. I have heard of her name before but cannot place it where or when. Its a small world and Hanami has a very 'girl next door' feel to her.

"You said you were here to do something? What is it?" I inquire. Hanami seems like an alright girl but it is always better to check. Never know when somebody is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

"Oh, that. I'm here to kill Kazuma Kaneshiro once and for all."

* * *

 **Dun dun dun. Hanami is here and Kaneshiro better run. She's like...I heard you put MoDE on hiatus. _Face my endless wrath._**

 **Finished this chapter at 2:30 in the morning. Sleep. Whats that?**

 **QOTC: Whats your current favorite scene in the Committee Saga canon? Your least favorite?**

 **Req's Rec: Danganronpa: The Pitiful Plague Called Ignorance by RioA**

 **Reviews~**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-You're never ready for what happens here. GET READY FOR SOME MORE SUFFERING!**

 **someone-It indeed has. Another one bites the dust, _another one bites the dust_. Yeah, I'll be careful, thanks for the tip. Part of the reason this story is so dark is because I vent a lot of dark emotions onto it. Like, goddamn, I really wasn't in a good place when I started this story. Once again, thanks for the advice. :D I really do like it when people have criticism, it helps me improve. That is partly it, part of it was me being still new to this when I first created the outline and not wanting to create other murder plans because those take forever (haha, classic laziness). Thank you so much, hope I don't disappoint. Oh no, I hurt the bunny. Turns out Mochi is Master.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Now with some Yasu POV! There's a lot of internal screaming going on even now. Yep. Thanks so much~**

 **AnonChan1-HAHAHAHA AYANO ISNT ALRIGHT! Hayato is too cool now to use people like Kaneshiro, even though that'll really help now Hayato. Turns out they both forgot Natsumi has control over the system and could easily get out of the rope. Oops. They're never that lucky because I'm pure evil. Whelp, Yasu deserves better. Its Kaneshiro, _its always gonna be terrible._ TAKARA BIT THE DUST GUYS! Takara did have to die because suffering. AYANO IS TOO GOOD FOR THIS WORLD! Kaneshiro wants to fuck the plot. ;) TAKARA YAS! Turns out pissed out Izuru is more terrifying.**

 **ShadedLyht-Welcome back to the suffering! :D Thanks, I liked writing them not in a constant state of suffering for once. We all need Hotaru singing Disney to get our OTPs canon. Kirigiri was allowed in the program because she's the other mastermind and had control over it, creating clues for the students because she didn't like Kaneshiro's handling of things. And also paralyzing Yasu because she's a bitch...or she was. Kirigiri was made known during the events of the previous chapters. Yes, Kindra is Kazuhiko's child (I almost wrote down Kaneshiro RIP). Instead I got her stabbed. Thanks so much, it was hard to do so glad to know I did it well. Well, let's see if you get the mastermind right~**

 **I'm bad at investigations too, I know your pain. Hotaru has been screwed over by me, the bringer of pain and suffering, like everyone else. Thanks, I can't wait for MoDE either! I can't believe I've been working on this massive mammoth of a story for almost two years. All aboard the AyaHaru, where we got no confession because Req likes making themself suffer too (I ship them so hard, why can't I make my characters just be happy for once?). Manami was made known with the chapter four motive. She was one of the Ultimates that didn't make it to school on time in this class (yep, we got a lot of info here). All these trials are difficult for many different reasons.**


	70. Chapter 6-4

**Chapter 6-4: Fool's Gold**

* * *

"Ayaru, Kiaki, um, w-we need more time! We're nowhere near the extraction point!" Madoka shouts into her walkie talkie. She paces a lot. It is dizzy but it helps with the pain.

Everything blurs. Kaneshiro is Atsuto. Atsuto is Kaneshiro. Then what was everything? Was it all a lie!? A lie because nobody can truly love somebody as useless as I? Probably. I was just so thing to be played around with. Because nothing I do matters.

Might as well do something defiant but will get somebody killed again. What else am I good for? Madoka is too busy freaking out. Still don't know who this kid is or why she's here. Don't think she's just some rando like me. That suit makes her look and feel important. I take out my handbook and hack into the database again. Thought somebody would improve it by now. Somebody like me can hack into easily. But that's because I have done this many times before. Its strange how hacking and engineering are so similar.

"Where's the extraction point, kid?"

"Oh, its the room that leads to the trial or something," she answers. The system only allows for so much. If Ayano was alive instead of me, we could take all the time in the world. But I'm stuck here instead.

"An hour."

"What?"

"We got an hour, maybe two if we're lucky," I reply. Its not a lot but its the best I can do. Mochi is still alive in my toolbox. Getting back into reality means neither of our spines will be injured. He must be in pain. I'll do anything for him to feel better. Don't want him ending up like Dango.

"Wow! T-that's cool!" Madoka exclaims. "We should look around...well, if you don't mind. T-there's...well, um, there's a chance we've to go against everyone...in a trial." There's something we should do first. It might not be right. Its definitely not right. But dirtying hands is something us engineers do. Though this is a different type.

"We should kill Kazuma." I'm a horrible person for thinking such a thing. Yet it would make someone as useless as me good for something. Worthless enough to fall for fool's gold. Nothing good can happen to me besides Mochi. Don't know why I believed in that happiness.

"That's not gonna work," Madoka replies. "Um, what I mean is, that Kazuma's mind can be uploaded again. I highly, um, doubt his pod has the kill feature." Can't believe I was too stupid to think of that. Of course it wouldn't be fair! Nothing in life is fair!

"Sure."

"We've to get going!" Madoka then runs into the secret room. Well, its not so secret anymore. Literally everybody has known about it. Except for Akita but she was dead. Still don't know what to think about Akita. She seemed nice with Minato but, with everyone else, she was an ass.

Seeing Ayano's body again makes me feel...numb. Weirdly jealous. Ayano has been put out of his misery but not I. And she didn't suffer too. That's weird, thought that sick bastard would enjoy torturing her. Its just so mild compared to everybody else. I may not be smart but even I know something's going on here.

Madoka takes out a pad and, while balancing everything, takes photos of the crime scene. I'm about to ask questions but she runs to the other room. She does the same thing to Takara's body. All of the rooms on the first floor get photographed. Until one room remains. The library.

The library brings too many memories. Its where I spent the most time in this game. Almost everyday. Where I have a lot of firsts. First friend, first date...first love. But all of that was a lie, right? So first false love.

The chair is there so Madoka places me on it while she takes pictures of everything else. She continues to talk to the others on her headset. Only an hour left. I notice an open book that was not there the last time I checked.

Its turned to a page. A page with a photo of people I don't know except for one, Kaneshiro. Though there's something different here. He's clearly the same person yet something's off again. However, what else is on there catches my eye.

The page is about conversion therapy. Guess I had something dealing with whoever Kotori is and didn't know about it. Whats weird is that my name is marked out with another one. That must mean whoever that is must also be important to the mystery. But I don't remember anybody like that. I barely remember anything though.

"That...that has something to do with this!?" I shout out. Madoka then comes running back. She gets the memo that its something important and takes a picture.

"What is it?" she questions. She starts examining the page and her eyes widen. "T-there's my mom!" Madoka takes another photo. This time she focuses on the picture itself.

"Which one's your mom?"

"We should focus on something else...Um, what did you scream for?" Madoka is horrible at dodging the subject. But we don't have time to argue. Don't know how long it'll take to get out of the system.

"Nothing. Let's go."

* * *

Next is the second floor. Honestly nothing important is up here except for two rooms. Guess I don't know that much though. Being stuck in a wheelchair sucks. And makes me more of a burden than I already am.

But my pulse stops when we stop in front of the shrine.

I wonder what it was like for Akemi. He was an ass but he had a heart of gold in there somewhere. Though we know nothing about him. Akemi could be just another guiltless victim of Kaneshiro. Stupid enough like me to follow his every demand. Its funny to think about the only reason I'm probably still alive is because Kaneshiro wanted my ass. But he was so sweet and kind. I can hardly think of such a bad man as the monster he is. All I see is that goddamn precious smile.

Madoka opens the door to start taking more photos. The bodies might be gone but I still see Tsukiko and Akemi lying there. Lying there with their hands holding. Its highly likely that they just wanted somebody to hold onto while they die. A last bit of warmth until they're meet with bitter nothingness. Having some hope while being completely devoured by despair.

"Akemi..." He must have known what he was doing was wrong. Akemi tried to fight against the mastermind...Kaneshiro...Atsuto...whatever you call him now. But it ended up like everything we try to do. Failure. "...I...I forgive you, kid."

* * *

The rest of the journey to the trial room is silent. Whoever else is involved has already done something with Natsumi and Kaneshiro. Both of us don't have anything to say to each other. The only sound is our breathing and the grass underneath us.

We make it to the pre-trial room. I look to the trial room door for one last time. I never want to see anything like that again. It sucks being in this room, it sucks that Ayano Kirigiri paralyzed me. She was a horrible person and kinda deserved her death. Makes me an awful person to think that. What strikes me as odd is Atsuto...Kaneshiro protecting me.

"Time to go!"

"One more thing, Madoka..." Madoka tilts her head and faces towards me. She might be near my age but something seems young but old about her. Its hard to put a finger on.

"What is it?"

"Thank you." This random stranger has done more than most people have ever done in my life. I don't even know how she's connected. There's the comment about the mom yet I don't know how that photo is connected either. Everything's so confusing.

"No worries! Um, its kinda what we enjoy to do. We help people in need!"

"What organization do you work for?"

"Oh, that, well. Let's see, I don't know if you'll believe me. I work for the Future Foundation! Head of Security! Now, um, come on, let's go." Its strange to see somebody so small and young having that position. But you never know in this world. Ten year olds can become neurologists, teenagers can be heads of security.

* * *

Hanami leads me through the building, not looking down at the sheer amount of corpses. She leads with conviction and strength. There is something compelling about her that I cannot place a finger on.

That is until we stop at a room on the first floor. The mysterious man is nowhere to be seen, so the most likely explanation is that he went up sometime before as gunfire still echoes throughout the building. Hanami goes into the room first and I follow her. Its a bedroom that is all white expect for the bed in the middle, draped in black sheets.

She starts pushing the bed to one side. Hanami is struggling so I decide to help her. The two of us take a long time pushing it. It is way too heavy to be considered normal. Though, underneath the bed, I notice that is a white rug that almost perfectly blends in with the rest of the room. However, during our moving of the bed, it had become misplaced and is now showing the edge of something grey.

"This is the point of no return. Are you sure you want to do this?" Hanami asks me. She lifts up the rug to reveal that underneath is a hatch. It must be an extra floor that was not put on the map. Whoever that man is must have not wanted me to get involved. Though this is what Tsukiko would have done and she probably wanted me to live on in her place.

"Yes." This is for everything. Running now would only make me a coward that everybody hates, most of all myself.

"Don't be worried to turn back, okay? This doesn't have to be your battle-"

"It does," I interrupt. Both of us are taken aback. After that, Hanami opens the hatch to reveal a long ladder that looks like it leads to nowhere. She goes first and I go after.

Most of the time, we are quiet, knowing full well we are currently in enemy territory. Making too much sound can get us killed or captured and brainwashed into despair. Its strangely quiet in the tunnel. But, after a while, I could not help but feel one emotion. Boredom.

"Why do you want to kill Kaneshiro, Hanami?" I question her. The two of us might have just meet but something about her reminds me of Tsukiko. Tsukiko did have it in her to kill somebody else yet there is something different about this. Its a lot more personal, as Tsukiko was thinking for the best of our class and humanity as a whole.

"..." She stops for a second before sighing. "I want to end his suffering."

The rest of the trip is spent in silence.

* * *

Waking up is weird. Feeling is back in my legs but lifting them up is a hassle. I see Mochi next to me. He's safe and that means the world to me. The first thing I do is pet his soft white fur. Mochi clomps his teeth. I smile.

"Yasu!" Hotaru exclaims. She is in a hospital gown. Looking down, I see that I'm in the same one. That is when I realize I'm in a pod. Working with this would be amazing but this is not the time for that.

"Hotaru...is that really you?"

"Yes! Natsumi would've sent you back in the virtual world," Hotaru explains. I wonder where Madoka is. Its highly likely that the Future Foundation accessed the program from another place in...wherever we are.

"Prove it, kid," I smirk. Its better safe than sorry. Natsumi might've learned how to become a better actor.

"My body has literally been taken over for almost a fucking week. Well, I can use a drink right about now." Yep, that's Hotaru. I never know why I always seem to get caught up in her drinking schemes. Guess I'm too stupid to figure it out.

Hotaru opens my pod and helps me to my feet. I take Mochi with me in my arms. Don't want him running off to wherever. Can't allow Mochi to get hurt again. It feels weird to walk again. Having my feet touch something that's actually real. Examining the room, I see that there are twenty-one pods exactly like mine.

"Checked. Nobody else is here," Hotaru replies. That is when we hear a knock on the door. The door must be locked because now they're pounding on it. Must get out of here. "I know that look in your eye. First, change. Can't successfully escape is scrubs."

"Kid, where do we get the clothes?" I ask. Hotaru glides me to a closet of some kind. Inside there are black plain jumpsuits. I do not question why those are there. She and I change, not caring about the lack of privacy. Mochi stays by my side when I've to put him down.

I place Mochi back in my arms as we look around for something, anything. The people at the door now sound more angry. They must be willing to bring out the big guns soon. That is when I realize that there is a vent in the wall. Hotaru comes when I tell her about it. It surprises me that Hotaru kicks it open and it falls down. She proves to be more useful than me again.

"Ladies first," I tell Hotaru. She rolls her eyes. Honestly, I need a little laugh right now. My back is so tense that I'm in pain. Could be me recovering from the program though. Don't know, too stupid to find out myself.

That is when we both climb through. I'm tasked with trying to make the vent look as not suspicious as possible. Hard when it literally broke. We start climbing through the vents when I hear the door break down. Gunfire is heard afterward. Mochi is scared by it so I pet his ears. But I don't blame him. That sound reminds me of getting shot in the back. The endless pain, and being made more worthless than I already was.

* * *

Hanami and I hear gunfire down the hallway. Although that means that is most likely where allies are, we are not equipped to deal with that much enemies. We decide it best to go the other direction, so that is where we are now. The occasional passerby would spot us so Hanami would silence them with a knife. Do not want to bring unwanted attention to ourselves.

"Kazuma should be somewhere around here," Hanami notes. We at are what seems to be a dead end. However, Hanami starts feeling the wall so I join her. Nothing is out of the ordinary yet which is what is weird. Upstairs is pure chaos while, for the most part, wherever this is has barely to no activity. Might be the Despairs are away but I highly doubt the answer is that easy.

There must be something else we can do to pass the time. I barely know anything about this girl except for what seems to be a really complicated relationship with Kaneshiro. There is probably a long story about that, but I highly doubt we have the time to have it told here. Yet knowing something, anything, would be more useful than being let out in the dark.

"How do you know Kaneshiro, Hanami?" I question her. She does not respond, continuing to try to find a key to a passageway that might not even be there. "Hanami, do you not want to respond?"

It might be Hanami being rude but I do not get that feeling about her. Tsukiko would respond, so should Hanami. But perhaps I should not place my feelings about Tsukiko on Hanami. After all, for all I know, they can be nothing alike. Though I know for certain she is closer to Tsukiko than Cassius. Cassius was a dumbass but I could not stop myself from enjoying being by his side. But that is not the matter at hand. It could be that Hanami is like Takara. Then again, I could be reflecting Takara onto her again. Takara just passed and we have yet to even start an investigation. There is no way I will allow my friend's killer to run free. And Ayano has to be avenged as well. I can never tell whether or not she truly hated me for killing Kyoto, or if that was all myself. But, then again, Ayano did punch me.

This is no time to be thinking about things that are in the past. I touch Hanami's shoulder and she turns to face me.

"Are you deaf, Hanami?" There is no point to sugarcoat things. We do not have all the time in the world to consider other's feelings.

"Yeah, I am. You're pretty smart for figuring that out. I cannot afford my hearing aids anymore because I'm on the run," Hanami answers. The openness of the answer is a breath of fresh air. Everybody kept secrets in the game, but here's somebody that is already breaking down my walls. Something about her aura appeals to me. Do not know whether or not I should be happy or scared about that.

"How did you hear what I said on the staircase then?"

"I listened to the vibrations. After all my experience, you get to know every sounds. Everyone is unique and beautiful in its own way. But something about this area is blocking everything. They must have done something to this hallway." I never thought of that before. If Takara was still alive, Hanami could have taught him. But, once again, this is no time to mourn. We are almost out of this nightmare, almost to the point that I redeem myself for all my crimes.

Before I can ask her the same question, Hanami finds a stray block and pulls it out. That reveals a hidden door. Even in the real world, the Despairs seem to like their secrets. We continue on in our journey, not looking back as the door closed behind us.

* * *

My knees hurt. It's so lame to be complaining about that after everything. I literally have been tortured. But now I just want to stop because of something as small as hurt knees. Hotaru is a powerhouse. She can keep going no matter what happens. And, instead of thinking about the fact that my boyfriend is an actual mass murderer who caused all of our suffering, I'm thinking of my goddamn knees. God, I'm so selfish and rude and worthless and-

"Its a dead end," Hotaru comments. She sighs. That means we're stuck here. But why would they build a vent that didn't lead to anything? Except...except if we missed something on the way. Mochi starts hopping the other way, causing me to go after him. Hotaru follows afterward. Turning around is a pain in the ass in here.

Mochi hops to one place and stops. He parks himself in front of something that looks like everything else. That's weird. Mochi is a smart rabbit but he isn't that smart. Something must be by there to get his attention. Perhaps a smell? It has to be something humans would not notice.

There's nothing else to do. Hotaru and I start feeling around for something. This could very well be a trap but there's nowhere else to go. Going back would get us killed. And I highly doubt the Despairs are stupid enough to not eventually check this place.

Hotaru presses her hand against something and then something opens on top of us. The three of us jump before it closes. Guess the space is so small that Mochi can make it with us.

"Wait, what!?" A random person meets us with a large computer scene in front of them. Strawberries are on their desk. Mochi tries to run up to them. I get him before he can cause any damage.

The person themself has long dark blue hair. Their black eyes have bags underneath them. They have on the same ridiculous jumpsuit as us. Is this just a really bad uniform? There's nothing special about them. That computer is more interesting. Its like some super computer.

"Guess whose here you piece of shit?" Hotaru runs up to them. She begins to strangle them. The look on her face is like nothing I've seen before. One of pure malice.

"Hotaru!"

"This person's name is Natsumi Fuuma," she explains. I don't try to stop her. Whats the point? Letting this person live would only cause us to suffer more. So I just stand there as Hotaru snaps their neck. As Natsumi drops to the ground, dead. Mochi doesn't do anything either.

But, as I see their body spasm one last time, I think of something. What would I do with Atsuto? I don't know. He's horrible but...but I still love him.

"That was anticlimactic." Hotaru does not look bothered by the new blood on her hands. Its weird to think that I'm the only survivor without any now. I only caused death, not committed murder.

"We heard...oh, um, hey Yasu!" Madoka comes in. Good to know she made it out safely as well. Her eyes focus in on the corpse. Two people in the same outfit come in after her.

"Kid, good to see you."

"So, um, so..." Madoka slaps her cheeks. "We're gonna to look over evidence here, yeah. Look over evidence. That computer is, um, powerful enough to do that." She takes out a chip from her pocket. Madoka tries to not look at Natsumi as she plugs it into the computer. The photos from the program take over the screen.

"That's a neat trick." Hotaru lays in the chair that Madoka has taken a seat in. Madoka herself looks very involved in the computer. Her eyes light up.

"Huh...there's something here...wait, somebody is trying to get control!" Madoka must have some hacking skills. More than my meaningless talent.

"Control?" Another one of the people starts typing with Madoka. Then the other person joins. Madoka motions to me. Guess I've to help. So that's what I do. Start typing away even though I'm more of a hindrance than anything.

"Its no use! Whoever it is, they're breaking through-"

"This is no time for your pessimism Kiaki!" The other one shouts over them. Madoka sighs and continues on. That kid has so much on her plate for being so young. Doesn't the Future Foundation have somebody else they can hire?

"Puhuhuhu~" That laugh is so familiar but so distant. It stops me in my tracks. Something bad must be happening! Atsuto must've found us! He might not...no, he wants to hurt me, stop thinking like that Yasu. I must protect Mochi from Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro hurt Mochi. I should not forgive him. But that's a woman's voice over the speakers.

"You've never had control." The whole room blacks out. Seconds later the light comes back on. A figure is on the screen, smiling at us. "Missed me, Future Foundation? I sure missed you! Killing me twice is such a hard blow!"

* * *

The hallway has nothing but a singular door at the end. Hanami and I continue our way downward. Nobody is around us. Its just us and the door. Finally building up the courage again, I ask her the same question as before.

"How do you know Kaneshiro, Hanami?" This time I make sure she is looking at me. Hanami takes a deep breath and makes direct eye contact.

"Having all the information would help but sadly I don't know what happened after...all that happened. We were on a train together and then he changed," she replies. That is when I remember Hanami from the books. Everything has been so stressful that it entirely left my mind. The two of them have to be more tightly connected than that. But pushing too hard will cause Hanami to either not trust me or start giving me false information. She clearly does not want to talk about it.

So we make it to the door in silence. Its extremely awkward if I say so myself. That is when we make it to the door. We open it to see a blonde in front of a camera. The girl looks familiar yet I cannot lay a finger on it.

"And now we've our special guests! Ah, its gonna be so much fun~" She turns around to face us. The girl's blonde hair has shades of red in it. Her figure is that of an hourglass and her eyes are a crystal blue. Heavy makeup is on her face, to the point that it can be described as gaudy.

For her outfit, she wears a black cardigan over a white dress shirt. Her skirt reveals her bra, causing me to try to focus on her face. She wears a pleated red miniskirt along with mid-sized black boots. The heels are platform and the laces red. A long tie hangs loosely around her neck with it being black and white with some sort of red symbol in the middle of it. There is a black choker around her neck and a right bow over one of her breasts. Two bear accessories are in her hair that is styled as pigtails.

"Oh, my fabulous stick in the mud! I never thought you would make it! That's makes everything a lot less boring! You remind me of my beautiful Izuru~" The stranger jumps on me. On impulse, I try to get her off, but she hugs on tighter. "The true game is about to begin! All that forest stuff was just a prologue for the true despair!"

"How are you still alive?" Hanami interrogates her, aiming her knife at the girl's neck. It is too close to me for it to be comfortable. Her hand is shaking though, and her eyes are completely dilated.

"Who are you?" It feels like I should know who she is but my words fail me. She grins as she moves in closer to whisper in my ear. It seems like whoever this is does not care that the knife is now dangerously close to killing us both.

"Its Junko Enoshima."

* * *

 **Not even FoD can escape the curse of Junko Enoshima. I'm ready for the screaming in the reviews. This was originally gonna be an investigation chapter but then I'm like...I can't be lazy and just say they went here and there. XD So here's another chapter chapter.**

 **QOTC: Which character do you trust the most? Which one the least? (haha, a different kind of question XD)**

 **Req's Rec: Danganronpa: Remnants Of My Heart by Prince PokePersona**

 **Reviews~**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Good. ;) You guys can totally trust Hanami. Yasu's dad deserves to face to wrath of Mochi. Keep note of everything. XD**

 **AnonChan1-Mood. Tsukiko is a precious angel and I love her. Well, Yasu is taking it...surprisingly well for this story's standards. NATSUMI IS DEAD NOW. Petition to have Mochi give Yasu's father their neverending wrath. Its a feeling. ;) Now your baby can actually walk again! Mochi is a saving grace to this story. Let's just say somebody's on a war path. Yasu needs all the bunny licks in the world. Kaneshiro loves Yasu, Yasu loves Atsuto. ;) Madoka is here to confuse and save you all. Hotaru has been found and took care of Natsumi. Hanami is here to bring Kazuma to justice! Aw, yes, where Ayano had her character arc completed and then I destroyed her yet again. Good times. SCREAM FOR ME. NOBODY DESERVES THE FATE THEY GOT IN THIS SAGA!**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Yasu needs all the bunny licks in the world. HANAMI IS HERE TO KICK ASS AND TAKE NAMES! This is the first time Madoka has been introduced, she's gonna be a more important character later. ;) Thanks so much Rose. :D**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-Req is here to make sure Tobi cries in public some more. Feed me with your tears. Tobi finally has a correct theory! :D I might not break you yet but I can guarantee I can by the end of this story.**

 **Ziggymia123 (oh dear lord, this is gonna be a long response so get ready XD)-Welcome to the Committee Saga. Yeah, Akita was written when I first started out, I think part of the reason why the later chapters are more well known is because I was still improving during this stage. Thanks for liking Ayano, I wanted to try something new so good to know it works. I know. You've signed up for a whole lot of despair. ;)**

 **I love all my characters who haven't been recycled. XD People have a bad habit of losing body parts in this saga. EVERYTHING IS DESPAIR NOW! The Committee Saga is here to distract you from your responsibilities. Hotaru's favorite character is Hotaru, guys. Now you truly get the true despair, now to make it worse in MoDE. IM DOING HORRIBLE AWFUL THINGS TO HOTARU! Have fun voicing this in the audiobook. :D Aw, yes, Traitor!Yasu was a very popular theory I destroyed. Writing that scene, I was both evilly laughing and screaming inside.**

 **MACHI IS REFERENCED! Ayano got killed in the program. Well, now you get the best of both worlds! Hanami is here to mindfuck the audience! Also Madoka. I wasn't expecting it either, I was surprised when I saw there were more reviews. XD Well, I've explained the ending as bittersweet before. ;) Hotaru has finally gotten her revenge. Don't worry, Natsumi gets explored more in other stories. Even though he's dead.**


	71. Investigation 6-1

**Investigation 6-1: He Who Saves the Children of the Night From the Light**

* * *

"Junko Enoshima?" Hanami tries to press the knife harder on Junko's throat but she only smiles in return. I get as far away from the two as I possibly can. My attention is on the camera. Now I notice there is a laptop nearby it on the ground as well. Something catches my eye, a chip that is currently plugged into it. That is when I run for it, both Hanami and Junko too focused on themselves to notice me.

I have realized that Junko has somehow moved out of the watchful eye of Hanami. Hanami comes chasing after her. Both of them fall to the ground harshly as Hanami tackles the girl, so hard that there is a clear thud. She holds Junko to the ground with the other girl almost overpowering her. Hanami attempts to get the knife near Junko again but fails.

"Get it, Hayato!" Hanami pleads with me. At that moment, Hanami gets head-butted by Junko, causing her to cry out in pain. Junko moves closer to me, causing me to grab the chip out immediately. Its a standard computer chip with nothing unique about it. That is when Junko lunges at me yet I move quickly to the side. That does not stop everything, though, as Junko grabs my left hand, luckily the one that does not have the chip. I feel for pockets on my new suit and place it inside.

"Oh, you can keep that chip! I got something else-" Junko is then punched in the face by Hanami. She does not flinch. Afterward, Junko tosses me to the side, causing me to lose my balance and fall onto the floor. Now is the time that I truly wish that I am more physically stronger. "This is boring. I thought playing with you would be fun. But its so dreadfully easy."

"What-" In one punch, Junko punches Hanami in the face. She falls down instantly. Junko yawns and then turns to face me.

"Nobody punches us without our knowing! We are unstoppable!" I did not realize it until now, but Junko seems to be able to switch between personas in a flash of the eye. Wondering where the crown suddenly came from will not help my situation however.

"That's wrong!"

"What did you say?" With a flash of a brilliant red fury in her eyes, Junko kicks me down even more and then stomps into my chest. The heel digs into my skin, and I cannot stop myself from crying out in agony. "You're unpredictable just like that hope brat."

"What...wh-what do you want?" Even if I die here, in this compromising position, I have to do what I must to make sure my classmates will be able to have peace with me.

"Despair!" Junko then kicks me in the face. My body begins to fail me, my eyes feeling heavier than they ever have in my entire life. I thought the loan shark goons were bad but this is a billion times worse.

I see Junko walk towards Hanami. Trying to move, I want to scream out something as Hanami gets pulled by her hair. Her body is limp but she is still breathing. Desperate, I attempt to ignore the pain and get up on my feet, but all I am able to do is move my pinky.

"Investigate to save these poor damsels! I'll give you...four hours to be by yourself! You know, to investigate. Failing to show up to trial will cause your precious friends to bite the dust! See ya later, _my precious bastard students_."

The last thing I see before darkness is a massive smirk on her face. "Sweet dreams, my precious little stick in the mud."

* * *

"And, oh yeah, forgot to mention, I've told everybody to not kill you. They're all in front of the door, ready to strike! Just as long as your main characters!" Junko smiles. She poses with a girl and Hayato. The girl is wearing the same uniform as Madoka. And I notice Hayato has it on too. Has he always been with them?

"Main characters...? M-meta much?" Madoka inquires.

"Don't take that tone with us! We shall show you our great superiority!" Junko exclaims. She then changes the persona into a cuter version. "We don't want to hurt you before the trial! Nyeh~"

"I don't believe you." Hotaru crosses her arms. Both of them are so much cooler than me. Only if I could find the strength. But I know that's impossible. Something about this situation rubs me the wrong way. I should not trust my faulty gut. Then again, I always trust the wrong things. Most of all myself. Nothing can be trusted except for Mochi. Mochi himself is hopping around the room. If he gets close to something dangerous, I'll stop him. Though I don't have my toolbox anymore.

"I'll show you how serious I am. Seriously you guys should've known those two were red shirts! Oh well, they'll be further expanded on if there's ever like a prequel or something." Junko's face is deadly serious. Her frown deepens as machine guns appear from the ceiling. Hotaru, Madoka, and I dive underneath the desk the computer is on. Mochi comes with me. But Ayaru and Kiaki are unable to get down in time. Their bodies are filled with holes. Both of them are dead long before the gun stops firing. "Now they're actually red shirts!"

"Y-y-you bastard-"

"The only reason you're alive is your mother. Now look at this girl here, she knows what happened in full but hasn't told you. I wonder why. Finishing this investigation could lead you to the answers you seek!" Madoka is about the question Junko more. Though Junko ends the transmission.

"So yeah, begin to investigate! It starts now~" Junko's voice is now on the speakers. "And don't go out of that room. Now that we know where you are, I got guards at every exit! Trying to escape will lead to your death!" The last thing she does is laugh like Monokuma. Its much deeper than the laugh that we know but its the same concept.

Madoka stares at her friends. Or what I assume are friends. For all I know, they can be enemies, or literally just meet today. She then moves them to the side of the room. Now she is focusing on making sure they're properly taken care of more than the investigation. Guess its up to Hotaru and I. Mostly Hotaru.

"Kid, where do we start?"

"Um..." Hotaru thinks for a moment. Its weird to see her not immediately jump into action. "The system shutdown? Its probably that bitch's fault." She then kicks Natsumi. "Yep. Definitely."

"It was weird," I comment. "Being given a time limit to do stuff. Thought...Kaneshiro would want the despair to soak in." Something catches us off guard. The computer makes the same sound as the pads for updating Truth Bullets. Hotaru and I look on the screen. There's a new tab open. It has a list of evidence. Good to know Junko and Kaneshiro aren't just gonna meet us there with us blind.

"We still have access to the computer?" Madoka asks from the other side of the room. Hotaru answers her by saying yes. That kid probably has so much pressure on their small shoulder being the head of security. This is not the time but I realize that she's not used to it like us two. Mourning wastes time.

...Thinking about Atsuto wastes time...

* * *

 **Monokuma File #7**

 **Victim-Takara Miyagi**

 **Height-Five feet, five inches**

 **Weight-One-hundred and two pounds**

 **Age-Seventeen**

 **Birthday-Currently Unknown**

* * *

 **Takara's case of death was drowning. There were no other wounds on the body.**

* * *

 **Monokuma File #8**

 **Victim-Ayano Nishiki**

 **Height-Six feet, two inches**

 **Weight-One-hundred and forty-three pounds**

 **Age-Eighteen**

 **Birthday-Currently Unknown**

* * *

 **Ayano's neck was slit.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #2-System Shutdown**

 **For some reason, the system was shutting down and Monokuma gave Hayato Akimoto and Yasu Matsuhita a sort of time limit to find the bodies and investigate.**

* * *

That is better than nothing. Time to create yet another case. Cause the death of yet another person I care about. And then continue living my life as normal. Go back to my dad. Have him yell at me some more. Probably force some kind of rehab as the Committee sweeps everything under the rug. Can't believe how little we truly know about the organization running us all. Only if Mirabilis was still alive. But, no, she died. Died with so many others instead of my useless self. Nothing of value would be lost with my death. Everybody else has more value than me. The only person that would care is Mochi and he's not even a person.

"Yasu, we gotta focus on this!" Hotaru snaps me out of my thoughts. She is so much more serious now. What a bummer.

"Atsuto talked to me...I mean, K-Kaneshiro. Yeah, he had a conversation with me," I tell Hotaru. Then I remember something. "...After he went out of the program the first time. Atsuto wasn't noted to be there. But he came anyway." Staying on the page doesn't trigger the sound yet there's another bullet. I'm actually being of some use. That's something that doesn't happen often.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #3-Kaneshiro During the Shutdown**

 **Before the shutdown, Kaneshiro Kazuma was noted not to be in the program, but then he came afterwards to have a conversation with Yasu Matsuhita.**

* * *

"You figure some things out?" Madoka comes up with us. I notice that her eyes are red. But there's a newfound fire in them. She pulls out a knife from one of her pockets and throws it into the wall. "S-sorry, um...stress control?"

"Girl, I can teach you how to throw better than that later." Hotaru takes the rest of the knives from Madoka and throws them all at once with one hand. They all land in a circle around Madoka's. Madoka cannot stop looking at them. "I know, I know, I'm an Ultimate. Now let's kick their asses in the trial so we can avenge everyone."

"Well...first let's look over the pictures of the b-b-b-b-bodies." Madoka spends some time sorting through the photos to find the two of the bodies. Meanwhile there is something bothering me. Its probably nothing. But, hey, anything could be something in this game. It could secretly be the key to learning about everything.

"Monokuma wanted us to see Takara and then Ayano," I note. That gets Hotaru's attention. I mean, I did kinda say that out of nowhere. But its true. We could have just as easily went the other way and found Ayano first. I can't believe I'm actually thinking this much about something that probably doesn't mean anything. It was probably for some sort of despair or something.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #4-Monokuma's Actions**

 **Monokuma spurred Hayato Akimoto and Yasu Matsuhita to find the bodies. He seemed like he really wanted them to find both Takara Miyagi and Ayano Nishiki, in that order.**

* * *

Advantages of having the Truth Bullets right there. Madoka makes it so that it is open as well. That's convenient. And now she has the correct photos up.

I don't want to see them again but I've to. My life might not be important. Everybody else is though, including Mochi. I'll give them no excuse to hurt him. That means we've to figure this out! Nobody does it before the Trials. Not even Takayuki, and he was sorta the Ultimate Private Investigator. Personality Experiment #045 confuses me.

We start to focus on the first body found, Takara's. There has been something bothering me since we found him...The camera.

In the photo, the red light is still on. So why is it recording? Even a dumbass like me knows that's suspicious. And Hayato was drawn to it for some reason. Focused on it instead of Takara, who he was close to. Mochi, give me strength to figure this out.

"W-wait, that camera came out after the sim s-started. Um, what does that mean?" Madoka points out. I did find it weird I didn't recognize the camera.

"Is there anyway we can find out the footage?" Hotaru stares at the camera. She is so intense and focused. So much so that she doesn't realize when Mochi jumps on her foot.

"Crap, um, we didn't grab the memory card," Madoka responds while awkwardly laughing. She sees the body of the two people with her accidentally again and nearly vomits. Its a sad fact that I used to be the same. But some thing just change. No matter how much you try not to.

"Hayato was super zoned in on it. Don't know why," I add-on to the conversation. All that information adds yet another Truth Bullet.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #5-The Camera**

 **Yasu Matsuhita notes that there was a camera that was not there before by the pool. The light was still blinking when they found Takara Miyagi so that means it was still recording. No way they can get the leftover footage or find out whether or not it was recording the murder itself. Madoka Ueno notes that the camera is a new type that came out after the sim started and was most likely programmed in later on. Also, for some reason, Hayato Akimoto was extremely interested in the camera.**

* * *

So much information in that one. There's so much going on but not enough time to process it. Mochi hops to me so I pick him up. He doesn't like being held that much. I pet him some before I place him down. Getting out of here, he'll get all the pets and love he needs. Perhaps a little rabbit friend. Been a long time since...Dango.

"Did you find his body in the middle of the floor?" Hotaru questions. Madoka nods her head. Should have probably told them about Hayato doing that before. Too dumb to think ahead like that.

"No, Hayato moved him." It was hard to see Takara like that. Especially because of how goddamn filthy that pool is. Hotaru didn't know that so that must mean Natsumi must have not involved her. That's good. A part of me was suspicious. Suspicious of the easy answer. The answer it always isn't. Natsumi killing Takara through Hotaru is too easy. Must think harder than that. Atsuto wouldn't kill except if he was certain he wouldn't die. He doesn't have a death wish. Killing here only leads to death if you're the unfortunate first.

"Um, how did you find him?" I realize Madoka is not looking at the photos except when necessary. "You know, his, um, body? When he was dead?" Well, I didn't need the clarification but it is nice anyway.

"In middle of the pool. Faced upset down. Right, Mochi?" Mochi hops. He goes up to Madoka. She probably does not want a repeat of what happened before. Madoka goes down to his level and gives him a little pet.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #6-Takara's Body**

 **Takara Miyagi's body was found face down in the middle of the pool.**

* * *

"Hayato cared about his little buddy that much? That's sweet," Hotaru smirks. But I think it was supposed to be a smile. Or maybe not, Hotaru is really hard to read. Don't know how her friends did so.

"There was also all this water around. Made it real hard to not fall," I explain. I then point to where it was at in the pictures. What strikes me as odd is that none got to the camera. Though there are other points that have it going past the distance of the camera to the pool. You don't have to be a genius to think there's something wrong here.

"Too bad we can't know whether or not the culprit was wet." Hotaru makes a point. None of us were wet in a memory. It made a mess. Nobody shows the marks of having killed Ayano either. This is gonna be a hard case to solve. My head is already hurting.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #7-Water Around The Pool**

 **There was water near the pool, hinting that a battle took place, most likely between Takara and his killer. None of it landed on the camera even though it went around it. It was almost like somebody was protecting it.**

* * *

That's weird. None of us made that assumption. It happened before in Truth Bullets though. But I thought it would be different here. Why does it seem like the person in charge wants us to figure it out? Junko and Kaneshiro are way too willing for this trial. Can't believe I'm thinking this hard about something. But there's no way they're trying to help us. Isn't their goal to make us fall into despair?

"Hayato would know more. Like if he found something with the body. Don't know if he did. I think he was trying to share something with me. Before Monokuma forced us to continue." Hayato is way better than me with everything. He might have killed one of my best friends but he's skilled. And...that was Hideyoshi's fault, right? And Hideyoshi is Kaneshiro's fault. But whose fault is Kaneshiro? Is it possible that he's always been like this? Born evil without any saving graces. Or is there more going on?

"Well, I'm going to try to find a, um, way to contact Junko," Madoka says. "She might make us work with Hayato. To, you know, help the investigation she wants and stuff." She goes to work on the computer. That causes the monitor to be taken over by her previous work. Though it can give Hotaru and I time to discuss more.

"Hotaru...do you think..." I don't know where this question comes from. Perhaps the answer is obvious. He said 'for the ass' himself. But something doesn't feel right. Maybe I'm a horrible judge of character. Though it seems like...Kaneshiro...Atsuto...Satoshi...whoever he truly is, is fighting with himself. "...Do you think Atsuto...Kaneshiro, really, um...loved me?"

"I don't know," Hotaru replies bluntly. "All I know is whoever this 'Master' fucker is, they screw with their heads a lot. Like even more than Junko. I mean, it would make sense that she's actually working _for_ them now. Kaneshiro wasn't referring to Junko as Master." Hotaru is already being so much smarter than me. But how did she come to that conclusion?

"What else do you know about Kaneshiro, kid?"

"Oh, are you ready for a long story?" Hotaru laughs sadly. I nod my head. Knowing this could be the key to...to figuring out if any of it was real or not. Or if I'm truly am just a piece of ass for everybody to use.

 _...My beautiful, beautiful Yumiko..._

"Well, you see, I used to be part of the Sakura Circle Akita ran before it all went to shit. Was working for the family business before but then they're like...you're spending your life on something as useless as dart throwing so they treated me like absolute dog shit. So I did what any sane troubled youth would do and join the circus. Like I made many friends there, like a conjoined girl and boy named Yuu and Yuki. Wonder if they're related to Hayato in anyway, they share the last name." Hotaru's mouth beamed. "But then...well, I'm pretty sure the Committee has messed with my memories, you know? Everything's hard to remember and shit. Wouldn't be surprised to hear all of us have been messed up."

"That's...not good to hear..." Screw my luck. I start feeling lightheaded and fight with all my might to stand up. Its not enough though as I fall face down on the floor. Hotaru calls out my name. Though I struggle to keep my eyes open.

"What's wrong with them?" Madoka asks. I feel my eyes close. But I will myself not to go to sleep. My body is my worse enemy. Because my back begins to hurt again as well.

"Just the same old narcolepsy." Madoka then takes off her suit jacket. She places it under my head. Revealed underneath is a white long-sleeved shirt. Then she rolls up of the sleeves of the shirt.

"I heard you need my help~" Junko is on the speakers again. "Too bad! I'm not giving it to you! Better luck next time." I do not witness the aftermath as I finally lose the battle. Sleep. The thing I hate most. Sleep, sleep, sleep. No matter how hard I try, I cannot escape it. Its my own prison. One made of my fucked up mental state.

* * *

 _"He loves me, he loves me not." A woman is right in front of me. She's wearing a long, flowing white dress with no shoes. Her skin is dark like mine along with her hair and eyes. Her hair is long. It easily reaches the floor. Flowers are in the hair. All of them are a singular shade of white._

 _"Who are you?"_

 _"He loves me, he loves me not~" She is almost out of petals. But she looks so happy. There is no ledge but she's somehow sitting. Her feet are dangling as she swings them back and forth. I sit next to her. Though I don't know why, it just feels like I should. A lazy reason. But a reason nevertheless. Feels like I'll jump if she asks me._

 _"Who is that for?"_

 _"He loves me, he loves me not~" The person does not answer. It is as if I don't even exist. Would be better if that was true. Yet this is my dream so I do. But what if its a lie? Hell, we could still be in a simulation for all I know! I can be easily tricked. Next thing I know, I'll be saying aliens have abducted us all and started this game because somebody told me so._

 _"Whats the meaning of doing anything?"_

 _"He loves me!" She exclaims with a giant smile on her face. The flower drops, revealing thousands of more petals. No way to find out the truth. Yet she's so happy. Would the truth be really what she needs? Whats so great about the truth anyways? It only brings pain. Life also only brings pain. So does that make life the truth and death a lie? Or is it the other way around? Or we all just living a lie? A lie of happiness just to be buried six feet under the meaningless ground that somehow has more meaning and experience than a human will ever have? Is any of this worth it? Why am I still fighting? But should I really try to kill myself again? Last time failed because I can't even do that right. And Mochi needs me. I can't abandon Mochi in this cruel world._

 _"...But does he love you...?" The figure points at me. Her voice is tone is condescending and judgmental. But I know why. Because I don't know the answer to that simple question. Shouldn't people in love not hesitate at this moment? Exclaim with their full heart their undying, unconditional love? Or does true love simply not exist? Wouldn't be surprised if I've deluded myself with fantasy. Life cannot be like the Wheel of Time series. It cannot be handed to another author when the first passes. Plus, it fucking sucked with the new author._

 _"I don't know."_

 _"Wrong, you do know-"_

* * *

I wake up in massive amounts of pain. Everything in my body hurts and I make sure to check everything I could to make sure nothing is too damaged. Nothing that will lead any lasting injuries. That is good, would not want to deal with Junko Enoshima and a broken femur. Would not be surprised if Despairs broke their femurs often on their times off. It is supposed to hurt the most after all. But enough thinking about that, I have to make sure that Hanami is doing alright. Trusting total strangers is such a dumb idea yet I do it anyway. This encounter with Junko proved her loyalty to me. She is to be trusted and should be considered a great ally.

"...Hanami...?" Looking around me, I see that I am currently being held to a wall by chains. Hanami is in the same position. Both of us feel exposed even though we are still wearing all of our clothing.

"It seems you've woken when I predicted you would," Junko tells us, now with glasses. "Not the most unpredictable thing. Thought you two would be more entertaining. You've provided quite the challenge in the game themself but not much outside it. Such a shame. Will have to change my percentages again." She walks closer to us, her heels creating an echo throughout the room. Ditching the glasses, she is back to the self she was first introduced to us as.

"We'll never fall for this!" Hanami shouts at her. She tries to get out of her chains but they hold her back. Junko begins to laugh but Hanami spits on her shoe.

"My new shoes! You ruined them! Do you know how hard it is to get a pair like these nowadays?" Junko takes the shoe off. Without warning, she throws it directly at Hanami's face. She bites back a scream as the boot falls to the ground. "Serves you right." Then the other shoe hits my face. I do not have any time to prepare so I have to deal with the full pain of it.

"What else do you want from us, Junko Enoshima?" I interrogate her. She laughs it off.

"As much as I wanna torture you guys..." Junko then takes out a Monokuma plushie and holds it in front of her face. "I've taught my precious bastard students to be nice to each other! Sure, it wasn't me who taught Hanami but I still view her as one of my own, just like all her other friends here-"

"You haven't gotten all of us, Despairs! You forget the other-"

"Shut up, shut up, that's planned for later. Thought she would've told you how not to spoil shit. Somebody else wants to meet with you~" Junko then leaves the room. The both of us can hear her talking with someone from outside the room. Along with more gunshots and mayhem. We must have been moved somewhere.

Before he enters the room, I can feel my skin crawl. It does not take me long to know who it is. Kaneshiro Kazuma. The one who has caused all of this. Something seems off, however. Looking to Hanami, instead of anger, I find her on the verge of tears.

"Kazuma, listen to me, for once," Hanami chuckles lightly. "You always were such a stubborn cynical brat. But that's not who you are. How about the Kazuma who was smart, and caring, sometimes a bit of a flirty pervert, but still had a sense of right and wrong...Where did he go?" Now Hanami cannot stop the tears, but, for some reason, that smile still stays. I want to say something yet I feel like it is not my place. This is not my conversation. Those two are clearly only focusing on each other. Interrupting with my own thoughts would only make this emotional reunion awkward.

"That's in the past now, Hanami-"

"Don't start that with me!" She interrupts him. Her shouts echo throughout the room with such volume it quite honestly hurts my ears. "I know that's in the past. I know you've pasted the point of no return. So I'm here because I stopped being a coward. I finally want to fulfill my promise to you. To kill you if you ever became a monster." Hanami then has a newfound determination in her eyes. Staring down Kaneshiro without any fear. She may not be the predator but she's not the prey either. Somewhere in-between those two, and fighting for what she believes to be right.

"Why can't things return to how they were before?" Kaneshiro questions her.

"They can in the afterlife," Hanami answers. "I can finally end all of your guy's suffering. I'm going to save them all too, don't worry about that. None of you have to live underneath his thumb anymore." There is so much missing from this conversation. What are they talking about? Are there more Ultimates who have been converted like Kaneshiro? If so, how powerful are the Despairs right now? Does the Committee even have any power left, or are they just tools to be useful by the True Despairs?

"That would be nice-"

"This is a touching scene and all but somebody has forgotten his current character! Guess who I'm going to put on the speaker now?" Junko then hands over what I assume to be a microphone to somebody else. The person has not even spoken yet I cannot find it in myself to move. Nobody can. Everybody stares at the ceiling, where I just assume the speaker to be. Its like we do not have the will to do anything else.

"Kaneshiro, remember yourself." That is all the man says. There are tears in my eyes for the want of more. Those words are so powerful and so intoxicating. However, Hanami spits at me to get my attention.

"Sorry, but you were in a trance there." Hanami does not seem to be affected by the voice at all. Then again, she cannot hear it, so her deafness might be a surprising plus in this situation.

"Who was that?"

"The true Ultimate Brainwasher." Hanami is then focused on Kaneshiro, who is now laughing mad. "All this time, Kazuma Kaneshiro had just been the Ultimate Hypnotist."

* * *

I finish putting Yasu in a comfortable place. Even I have to admit how adorable it is to see Mochi resting on their chest. An image like that will help make this investigation be a lot less stressful. Whoever this Madoka chick is doesn't know how to deal with this well. She's Future Foundation so good to know that they're doing something useful for once in their lives. Their fuck up caused the Committee, which in turn caused the True Despairs. The Committee got formed after some people were really pissed off about their rebellion against the Committee died off with Ruruka Ando.

"What should we focus on next?" Madoka asks me. I look over Takara's crime scene. Nothing else of note stands out about it. So I focus on Ayano's crime scene. That place is such a mess and I don't know where to start. But there's something I haven't shared that might be important to this investigation.

"Natsumi Fuuma..." I begin my thoughts. Honestly that bitch deserved a death much more painful than what I gave him. He used my body to do many...horrible things that I cannot forget anytime soon.

"What about him?" Madoka is still quite...childish isn't exactly the right world, neither is naive...inexperienced with this world even with her rank. She does not realize that killing Natsumi was the best course of action.

"He released control of my body for a time. I took some time to finally do shit for myself. But then I realized that was incredibly selfish. So I had Hayato tie me down," I explain. Flipping the bird to as many cameras as I could find was probably not the smartest idea to do. Yet I still find it worth every second wasted.

"So, um, what does that mean?" Madoka looks at me like I'm a crazy person. Though I think we've all dived into the deep end by now. With the deep end being an ocean that never ends. We're gonna to need some serious therapy after this is done. But I don't want that fucking weirdo Etsuko Abe anywhere near any of us.

"That means we don't know what body Natsumi was in when the murder happened..." I do not want a bullet to appear. But then I hear an all too familiar beep. That goddamn computer. I would've trashed it by now if I didn't think the Despairs would fill me with holes for doing so. Those poor little red shirts should've made themselves more important to the plot. Then they'll still be alive and have fans or something. Because the Despairs won't stop talking about this like this is some messed up story. All this meta bullshit is actually starting to piss me off.

The two of us reach the computer and read what it says...

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #8-Natsumi Fuuma**

 **Hotaru Amemori notes that around the time the murder would have taken place, she was no longer controlled by Natsumi Fuuma. She went to Hayato Akimoto so he could tie her up even though that ended up not working in the end.**

* * *

Well shit.

* * *

 **YOU BETCHA THERE'S STILL GONNA BE PLOT TWISTS IN THE INVESTIGATION~**

 **So, yeah, I'm planning to do something crazy guys. I want to end this story the day I started it. Yep, its insane, but I'm gonna try to do it. So if I start evilly laughing by the end of the story, this process has made me jump in the same deep end as Kaneshiro. We're both swimming with a bunch of other peeps. And Hanami is trying her hardest to throw a toaster into the pool. (please kill me, I'm horrible)**

 **God, the next chapter is so long. This investigation in general is so much longer than all the other ones. So be ready to have a lot of info~**

 **Plus, I really should be sleeping. Its 2:00 AM. If there's mistakes, I blame it on my horrible sleeping schedule. Right, Kaneshiro doing Kaneshiro? I'LL MAKE SURE THAT THIS MEME NEVER DIES!**

 **Reviews~**

 **Ziggymia123-Yep, Madoka is the daughter of somebody in MoDE. Madoka's last name is Ueno. Kaneshiro tells lies! Like screw you, Kaneshiro, you ain't the Ultimate Brainwasher! Stop stealing the Master's thunder! Feed me with even more of your theories. JUNKO IS HERE TO RUIN EVERYTHING AGAIN! There's a lot of crazy characters in this story, pick your poison.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-JUNKO IS HERE TO STAY BABY!**

 **AnonChan1-Yasu really, _really_ needs a hug. I'll never stop with torturing Yasu, its my favorite thing to do if you haven't noticed. Especially since Ayano is dead. They missed the memory card already. Akemi needs more fans dammit. I think all of the people that survive Killing Games with me around develop quite the stomach. Except for Hideyoshi, Hideyoshi would love some dead survivors. THEY RAN INTO KANESHIRO. Mochi is Mochi, Mochi goes everywhere with Yasu. Here's even more Yasu hating everything about themself. That's so horrible, I gotta do that later. That's right kids, don't eat strawberries with Mochi around, because Hotaru will kill you. Madoka is here to save the day~ JUNKO WILL NEVER STAY DEAD, SHE'S JUNKO! You can trust the Master just fine, he won't hurt you. I promise. This is what Tsukiko deserves but I won't allow it because I'm a horrible person to her. Its up to your interpretation. YES BITE HIS PENIS RIGHT OFF MOCHI! This is the cutest image in the world and too bad I won't allow it to happen in canon because I'm a horrible person to Yasu. HANAMI USES THE POWER OF SPIT THIS CHAPTER! Ayano can't have a fucking break because she's dead.**


	72. Investigation 6-2

**Investigation 6-2: The Poisoned Chalice**

* * *

"Hanami, how is it that you become more naive over time?" Kaneshiro grabs her face yet the only thing she does is stare him down.

"I haven't. I know that you're still in there somewhere-"

"You claim me to not be the Ultimate Brainwasher. Did you already forget what happened?" Kaneshiro pulls away and glares down at Hanami with dead eyes. Hanami keeps the same determination expression. "Stop deluding yourself, the Master doesn't have an Ultimate talent. You keep telling yourself that lie because you don't want to face the truth."

"Its all their fault! Please join back with us! We can rewrite your wrongs! I can kill you and finally end your misery that way!" Hanami exclaims. Tears begin to build up in her eyes. But Kaneshiro does not care, not changing his facial expression at all. "He's the True Ultimate Brainwasher!"

"Even if that was the case, a talent can be shared by even more than two people. Look at the new school year. They even got a new Ultimate Lucky Student, how adorable. A McKay no less. Its almost like they're trying to get us involved," Kaneshiro replies. I do not know what to make of this conversation. So I watch from the sidelines, waiting for the right chance to butt in. After all, Kaneshiro might lash out on the both of us if I try to do something. There is nothing stopping him from killing us right here, right now.

"Help us defeat your Master! Don't you want revenge!?" Hanami pleads. She is full on crying now and trying to break free from her chains.

"This is revenge." But what does that mean? Kaneshiro's actions are beginning to confuse me, along with Hanami's. One does not usually try to win somebody to their side by agreeing to kill them. So much missing context, and I doubt anybody here would be willing or able to fill in all the blanks for me. Time to make my own truth then.

"...What...?" Hanami stops her crying. She is just as confused as I am. Her eyes look down, to me, and then back to Kaneshiro again.

"You don't get it, do you? Nobody else gets it. What I'm saying is...is that this is all for the greater good-"

"Fucking bullshit!" I cannot control myself. First Hanami trying to lighten the crimes committed by Kaneshiro, and now Kaneshiro himself trying to make himself a martyr of all things! My outburst catches Kaneshiro's attention so he heads toward me.

"What do you know about anything? I bet you don't even know how the Committee or Despairs work. You're just an outsider to this whole conflict. Sometimes the ends justify the means." There are no spirals in his eyes so Kaneshiro must have deluded himself greatly to take his words seriously. If I could, I would punch him in the face. Even harder than the time Ayano did so to me. I deserved that then and Kaneshiro more than deserves it now.

"There are many other people trying to get rid of both organizations without resorting to your methods," I tell him off. "Just because you were victimized by them both doesn't give you a right to bring others into this mess! We could have lived perfectly normal lives but you decided to fuck everything up for your own pity party! Rosalina could have-"

"News flash, Hayato, you were the one that killed Rosalina. You're even more naive than Hanami if you're thinking that way," Kaneshiro interrupts me. Now Hanami is the one playing to role of the observer. She analyzed our conversation very closely.

"Yes, I did, I am nothing more than a murderer but at least I admit that! Hideyoshi manipulated me like Hanami claims the Master is playing you, which I think is bullshit-"

"No, its all the Master's fault!" Hanami shouts. Her whole body is shaking. Even with her cries, Kaneshiro does not pay attention to her. "He's the one that started all of this! Junko would be long dead if it wasn't for him!"

"Hanami, grow up!" I berate her. There are too many things that Kaneshiro has done without the influence of his Master. I have always known but I never wanted to admit to myself that somebody can be that cruel. But, looking at this sick, pathetic excuse of a man, I know the full truth now. This is a man who thinks he is right and will do anything to get what he wants, even resorting to the lowest resort. He might have been a better person in the past but that does not matter now. Sure, people can change, such as a horrible person like me, but there is a point of no return. And Kaneshiro passed that line years before I even meet him. There is nothing remaining of what Hanami thinks he is.

"I'm telling you the truth, Kaneshiro had no choice to-"

"To do what exactly? Even with I was being manipulated by Hideyoshi, I would have never allowed him to drag me down this level, to the level of causing the deaths of many innocents for some vague 'greater' purpose. And, even with your supposed more friends, I do not hear about them pulling off stunts like this, at least with that flimsy reasoning. Especially when some of the things we did were absolute bullshit-"

"Everything had a purpose-"

"So there was a reason to rape, Ayano?" Kaneshiro does not say anything. With how she acted in the fourth trial, I came to that conclusion a long time ago. How she changed so much after making so much progress towards the right direction. That would be exactly how a rape victim would react. It would have taken a lot of stress to take Ayano to that point, considering that the brutal, unfair trial and then murder of her boyfriend did not make her fall into the depths of despair.

"He would never do such a th-"

"It was all part of the plan," Kaneshiro responds. Hanami's face drops as the revelation slowly sinks in. "Horrible things sometimes have to been done to get to the greater good-"

"How does... _that_...help anything!?" Hanami asks, her voice wavering. Her eyes do not blink. Every single point of her body is shaking. The only reason why she is still up is because the chains are forcing her to be so.

"That's for the final trial to decide!" Junko opens the door and relaxes on the door frame. She then closes it behind her. Then she gets the Monokuma out again, placing him in front of her face. "Not only will my precious students have to figure out who killed Takara and Ayano, but you've to unravel all the secrets of this game! That much will surely make you feel despair!"

"Still join our side! So I can find the others and end their misery too! We can still rewrite your wrongs-"

"Stop it! I do not care the reason! I do not care if it was even the save the whole universe from being destroyed! Making Kaneshiro some sort of... _victim_...of this is wrong! There is no excuse for all of the things he has done! Even with only his less serious crimes, I would never forgive scum like him!" Even when Hideyoshi dragged me into despair, with my hands bloodied with two innocents, I found it more accepting to kill myself than commit anymore crimes. Despair brings out the worse of people, its the true judge of their character. Kaneshiro could have been placed in front of a TV screen and forced into despair for all I care! That gives him no right to do anything he has done during this entire Killing Game. "If you really are the savior you claim to be Kaneshiro, you would have let us go and protected us. But instead you decided to become a monster."

"I'm a monster but its for the greater good-"

"The greater good?" I begin to laugh. "Is it me or does everybody use that to make an excuse for themselves? I used to be the same way. In fact, that was what I was thinking when I killed Kyoto, that it was all for some undefined greater good. But I grew beyond that, and its about time you face the truth of the actions you've committed. This is not for the world to become a better place, its just you playing out your childish fantasies so you can have power over people in this forsaken world!" Hanami and Kaneshiro both look at me with awe. Meanwhile Junko somehow got mushrooms to stand still on her head and looks to be extremely gloomy.

"This is so boring," Junko replies to the situation. Then immediately she perks up, causing the mushrooms to fall off her head and land on the ground. "Too bad Master wants us to be somewhere else right now! Come on, Kazu, we've to go!" She then drags Kaneshiro by the shirt collar out of the cellar.

"Hanami, it seems like you have to yet learn everything that has happened during our little game. I will tell you the full truth..."

* * *

I wake up. Its so annoying that it happened right during the investigation. Could be worse though, could have happened during the trial again. Somehow I think faking it will not work anymore. I'm still surprised it did twice. Kaneshiro fell for a stupid trick that children use on their parents to stay up later and play some video games. I cannot count how many times I did it to my dad so I could read more.

"You gotta be shitting me," Hotaru yells. She then kicks the wall. I get up. Both Hotaru and Madoka realize and come to my aid. They should not be worrying so much for somebody like me.

"We've to continue the investigation." There's no reason to stop. We must figure out the truth. That way...I can figure out if what I had with Atsuto was real or not. Mochi jumps off of me. So I get up. Still weird being able to move around freely with my legs. Thought being in the program would affect them more. Shows what I know.

Madoka tries to get me to rest more. But Hotaru and I make our way to the computer. Figures that they're starting Ayano's investigation. There's nothing else at Takara's crime scene. I get the feeling that if this was another situation the culprit would get away with murder. But they were stupid enough to leave more clues with Ayano.

The first thing of note, the damaged keypad and door. It does not show in the current photo. Madoka must have one of outside but we don't have all the time in the world to look through all of them. Getting Mochi out of here as soon as possible is the goal.

"Hey, do you remember how the keypad and door were damaged?" Hotaru asks me. Its almost as if we're on the same wavelength. Madoka comes to us. She nods her head. All of us are on the same page. That's good. I'm gonna need them because I can't figure any of this out on my own. "It looked like the keypad got slashed. Probably a knife or something, could be a lot of things because of all those weapons. We didn't have time to look through them all to see which one was damaged. But, even then, Kaneshiro probably brought it out of the room or just deleted it from existence or something. And somehow the door got off its hinges. Don't know why the culprit would do such a thing." Another Truth Bullets. Things are going a little too smoothly in this investigation. But maybe I'm being a pessimist, three people are dead. But one deserved it and two I literally know nothing about.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #9-Damaged Keypad and Door**

 **The keypad and door that leads to the secret room were damaged to the point beyond repair in the virtual world. For the keypad, it looks like a knife or a sharp object similar to it was constantly slashed against it. Somehow the door got off some of its hinges.**

* * *

"Was there anything else, um, odd about the room? I mean, that isn't there anymore! There's a lot of things odd about it." Madoka is asking the right questions unlike I. She's smart for knowing so little.

"Well, kid, there were a lot of things. One was the lack of lights. The other is the TV. It wasn't on until I got in there with Hayato. And it really hurt my poor Mochi's ears. Of course, mine too, but Mochi's more." Mochi comes up to me and I pet his ears. "Right, Mochi? You didn't like that sound."

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #10-No Lights in the Secret Room**

 **When Hayato Akimoto and Yasu Matsuhita arrived to the secret room, all of the lights were off.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #11-The TV**

 **The TV only turned on to a static channel once Yasu Matsuhita and Hayato Akimoto entered the room. It let out a noise that hurt their ears.**

* * *

"That goddamn TV," Hotaru comments. "We really should've thrown it into the sea. Don't care if we got punished or whatever, it has caused us so much goddamn trouble." I always wanted to tinker with the TV. With a lot of things really, since that's what I'm good at. Plus its fun. Something to get away from the overwhelming stress. Part of me wants my slingshot and grappling hook back. Gotta make them again once I'm out of here. I mean if I get out of here.

"I'm just not gonna question that." Madoka starts rubbing the sides of her head. She bites her lip. "But there's gotta be something all of this points to."

"Kid, I've learned to go with the flow. Don't make assumptions until the trial. Otherwise they're always wrong," I tell her. Hotaru nods her head as she examines Ayano's crime scene more carefully.

"Doesn't it seem odd how...clean Ayano's body itself is?" Hotaru questions. "Everybody else, including Takara, was filthy. Hell, it seems she could have been cleaned beforehand! And there's the killing wound. A slit neck. That's rather tame for this game. And, even with that goddamn TV, Ayano didn't fall into despair. But she's crying. And she's tied down so there's no way this could be suicide." I remember Ayano's suicidal tendencies. Hate to admit that thought came in my head once before. That would be too easy though. And Ayano wouldn't be the type to kill herself so close to freedom. She was fine beforehand. More fine than me. If anyone, I would've been the coward to kill myself.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #12-Ayano's Body**

 **Ayano Nishiki was found bound to a chair in front of the TV. Compared to other victims, Ayano was not brutally killed, only suffering a slit neck. She was crying during her death but her eyes remained normal.**

* * *

"Wait, t-that's a clean death?" Madoka looks at the body. She is about ready to puke once again.

"Trust me, we've seen somebody get poisoned. And then he got brutally tortured for over thirty minutes until he finally succumbed because he chocked on his own vomit," Hotaru states. Madoka finally vomits in the corner of the room. "You may think me as cold but its the truth. Going to the trial will make you experience more horrible things in front of your own eyes. Highly doubt we're getting out of this without another execution." Hotaru has got a point. The Despairs would love nothing more than host one in their own headquarters. Because they're sick.

"Do you gotta be so mean to that kid, Hotaru?" In response, Hotaru sighs. She sits down in the chair and starts spinning around.

"In that state, the trial is gonna break her. Don't want another Despair on our hands," Hotaru explains. She stops spinning. It surprises me that she's not at least dizzy. Or shows it on the outside. I would've passed out. Guess she's used to it. Being in the circus has a surprising amount of pros. Maybe I should've ran away and joined one as well. Don't know what I'll be though. Probably the freak-show.

"I won't let that happen!" Madoka exclaims in the corner. She takes some of the clothing off Natsumi. And then she places it over her vomit. "I promised my mom I'll serve hope as much as possible!"

"That's the spirit," I grin. She might have much to learn but Madoka has something about her. No wonder she's in such a high place at a young age. But I literally don't know anything about the Future Foundation. Pretty sure everything taught to us in school is a lie.

"Alright, alright." Hotaru places her feet on the desk. She relaxes in the chair, going a far way back. Its impressive that she doesn't fall over. "Natsumi might have been an asshole but he had a good taste in chairs."

"Yea! Now, you know, there's been something, um, bothering me." Madoka then points to the weapon piles around Ayano. I notice how she uses her palm to cover up the body as much as possible. "Why are there piles of weapons everywhere? That's so unsafe! I would be kicked off the Future Foundation for that sloppy work!"

"Because they were part of a motive," Hotaru and I explain at the same time. We both chuckle.

"But what's really weird is that they're moved around. Pretty sure Hayato was spending a lot of time organizing them. But now, here they are, out of order again. I'm shocked that he hasn't gone haywire. Miyuki would've killed the person who did that if she put in all that work and was still alive," Hotaru adds-on. Hayato was too busy being beat up by Natsumi though. It probably has not processed in his system yet.

"If my mom finds the state of my mom right now, I would be so dead." I would be the same as Madoka. True, I never knew my mother but I've heard stories. Such as I being the reason she's dead. But also that she liked things clean. My room is probably the same. Or maybe my dad has sold off everything. You know what, its probably that, my dad always wants more money. Bye everything I hold dear. Hope the extra bottles of beer was worth it.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #13-The Weapon Piles**

 **Around the body, the weapon piles had been arranged differently. Even though there is no known motive to do so.**

* * *

"No motive to do so? Now I know there was a motive!" Hotaru points out.

"What? Um, that makes no sense."

"That Kaneshiro bastard loves misleading us with these. So now we know the killer definitely has a motive! That's real important. Don't know why yet but that's how it is." Hotaru says things like they are. Because she's right. None of us pointed that out. And we've learned to read the Truth Bullets more closely. We had to if we survived for this long.

"You gotta think like Despairs if you wanna survive this. Can't rely on your relations forever," I inform her. Akita is dead and they wanted her alive, right? Then they can also make faults. Their faults could result in even more of our suffering.

"Um, how does one do that?" Madoka innocently questions us. She has to be protected at all costs. How can somebody that knows about all the horrors of the Committee and Despairs act this way? But somebody like her is the hope of the future. A person able to go on even through the hardest trials. Not a loser like me.

"Let's focus on the investigation instead. We're on a time limit." Hotaru points with her foot at something else in the photo. "These shelves. They weren't like that before. Did you or Hayato knock them down, Yasu?"

"Nope."

"Okay, that means it was either Ayano or her killer. But its weird she has no new injuries on her other than the obvious. Ayano is a fighter so she should've at least tried," Hotaru smirks. "Neither did that Kaneshiro bastard. And there's no blood or anything. Somebody should've been hurt with all those weapons laying around."

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #14-The Shelves in the Secret Room**

 **Some of the shelves in the secret room have been tipped over, almost as if there was a fight that took place there. However, despite the danger that this would cause, neither Ayano Nishiki or Kaneshiro Kazuma have any known injuries from the brawl.**

* * *

"There's also the glaring elephant in the room that part of the room exploded!" That is important. Hotaru is right. There's a lot of things that don't make sense with this scene.

"Hm, I wonder what kind of, um, explosive. Only if I could go back and observe more. Explosives are my weakness," Madoka mopes. I look over to the wall and see that all the knives are actually different. Their...whatever anything is called...you know, maybe I shouldn't say anything about knives.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #15-The Explosion**

 **The additional keypad and room connected to the secret room look to have been bombed. However, nobody else felt anything throughout the school, even Natsumi Fuuma. Because of the explosion, the keypad and extra room had been completely destroyed and could not be investigated thoroughly.**

* * *

"Um, speaking of explosions, shouldn't some of those weapons not go together? I'm, like, pretty sure some should've blown up," Madoka points out. "Like you don't have to be a genius to figure out that, you know, shouldn't do that." She points to one of the shotguns. Its huge so visible enough to see. "That doesn't have the safety on."

"Wait, how can you see that!?" I check the screen. It's too small to see anything. All it is are a couple pixels. Even Hotaru is trying to make it out but can't.

"I don't know, I just can. And look at this, that's a grenade launcher! And it that a bazooka. All these needles are bad for you. Why is all the poison in glass bottles? That can break easily!" Madoka keeps going on for awhile. She almost names everything on the screen. "Hm, um, that's weird. There's no knives that would make that cut, you know. They're either too sharp or dull. And the teeth don't match."

"Seriously, how can you tell that from here?" This must be the main reason Madoka is the head of security. I never knew this much went into weapons. Thought every knife was mostly the same.

"Haha, well, I've been given the title of Honorary Ultimate Weapon Specialist." Hotaru and I stare at her. What does Honorary Ultimate even mean? And how did she become one? It would make sense she couldn't become official because of being on the run. Does that mean that the real...no, that's not right...but it is...real Atsuto was an Honorary Ultimate like her? Or did he just make it up?

* * *

 **Honorary Ultimate Weapon** **Specialist**

 **Madoka Ueno**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #16-State of Weapons**

 **Madoka Ueno analyzed the weapons visibly seen in the photographs and found that none fit the description of the one that killed Ayano Nishiki.**

* * *

"They're still handing out those titles? I thought they stopped," Hotaru comments. Wait, Hotaru knew too? Must be my idiocy. I'm always out of the loop on things.

"Izuru started it again. Let's see, he said we needed hope or, you know, something like that." Izuru? Didn't he work with Junko? No, I shouldn't jump to conclusions like that. Only dumbasses do that. But the popularity of every name involved with the Ultimate Despairs plummeted after the Tragedy. If its somebody different, then they're probably old. Or their parents hated them more than mine. Either or.

"What's the program?" I ask them.

"Basically, because Ayano Kirigiri had such a hard on for talent, she created this secret program for people of all ages to become Ultimates before Hope's Peak was built. It took the Irvings a lot of convincing. And then Makoto Kirigiri stole the idea from his daughter so the Future Foundation would be able to fight back," Hotaru explains. She shifts her legs.

"And then seventeen of them were forced to kill each other," Madoka states. Her face turns serious. "One of these people was Kazuma Kaneshiro, the Honorary Ultimate Hypnotist."

"Hypnotist? Wasn't he brainwasher?" Once again, Hotaru and I have the same question.

"Yeah," she replies. "Something, um, changed on the train. And Hanami won't tell me. She's the Honorary Ultimate Singer. Only she and one other person got off and went to the Future Foundation." That was news to us. Though it adds up with there being more Killing Games. Guess not all of them have to do with official Ultimates. Hell, most of them are probably done with average people pulled off the streets. Wouldn't surprise me if the Committee didn't give a shit about them. The only reason why they keep me around is that I sometimes tinker with things well.

"How do you know all this? I may not be part of it yet I think I know enough," Hotaru asks. Madoka does not answer us. I could see that Hotaru is about to ask again before she's interrupted.

"Congrats! You've found all the clues you need for the murders so..." Junko is once again talking to us. There's some noise over the intercom before something gets deleted from the computer. Its the only two photos of the crime scene! She really shows me how useless I really am! Everything else is alright though. But at least we get another Truth Bullet. Because I'm so pathetic that I've allowed this game to drive for only those. Wouldn't be surprised if the trial gets stopped before the whole truth. Gotta make a sequel out of something, huh? Even thinking like that, I still don't understand their fourth wall references.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #17-Honorary Ultimates**

 **Ayano Kirigiri and Matoko Kirigiri used to assign Honorary Ultimates. It was thought to have died after Matoko's death and the founding of Hope's Peak, but Izuru Kamukura continued the legacy.**

 **Kazuma Kaneshiro used to be the Honorary Ultimate Hypnotist.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #18-Previous Killing Game**

 **There was a previous Killing Game that Kazuma Kaneshiro was a part of with sixteen other Honorary Ultimates. Hanami Fukushima survived with one other, while all the others are currently unaccounted for.**

* * *

So the previous Killing Game had something to do with this? Would finding out the past expose the truth of the present? No, it never works that easily. Hanami seems to be the only one who knows but won't tell. If Junko is to be trusted. Which actually...none of this can be trusted. This is making my head hurt even more. I just want to go back to the warmth of Atsuto. But did that really exist in the first place?

"If you wanted to, um, know, the Future Foundation found you guys because there was this signal." It was the most obvious attempt of changing the topic ever. Too bad I want to know more.

"Kid, do you know who sent it?" Hotaru is busy looking through many photos. Probably trying to see if one has another angle on the crime. That's the smart thing to be doing. The thing that will actually matter in the long run. But damn my emotions, I wanna know.

"No." Hotaru summons us to show that's actual important. Can't believe how useful I am. Maybe because there's nobody else that I have to depend on. Gotta learn how to be a big kid. No more sitting on my ass and being useless.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #19-The Code**

 **The Future Foundation found the survivors because of a mysterious signal that had been sent out to them. Nobody knows who sent the code.**

* * *

"Wait, since you've been out of the game, how are the hostages?" I don't give a shit about my dad. But I wanna know how the loved ones of others are doing. Nobody knew whether or not Monokuma was pulling more shit out of his ass with our loved-ones are dead nonsense. Though I didn't have anyone like that before the game. Nobody but Mochi and Dango. My first friends were made here, my first love. That's why I made so much fucking bad decisions. Mirabilis and Mitsuru didn't deserve to die. I should be dead instead! Both of them were changing the world! And I just do nothing but not even that cool of shit.

"What about them? They're, uh, fine. Living their, um, normal lives." So he was full of shit. That would've been too suspicious even for the Despairs. Bur what do I know? Nothing.

"There's nothing left of the crime scene! Damn!" Hotaru gets out of the chair to kick the wall. It would be best to give her time to rest. She's the one doing most of the important shit anyway. Maybe there's something else to ask Madoka. Wait, if she knows about all the Killing Games, maybe she knows what happened to Matoko and his friends. I never wanted to admit it but I looked up to them. Matoko was the Ultimate Hope for the world and myself. Don't care if it is Committee bullshit or not, I still look up to them. Maybe their win is what gave me strength to continue on.

"What about Matoko and the other survivors?" I hated how happy I sounded. Why am I like this? She probably thinks me a creep now. Only if I could take that back. Take back everything that has ever happened. My whole life has been an embarrassment. One mistake after another. Except Mochi. But Mochi is the exception to the rule.

"Um...how do I put this?"

"They're dead, remember? Or has your memory been screwed with? Akita and Hideyoshi Yamazaki killed all of the survivors of Junko's game. Eventually, the former Ultimate Despairs joined them. All that's left is Izuru Kamukura. And now that dude has lost his only child," Hotaru snapped. She then punches the wall. Afterward, she released a harsh breath.

"Calm down, Hotaru!" Madoka exclaims. Its hard hearing that but not surprising. That's how this world is. Doesn't care whether or not you're a hero. Death doesn't discriminate. It just takes and it takes and it takes...

"I couldn't tell Ayano any of this because my memory were fucked with. What a joke. And I didn't realize until this random ass program thing named Izumi shoved a flashlight in my face." Hotaru slowly descents to the ground and sits there. I walk over there, doing the same. Madoka looks at us. She keeps trying to find something around the room.

"Are you alright, kid?"

"None of this is fair." Hotaru covers her eyes with her arm. Though I can still see her tears. Mochi comes up to us. He jumps to my lap but I quickly place him in Hotaru's. She looks at him for a couple seconds before petting him.

"What-"

"We should be focusing on the case!" Hotaru cannot hide her face from me now. She deserves to cry unlike me. "But I can't stop thinking about Ayano. Of all the things I should've done."

"..." I decide to listen. Its not my place to say anything. Because all my advice would be useless, definitely make things worse. Somebody like me doesn't deserve to say anything.

"...I've known she loved me for a long time. I'm not an idiot. Saw how she looked at me, how she treated me. God, I haven't realized it until now but I'm not like Kazuhiko..." Hotaru gives me direct eye contact. "The thing is...I think I was stupid enough to fall in love with her too. Dammit. I'm not the type of person to be interested in romance. And, here I am, crushing on a dead girl."

"..." No place. Hotaru pets Mochi harder but he seems to strangely like it. Why doesn't he like it when I do that? Is it because Hotaru is better at everything than me? Even something she has shown no knowledge in? Worthless. Useless. Disgrace. Ugly. Whore. Bitch. Defect. Mistake. Abomination...I really shouldn't have been born. But better end this. Getting rid of Kaneshiro will be enough to undo the wrong that's my existence.

"Thank you for listening, Yasu. I think I'm better now. Sorry for snapping. We should really continue the investigation." Hotaru lifts Mochi up before walking back to the computers. Mochi goes to her and Madoka. Am I that useless that he likes them more now? But then Mochi comes to me and nuzzles his face into my leg. I smile and fight back my tears. He gets a little pet before I go with them.

"Time to get back on track, let's start with something easy. Yasu and I woke up in the pods with nobody else there, yeah?" Hotaru looks to me for approval. I nod my head. "So something must've happened with the bodies."

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #20-The Pod Room**

 **When Yasu Matsuhita and Hotaru Amemori woke up, they were still in their pods for the Killing Game. Nobody else was there, even the students who have died.**

* * *

"We're getting back to the grove of things already, kids," I respond. Its better to make them think I'm happier. Don't want to waste their time with them worrying about me. Asking meaningless questions like are you okay.

"Let's-"

"You know, you guys are working too well. Its been like two hours and you've found twenty clues. That can't be. So let's spice things up!" Junko has somebody with her play a trumpet sound. Nothing good could come of this.

"Get it over with already, Junko!" Hotaru shouts. She crosses her arms. That's the first time I realize how much bags are underneath Hotaru's eyes. Wonder if mine are the same. I sleep too much but too little.

"Can I have a drum roll please..." The trumpet stops to make way for the drums. They hurt Mochi's ears so I cover them. Won't do much but hopefully lessen the pain. But Hotaru and Madoka are both frozen. They wait anxiously for the announcement.

"The reason why Kazuma Kaneshiro became the Ultimate Brainwasher was because of your precious sweetheart of a mom, Madoka~"

Madoka goes to take one of the knives she had thrown earlier. She then threw it directly at the intercom. It gets destroyed.

* * *

"So...that's the truth...?" Hanami's eyes blink as she processes everything. "That gives me more reason to kill him and everybody else too. Don't want them ending up just like him."

"I will continue helping you if you agree to stop trying making Kaneshiro a victim in all of this," I tell her. I see it happen all to often, people getting dragged into a darkness because of denial and trying to help those they think care for them. Hanami is a good person, so I do not want her to become yet another monster like Kaneshiro.

"...Alright..." Before we could finish our conversation, somebody bursts through the door. It is the man with the long black hair and heterochromia eyes.

"I am here, Hanami," he says as he frees her of her chains. Then he does the same thing to me. My wrists hurt, but, other than that, I am shockingly unharmed. There is a high chance that will not last for very much longer.

"Thank you, sir."

"Its Izuru Kamukura."

* * *

 **Hayato is so done with everybody's bullshit. Including mine for staying up until 1:30 AM to write this. He's like, get sleep, Requiem, for that is the logical process to take so you can have more ideas to torture your readers. (If there's a lot of mistakes, I blame my very poor sleeping habits)**

 **Plus, making the investigation more parts instead of making it one big chapter. Because. I never like writing long chapters.**

 **Anyways, we've finally made it to 400,000+ words! Thank you all for sticking along with this Hell of a ride. We're almost the most popular SYOC too. Like, seriously, how did this happen? Thanks so much to all of you! :D**

 **And also please audition for the audiobook. XD Please. If you can't, tell your friends about it. We're almost to the point that we can start it.**

 **Reviews~ (RIP review section got destroyed by Tobi. But I love screams so I don't mind. SCREAM LOUDER FOR ME!)**

 **Ziggymia123-I can fool everyone. ;) Nope, it was just Hanami trying to make sense with everything. I think Hayato literally had the same reaction as you. THAT'S BULLSHIT! Although the Master... _oh, its gonna be fun exploring the Master more in other stories_. Natsumi always does something suspicious. Its never the most obvious answer.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-No, Junko means no harm, we should all become friends with Junko. She totally won't murder you in your sleep. Because that would be boring. Mochi is saving every single cast member. Thanks so much~**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-Thank you for breaking my review section. Now scream some more. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**

 **AnonChan1-Hayato is going to do that anyway. Yes, Junko is using her royal persona here. For once its not a typo or a plot important typo. Only in my stories do you have to worry about plot important typos and normal typos. No, Akita was the Ultimate Fourth Wall Breaker. Don't trust any characters with me. Yasu always in need for more bunny kisses. LETS START A RIOT! Poor kids thinking of important things when its already way too late. Here's some more Dango angst. I like making Yasu suffer more and more and more. Who needs happiness when you've Req torturing Yasu again? Poor Yasu. Thank God for Izumi. I'm not saying who it is. ;) Yasu is still sad about Mirabilis. Then again, I'm still sad about Mirabilis. Kaneshiro is here to make everybody's day worse. Nope, Kaneshiro is in control of his actions. Hotaru is just used for this short little scene because I got nobody else but Madoka. And Madoka's POV would be spoilers. I can't guarantee that, Yellow is the one in charge of the afterlife right now. Yes, an Akemi fan, you're a rare breed Anon. XD Poor, poor Akemi. Mochi would've killed everybody who ever thought of hurting Yasu if he had the power. It was fun to write, although I wanted him to suffer more. JUNKO WILL NEVER LEAVE! Well, guys, Anon already got brainwashed by the Master. That's the best flag.**


	73. Investigation 6-3

**Investigation 6-3: Rigor Mortis**

* * *

Madoka stands there. She picks up another knife. With it, she throws it at the already destroyed intercom. This is repeated until Madoka runs out of knives.

Hotaru and I have other things to focus on. It feels shitty ignoring Madoka's struggle. But, that doesn't have anything to do with the present. The truth might explain things but not save our lives. Time to finally figure out what the fuck is really happening.

"Something's up with that other Killing Game that happened," Hotaru notes as Madoka rips the intercom from the wall. She then begins to kick it. There is no stopping her in this state. Best to keep our distance and have her vent out all of her emotions.

"Yeah, kid, you might be up to something." Hotaru brings up the picture of the bodies. Five of them, brutalized beyond recognition. It was savage just like ours. How did the Committee think that anything good could come out of this? I might be an idiot but I would make sure that my plans make sense. Or at least Mochi could become my fact-checker. Don't know how but Mochi has saved me a great number of times during homework assignments. The boy might have been lazy before, though he still cared about me. And I'm worse than lazy, I'm useless. At least lazy people can get something done.

"Wait, so Akita was a false student, right? And there were supposed to be twenty-five of us. Guess Kaneshiro might be a fake too. That leaves only eighteen of us, plus the six that were supposed to come. But that's only..."

"Twenty-four." That's weird. There's also the fact that there are only five bodies shown. So did somebody escape? If they did, where are they? What is their connection to this game? And why haven't they done anything to save us?

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #21-The True Fifth Killing Game**

 **There was another Killing Game that happened in the simulation that ended in the deaths of five of the students. One of the known students is currently missing. Only Misao Arikida, Manami Yamada, and Yen Thai are confirmed dead. That leaves Bjørn Beck, Ambrož Čermák, and Charles Watson of the known class. It is unknown what is motive behind this Killing Game was. There seems to be a hidden student.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #22-The Suicide, Despair, and Hope Videos**

 **The True Despairs have the suicide, despair, and hope videos. It is odd that they have not destroyed the hope video.**

* * *

I see Hotaru state at the last bullet. Though I do as well. We didn't discuss that. Why is it here then? Could it be a glitch in the system, somebody trying to help us, or a way to mislead us? Or maybe Junko just thinks we're taking too long. Its a roll of the dice with these people. Not even the Ultimate Analyst can predict them. And that somehow makes them predictable. But we don't have the time to think about that right now. One less head means we'll take more time.

There is too much to do a through investigation with only a couple hours. This has to be speedy. Speed has never been my thing. Don't really have a thing though. If I do, then its definitely not speed. We might miss some things but right now quantity matters over quality. Quality is where the trials come into play. Plus, the same people seem to have control of the bullets. They will give us any needed information as evidence with eighteen.

"Kid, say anything suspicious on the top of your head. Don't explain it. Go!" Hotaru stares at me. Its such a stupid idea. But she opens her mouth anyway.

"Let's see then..." She thinks. Hotaru bites her lip. Then her eyes glow. Of course she can figure stuff out better than me. "...Mitsuru Banda! That bitch. She was killed by Kaneshiro. There has to be more with her death. Why didn't we question 'Atsuto' more?!" Hotaru slams her fist into the desk. Though afterward she takes a deep breath.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #23-Mitsuru Banda's Death**

 **Hotaru Amemori also thinks there's something suspicious with Mitsuru Banda's death. Now that they have figured out that Atsuto Togami was actually Kaneshiro Kazuma, that means the facts have to be different than the ones stated before.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #24-Shinichi Fujimoto**

 **Hotaru Amemori notes that she finds something weird. She says that the Despairs called Shinichi Fujimoto a traitor even though he has no known connection towards them.**

* * *

"Shouldn't we discuss this more? I think the Shinichi thing is kinda important. It reeks of butt-hurt. And I didn't say shit about Shinichi." Hotaru brings up her point. But its too logical for a place like this. There's no logic here. Even somebody like I can notice that. Build onto the ideas later. They are gonna be important to the trial if they come up here.

Shinichi was alright. Didn't really hang out with him too much. But Mitsuru...Mitsuru may have been a bitch but she was also my friend. Even though I was certain she would steal Mochi from me once we left the game. But she did care for people in her own weird, unique way.

"Later, kid, we don't have the time. Junko could end this any second." She said four hours. But despairs like her can't be trusted. There's no way to tell if its truly been two hours. It seems shorter than that. Though that can be all the adrenaline talking.

"There's, um, something I wanna check." Madoka is still not looking so hot. But she strolls to the computer with determination in her eyes. That's when she brings up the photo she took of one of the books. She points to the code. "That has to lead to somewhere. But there's nowhere to put that code. And Its definitely Kaneshiro, that's all of their birthdays."

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #25-The Birthday Code**

 **In one of the books, there was a list of codes. Madoka Ueno tells them that they are the birthdays of the people shown in the photo above them. The picture is of Honorary Ultimates. The code has to lead to somewhere but where?**

* * *

"But why would Kaneshiro do something that easy? Everybody knows that you don't make a password with birthdays," Hotaru comments. She and Madoka look like they are about ready to punch down all the walls in this place. Looks like I gotta make sure they don't get themselves killed. I suck at that job. We're all screwed.

Yet there's also something important in that book. I don't want to say it but there's a chance that it saves us all. There has to be some importance to that other crossed out name. A reason why my dumb brain can't remember anything about them. Maybe this is how Kaneshiro shows he still loves me...in his own sick, demented way...but...love...right? This clue. Its to make me more honest, right? Because I'm nothing but a filthy coward.

"Um..."

 _Stay in that place into you're fucking out of this no gender bullshit phrase. And find a boy whose dick is good to stick into your vagina. Lord knows that's all you're ever gonna be useful now. None of that I don't want sex bullshit either. Everybody wants sex!_

 _...Dad...you can't say that in public...they're gonna yell at you again..._

 _You got your hair all grown out and pretty-like. And none of that engineering phrase either. That's a man's job, got it? You just sit on your ass and shit out babies._

 _That's not how it works-_

 _Stop being such a smartass with me, Yumiko. I thought I raised you better than this! Aiko died so you'll be in this world and this is what I get. A good-for-nothing piece of shit._

 _I'll try to be better-_

 _Trying isn't good enough. Now you're not even entertaining anymore. This Hellhole better get you back your spark. Otherwise I'm gonna have to find another way to pleasure myself._

I take a deep breath. This ain't good. My hands begin to shake. Sleepiness threatens to take over my being again. But I've to stay strong. Yet I'm not strong. All my life I have been nothing but a weak, worthless piece of shit who can't do anything right.

"Um...conversion therapy..."

 _See how much pleasure you get feeling this? Doesn't it feel good? Come on, Yumiko, admit that it feels good and then you can finally go to sleep._

 _B-but...it hurts..._

 _No, it feels good. Yumiko, sweetheart, you want to go to sleep, don't you? Doesn't that sound like a wonderful idea?_

 _...I...um..._

 _Just admit the truth, it feels good._

... _It...feels..._

Good.

* * *

 _The woman is back. She still has the flowers in her hair. Her fingers pick one of them out. It is then replaced by another._

 _"He loves me..." She plays the game again. This time her voice is in a song. Its beautiful. Nothing like I could ever sound like...right? Singing was never a strong suit of mine. Dad said I sounded like a dying frog. "He loves me, he loves me, he loves me..."_

 _I try to touch the girl. She moves away. My fingers only touch her skin for a moment. But that's enough to make my whole body cold._

 _"He loves me, he loves me, he loves mmmmeeeeeeeee!" The girl starts to get frantic. She does not say anything as he plucks the flowers of its petals. Laughs fill the silence. However, she stops at the last. Tears are in her eyes._

 _"...He loves you...more than me..." The girl hides her face. She weeps so much that tears fill in the room as she laughs. That happens until the only thing left is water and flowers, now wilted and dead._

* * *

That's bad, Yasu is another one of their sleeping fits. But they were about to say something about conversion therapy. Wouldn't surprise me if the Committee did shit like that. They might go on and on about how they're progressive and shit, how you can always be yourself, yet the Committee funds so much bullshit that even the most loyal of slaves sometimes question their intentions. Most of the time I cannot figure out what the Irvings are doing. They've to be in charge of whatever the Committee is doing considering the simple fact that Ayano Kirigiri got shot through the head. Wonder if they're being honest about her death. They might not even know about it, labeling her as missing. Good, because I don't want to see a big funeral of thousands of people being forced to cry or executed. That bitch doesn't deserve that.

Once again, Yasu is placed in the corner. And Mochi finds his way on their chest. I find it sick that I'm sorta jealous. Yasu is able to have an excuse to not participate in this shit, while I have to stay strong and continue onward. Its not fair but when has life been fair?

That's when Madoka and I realize there's another bullet on there. Of course there is because the Despairs still don't think we can figure out this shit ourselves. We're gonna beat their asses and prove them otherwise. Because that's how stories like this go. But then I don't know what would happen afterward, or if we could really take down an organization this big overnight. Yet it would be cool if we did. Nobody would ever know but I think we would get some sort of bragging rights.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #25-Conversion Therapy**

 **On the same page of the birthday code, there was a list of subjects that participated in conversion therapy for their gender or sexuality with two names being marked off with marker. Yasu Matsuhita is one of the deleted names. The other is currently unknown.**

* * *

Its disturbing but makes too much sense. Of course that happened. Because this is the world we live in. Its shit. Nobody knows whats happening except for the fact that it causes great suffering to those not high up in the Committee. Committee politics just confuse the Hell out of me. It seems so needlessly convoluted.

Madoka is looking through the photos while I think about things. Just gotta think of suspicious shit that has happened. But the thing is, everything's suspicious. Used to think Yasu's narcolepsy was a programming error yet they still show signs of it in the real world. Could be another fake world yet I do not want to think about that right now. All this computer shit is for somebody like Yasu to deal with.

"Hotaru! I found something!" Madoka exclaims. The girl may be a childish brat though now she seems to know what she's doing. Doesn't change the fact that she throws tantrums like a toddler. Pretty sure her weapons need some taking care of after this. Being repeatably throw like that is bound is leave some marks.

Its the clinic stupidly named the Hospital. Its mostly a photo of nothing that looks like it was taken on accident. Though there's something weird.

"...A flashlight..." Madoka and I both say at once. Its the weirdest looking one I've ever seen.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #26-A Flashlight?**

 **Madoka Ueno accidentally snapped a photo of what appears to be a flashlight in the Hospital. However, it looks weird, so it cannot possibly be a normal one.**

* * *

Its a lot like the one Izumi used on me to remember the true face of Atsuto. Turns out Satoshi and Atsuto don't look the same. And Kaneshiro didn't have the foresight to plan his avatar to look like Satoshi. He must've thought about the Atsuto thing on the fly. Pretty goddamn smart but that caused there to be many holes. Of course, afterward Natsumi deleted Izumi from existence and then used my body as his puppet. And that wasn't fun.

But, thinking about the clinic, or whatever else you're supposed to call it besides Hospital, there was some weird shit happening to Ayano even before the whole fourth trial insanity. Talk about Kaneshiro having an obsession with her. There has to be a reason why. Kaneshiro isn't like most Despairs. Everything has some twisted, messed up goal.

There was that time that Ayano got shot. And there was that time I found her on the floor, crying her eyes out. Still don't know what that was about. There was so much weird shit going on. I should've noticed then. But I was too much of a dumbass! I could've stopped all of this before it began!

And now Ayano is dead. Ayano is dead and its all my fault. How fucking stupid of me for falling in love. I never was the one to develop something as silly as romantic attraction but I ended up falling into a sick love game. Love is for idiots. Guess I'm truly a dumbass now.

That is when the computer updates with something out of the blue. Thank God for something to pull me out of my teenage angst.

"Rosalina Irving?" Madoka wonders out loud. Don't tell me Mirabilis was even more involved than we thought. It was crazy enough learning that she somehow was related to the Irvings. She isn't their daughter, otherwise they would be flaunting her around everywhere and not even dare to give her a fake name.

"We can do our own goddamn investigation. Weren't they just praising us for how good we are? Why are they treating us like babies now?" Except if they want us to figure out everything. Are they so concerned about the truth finally that they are basically giving the answers to us? "Anyways, there was weird 'Hospital stuff with Ayano and getting shot. Just give us all the bullets you cowards if you're acting like this. It would make it so the both of us waste less time."

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #27-Rosalina Irving**

 **Rosalina Irving was the second in line to the Committee when she was still alive. It is unknown why she ended up with much more different morals and values than the rest of the Irvings.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #28-The Ayanos Getting Shot**

 **Both Ayano Nishiki and Ayano Kirigiri were shot by an unknown person. The person only gazed Ayano Nishiki and clearly did not plan to kill her. However, the person killed Ayano Kirigiri.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #29-Ayano Kirigiri's Motives**

 **Ayano Kirigiri was not allied with the True Despairs but instead the American World Restoration Committee. She stated that she hated Kotori Hiraoka. Due to Kaneshiro Kazuma tricking her, Ayano Kirigiri was no longer the main mastermind.**

* * *

"Well, thanks for the added information." Madoka and I look about ready to punch the wall. And Yasu is not here to stop us. The only reason we stop is because Mochi rubbing himself against our legs. Rabbit feet really are lucky for him to stay alive this entire time. Thought Kaneshiro would kill him for the sake of despair, or somehow force Yasu to kill him to drive them into insanity. But Yasu would probably want to kill themself before any harm is done to Mochi, especially by their hands.

"Mirabilis was the world's, you know, hope. And they just took her away!" Madoka is about to punch the computer but stops herself. Good, because we need this shit.

"Yep," I respond. Best not to tell her Hayato did it if she doesn't know. Don't want her to jump to any conclusions. Because then people would start putting the blame on all of us survivors. I'm surprised nobody has blamed me or Ayano for Minato yet. Or maybe they did and I just forgot or wasn't there for it.

A part of me wants to ask whats going on with Madoka's mother. But I know that's a death sentence, though Madoka is probably waiting for me to ask. Already know I would either get a punch in the face or not a clear answer. There's no way somebody like her will be entirely truthful about that.

"You know, I'm really surprised nothing has come out about Personality Experiment #045 for awhile. It seems like everything in this goddamn game is somehow connected to it," I sigh. Its a big mess I rather not think about again. But that third person is clearly important somehow. Yet, for the life of me, I can't find out who they are or how they fit into the puzzle.

"What's up, kids?" Next thing I know, Yasu is back awake. Though they've clearly seen better days. But I shouldn't say that, I probably look like absolute shit too. There hasn't exactly been a mirror hanging around.

"Um, hi, Yasu, feeling better?" Madoka tries to make conversation but it fails. Probably because us two are way too changed from our experiences. Living normal day-to-day life would be hard after this. Though I doubt it will actually be normal.

"Let's just continue." Yasu is right. This is not the time to be overly concerned about the things on the surface level. I feel like I've been hit by a thousand trucks but I'm still going strong. But maybe we've gone absolutely insane during the course of the game. Most people would be slightly concerned about the two random dead bodies in the corner but for me its just another day. Its not like I knew them. Hell, what were even their names?

"So time for all that Personality Experiment #045 bullshit again. Kotori went full on crazy instead of the slightly below full on crazy she was before. And then she started placing dead people inside people's brains." The bitch is dead. She didn't think about doing it to herself otherwise Kaneshiro wouldn't be throwing such a fit about it.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #30-Personality Experiment #045**

 **Only two out of the three experiments are known. The known subjects were Akita Yamazaki and Takayuki Anno.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #31-Personality Experiment #044 and #046**

 **There was a precursor to Personality Experiment #045. It involved the same idea but failed miserably.**

 **There's also Personality Experiment #046. Not much is known about this experiment other than it now exists.**

* * *

For the love of...not more of them! I mean, there has to be more than forty-five experiments of this type but I never thought any of them would be plot important. This trial is gonna make my head hurt more than it already is. And I get the bad feeling that things are only gonna get more crazier from here.

"Does that, um, mean Kotori Hiraoka is involved in this?" Madoka asks the both of us. Yasu and I nod our heads at the same time. Kotori finds a way to screw with people even from beyond the grave.

"There's that mess that was going on with Ayano and Kazuhiko. Do any of you kids know the full story about that?" Yasu questions us. I only know bits and pieces. Pretty sure the both of them were used for experiments. Something about Ayano's body proportions always seemed off to me, like her legs were made taller but not the rest of her body. Don't know how the Hell something like that could have happened. It seems scientifically impossible. But then again, it always seems like the Committee is hiding their scientific advancements from us.

"I wasn't, um, in charge of, you know, investigations. That's Mbali. Not sure where she went. Said she had a lead about the Master or something," Madoka responds. So there's some structure in the Future Foundation still. There seems to be a lot of new people. Figures since most of the old staff were murdered.

"Wasn't Kazuhiko the one that killed Kotori? Isn't that connected to the reason he murdered Akita as well?" Kazuhiko knew more than he let on. Even Ayano didn't know everything and they were so sickeningly sweet towards each other. It surprises me that Kaneshiro didn't keep a better eye on him. I would have since, even without all the previous murder business, Kazuhiko was beyond smart and knew how to get information. That's how he figured out who the mastermind was after it was too late.

"There's a new bullet. Seems like its gonna be important," Yasu comments.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #32-Kotori Hiraoka**

 **Kotori Hiraoka was killed by Kazuhiko Hiraoka to protect Ayano Nishiki. This fact has something to do with the Killing Game but what?**

* * *

"Aw, no new bullshit bullets we didn't earn. How sweet of you Despairs."

"Please don't taunt them," Yasu replies. Its pretty stupid but, then again, its probably giving one of them a massive boner. We've done nothing but piss them off this entire game.

"Its almost time for the trial!" Appearing on the computer, Junko smiles. Of course she doesn't follow her original rules. There's no way that this took an hour, let alone two. Even more bullshit from the Despairs. They like to see us suffer even more than Junko in the original games. At least then you could sort of count on the rules to help you.

"What do you want!?" Madoka shouts while punching the wall nearest to the computer. It shakes. Guess that little girl is stronger than I gave her credit for.

"I'm helping you, silly. Things are getting boring when even after that big reveal you decide just to focus on investigating! I want the trial to happen already! There's so much big twists!" Junko exclaims. Then she once again breaks the rules of reality by changing into another one of her personas and somehow growing mushrooms on her head. "Its gonna be boring. Everything's like that. Life sucks and repeats itself. Yada, yada, yada."

"Why should we trust anything from you?" Yasu adds into the conversation. Their words are biting and cold. Don't blame them, I want to chock the life out of this bitch just as much as I did with Natsumi. Not sure if the games rules are still being applied though. Other than the whole dying if we don't win this trial thing. We've not come this far just to bite the dust now. That would suck. The Despairs might be angry with all the switching protagonists. Because they keep treating this like its some sort of fiction even though they know we're real.

"Its a little favor. Learn how to take one." Junko rolls her eyes as she places glasses on. "Its nothing emotional. Made the analysis that it would be easier for us to reach our goals if we give you this. Win-win situations are what I strive for." Without going into how bullshit that statement is, that means we can't this this evidence. Something's off and Junko won't tell us. Probably won't let us know either. She's keeping us in this room so she has full control over our actions.

"You bitch!" Madoka tries to punch the computer. Yasu and I have to stop her from destroying it. Junko sticks her tongue out, acting like a little child. She calms down once Junko leaves the computer, especially since Yasu is helping Madoka take deep breaths. But I'm curious for what she left behind. There's a big white envelope on the screen now.

"Please don't somehow be porn," I whisper. That's something we don't have to deal with right now. Getting the mouse, I clicked on it. Yasu and Madoka are both also paying attention. That's when the picture finally loaded.

Its a picture of all the dead bodies of our classmates. Akita, Kazuhiko, Shinichi, Cassius, Naoko, Kyoto, Mitsuru, Mirabilis, Takayuki, Miyuki, Namita, Minato, Kira, Tsukiko, Akemi, Takara, Ayano...and...and me? Not this bullshit again. I get that Kaneshiro really wants my beautiful ass to be six feet under so he can cross off fucking a corpse off of his bucket list but too bad I'm not dead yet.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #33-Junko**

 **Junko Enoshima is back and its unknown on how she has not aged.**

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #34-Photo of Dead Classmates**

 **Monokuma sent a photo of all the dead classmates together. It includes all of the dead. Something is wrong about it. Especially because Hotaru Amemori is included as well.**

* * *

"What? Do you know the reason for that?" Yasu and Madoka seem to have noticed as well. Either Junko is really screwing with us, this is somehow the truth, or a mix of both. Truth Bullets haven't been exactly truthful this entire time. Its best to take this with a grain of salt.

"I don't know, they pulled the same bullshit with the robots. At least get my body right cowards." But this shit looks more real than those creepy ass robots. They're more human. But seriously, screw those robots. If I somehow end up being another one of those weird experiments, I'm throwing myself off the building. Its enough having Yuu and Yuki being somehow conjoined because of that monster. But now I've to deal with her messing with Akita and Hideyoshi so much that they turn into...whatever those people were. They weren't Akita and Hideyoshi. I'll never forgive Kaneshiro for what he did to them. No matter what, I want to see the moment the light leaves his eyes.

"...That's, um, weird. Anything else? To distract from, you know, the possibility of our deaths." Madoka awkwardly laughs. That's right, there's no time to ponder on this for too long. Junko made it clear that we only have a short amount of time now. Yet nothing is currently coming to my mind.

"How about you, kid? Any idea?" Yasu looks at Madoka. Madoka then starts humming while she thinks of something. "Got anything Hotaru?"

"Not really, my mind is just going blank." Perhaps because this is a lot to take in. Not even with all these investigations has my mind gotten used to this. Though this somehow seems longer than usual. Being stuck in one room, unable to breath probably helps with the unbearable stress. After this I'm going to bed and not waking up for three days. Since I haven't gotten any sleep since forever. Like thanks, Natsumi, my body still needed basic functions...jerk.

"Me too. There's something missing." Yasu notices Mochi by their legs. They sit down on the floor and begin to pet him.

"Just what?" Madoka still seems like she's about to say something. Can't tell whether or not it will be stupid. People have surprised me before. Especially during this game. It will be interesting to learn how Madoka is involved later. Don't trust her for the simple fact that she's clearly not telling us everything. The girl is a bad liar so why is she doing it so often?

"Probably something that seems like its not important but then its like, nah bitch, I'm important," I say. Its always the small things that screw these people over.

"Well, there's the other Killing Games. There's, um, this one that's oddly familiar. Like, it took place in apartments and stuff. Its weird. Nobody knows what the deal with it was," Madoka voices. The apartments? What do the apartments have to deal with any of this? I've a bad feeling that my fate would be severely different in those. Like I would get blown up and die first.

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #35-The Apartments**

 **The Apartment Killing Game is somehow involved with this Killing Game. Not much is known about it other than there were only two survivors.**

* * *

"Two survivors?" all of us question. None of us knew that shit. They're still somewhat helping us. Well, thanks Despairs for making the situation you forced us in slightly easier.

"Now..." My words stop as I notice gas enter the room. Quickly I cover whatever of my mouth I can. Madoka does the same but Yasu is taken by the gas. Mochi enters their toolbox before succumbing to the same fate. They're both fast asleep. Cowards cannot even deal with us directly. At least give us a good fight!

A few Despairs enter the room with gas masks. Because they're too much of wimps to face us with these conditions. Making sure that the cloth stays over our mouths, Madoka and I get the knives. Its hard only having one hand to do this with but its better than nothing.

"Get out of here Yasu, okay?" Madoka whispers to me. I nod my head. Its better than nothing. Perhaps we can avoid the trial altogether if lucky enough.

Madoka attack some of the Despairs that try to get us. Then I begin to enter the vent with Yasu. Too dangerous to go out the front door. They would be smart enough to put reinforcements there. So its a gamble to pray they won't do the same for the pod room. Dragging Yasu along with me is slowing me down. But there's no way in Hell that I'll ever leave them behind. We've been through too much together to back away now. I might have not spent the most amount of time with Yasu or Hayato in the game but they're all I got now.

I make it with Yasu to the pod room. Laying them down, I examine the room, knife ready in one of my hands. Don't know what can happen next. Now that the room is clear for a possible safe room, I pick up Yasu again to continue our journey.

"Whoever said you can leave?" The door opens. Kaneshiro and Junko come inside. I quickly throw Yasu into the vent before they lay eyes on us. Don't know if they saw but its best to believe they didn't. Gonna have to apologize to Yasu later for being so rough with them.

I do not say anything to them. They get closer. My hands are so shaky. I just have to throw it. Throw it and it can be over. This is what I'm supposed to be good at. My talent is useless otherwise. Everything can be over.

"We'll kill Hayato if you kill us," Junko explains in her smart-ass persona again. She fixes her glasses. "There's no way out of this situation other than your surrender with Yasu and attending the trial. And do not think that we did not see you throw Yasu into the vent."

"Dammit. Hayato is gonna owe me big time for this." I drop the knife. Then I go to punch and kick the wall. Its so goddamn unfair! Getting Yasu from the vent, I begin to carry them once again.

"Maybe we should talk during-"

"Don't you even fucking think about it."

* * *

Running in the halls with Hanami and Izuru, I wonder what Hotaru and Yasu have gotten themselves involved in. The last time I noticed any sign of them was the gunshots. Those two have a bad habit of getting into trouble, just like I, which is strangely probably how the three of us have survived for this long. All of us have experienced the worse the games have to offer. That is how we learned to be survivors.

That is when we notice that there is a big group of Despairs in front of us in the hallway. Hanami pushes me into a random room. So now I do not know what is happening. There were so many questions I wanted to ask Izuru considering he is the most likely candidate to be Ayano's father. He is probably in so much pain because of her untimely demise.

In the room, I see that all the lights have been turned off. It would not be wise to turn them on since that would only show to the enemy where I was. I have to make do having to move around in the dark. Does not help that there is a fight going on outside and I worry about how Hanami and Izuru are taking care of themselves. Although I have just meet them, I want them to survive. Most likely because we are on the same side against the Despairs.

"Somebody has entered my room. Tell me, boy, what brings you here?" That is when I feel the breath of somebody else near me. I try to get away from them but its too late. They definitely know that I am here. And dealing with one possibly unarmed person is better than going outside and having to face those odds.

"Who are you?"

"One of the girls that time forgot. There's many of us but our existence has been forgotten. Erased by the Committee, the Future Foundation, and whatever else there is. The only place we belong is with the True Despairs," she responds. So she is an enemy but does not seem as unhinged as the others of her kind. Her voice is gentle and sweet.

"Are you so sure about that? I'm sure you can make a home for yourselves somewhere else." She then leans into me even though I try to get away from her. The position I find myself is too suggestive for my liking.

"No, this is the way things have to be," she answers. A faint red light, that most likely comes from a computer, turns on in a distant corner of the room. It only reaches us faintly. Some of the girl's black hair can be seen but nothing else.

That is the last thing I see before the darkness takes hold of me once again. Its a familiar feeling but that does not mean I have gotten used to it.

* * *

When I wake up again, I notice that I am with Yasu and Hotaru in an exact replica of the trial room we were forced into too many times.

"And now the final Class Trial can truly begin!"

* * *

 **This is the final investigation chapter. I'm gonna miss writing FoD so much when this finishes.**

 **Anyway, I thought I should give out the Discord link to you peeps reading this. Since I realize most of my readers probably don't view my Tumblr. RIP. Just put it back together since FF is such a tease when it comes to links. And remove the periods in the https.**

 **Discord Link:** **:** **h. t. t. p. s. : / / discord . gg / Tq2z SNW**

 **QOTC: What do you think is going on? Because this is crazy. I mean, 35 freaking Truth Bullets. I've no self control.**

 **Req's Rec: Danganronpa - Despair of Illness by Quincy Orchard**

 **Reviews~**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Hayato is a good boy and I like that people are starting to realize that. XD Turns out Kaneshiro was Despair!Kazuichi this entire time. Yasu needs a hug. The typos will never end...except for the audiobook since I actually have an editor. Because I finally learned how to be smart. But we need to make the memes. Still trying to find a way to get a Kaneshiro doing Kaneshiro joke in there. Izuru continues to be Izuru.**

 **Ziggymia123-Nothing bad happens in MoDE. Its just happy fun times. Hayato is here to be done with your bullshit. They're gonna try to get the answers here but fail miserably.**

 **Me-Please don't break my reviews. Stop doing so Yellow and Tobi. XD Its so hard writing author's notes with broken reviews.**

 **Lupus Overkill-REDACTED**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-SUBMIT! Well, thinking is good. But not as much as suffering. ;)**

 **RioA-I'm Req. I live to make you suffer.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Aw but Junko makes such a good friend. She even kills you to end your suffering. How nice of her. Yasu needs all the love in the world. I'm so sorry for doing this to you Yasu. Sleep for the weak. Thanks but Madoka is not Kotori's child...sadly. They're becoming buddies in suffering. Thanks so much again~**

 **AnonChan1-Its gonna to be weird for me too. Who can be my favorite child now? The Master is a very scary person. Hayato makes all the good points. All the prequels are very important, even the ones that aren't SYOC. Junko wants herself here. HAYATO CALLS EVERYBODY OUT ON THEIR BULLSHIT! Yasu is like repress everything, its gonna be alright *cries*. That's Hotaru true name. I now want that AU to be a thing as well. Well, we got a prequel and this trial for that. Trust me, the not SYOC prequels are interesting too, I swear. They truly all need a break. I think all our babies need us. Junko is here to ruin everything. Izuru is here to save us all...until he fails. Well, Bunny Island now exists. Akemi is my asshole and I love him.**


	74. Trial 6-1

**Trial 6-1: There is No Happy Ending**

* * *

"There's no podium for me. I thought I meant more to you!" Junko cries. Next thing I know, Yasu, Hotaru, and I find ourselves going to our old podiums. As if something is calling out to us to do so. Then Kaneshiro takes his spot as well, right next to Yasu. They stare at him, not being able to pay attention to anything else it seems. "I'm just gonna pick the spot of other Kazu. You know, the boring as shit one. You're my true Kazu, Kazu."

The room might be a good replica of the old trial room, but there are still things that are out of place. Starting with the most obvious, the room is a lot smaller, and seems to be more brightly lit as well. Having things be this similar but not is an uncomfortable feeling to have. Especially because, by the look of things, all the technology is less advanced.

Picking up the stand of Kazuhiko and throwing it to the side, Junko is now right next to me. Now I know how Yasu feels, for I cannot do anything but stare at her. It is disorientating to have Junko this close to me. But it is better than Kaneshiro, so I feel more sorry for Yasu. Hotaru keeps switching her gaze between the two of us, with an uncharacteristic look of discern on her face. This is an extremely dangerous situation with no known escape route as of yet. We will have to play along with them as long as we can. There has to be some way out of here with the Future Foundation looking for us.

That is when I realize that all of us have student handbooks in front of us. I feel sorry that I left Hotaru and Yasu alone for the investigation, but at least it seems like they had each other. Thinking about the investigation, I wonder how Hanami and Izuru are doing. Considering that I am currently here, it either means that the two of them escaped or got captured as well. Highly doubt Junko or Kaneshiro would tell me the truth if I was to outright ask them. There has to be a better way to gather information. Perhaps something in the evidence that Yasu and Hotaru gathered points to the conclusion?

* * *

 **Truth Bullet #1-You Know More Files (you get the drill by now) (Why do I have to type up everything? This is so longggggggggg)**

 _ **Takara's case of death was drowning. There were no other wounds on the body.**_

 _ **Ayano's neck was slit.**_

 **Truth Bullet #2-System Shutdown**

 _ **For some reason, the system was shutting down and Monokuma gave Hayato Akimoto and Yasu Matsuhita a sort of time limit to find the bodies and investigate.**_

 **Truth Bullet #3-Kaneshiro During the Shutdown**

 _ **Before the shutdown, Kaneshiro Kazuma was noted not to be in the program, but then he came afterwards to have a conversation with Yasu Matsuhita.**_

 **Truth Bullet #4-Monokuma's Actions**

 _ **Monokuma spurred Hayato Akimoto and Yasu Matsuhita to find the bodies. He seemed like he really wanted them to find both Takara Miyagi and Ayano Nishiki, in that order.**_

 **Truth Bullet #5-The Camera**

 _ **Yasu Matsuhita notes that there was a camera that was not there before by the pool. The light was still blinking when they found Takara Miyagi so that means it was still recording. No way they can get the leftover footage or find out whether or not it was recording the murder itself. Madoka Ueno notes that the camera is a new type that came out after the sim started and was most likely programmed in later on. Also, for some reason, Hayato Akimoto was extremely interested in the camera.**_

 **Truth Bullet #6-Takara's Body**

 _ **Takara Miyagi's body was found face down in the middle of the pool.**_

 **Truth Bullet #7-Water Around The Pool**

 _ **There was water near the pool, hinting that a battle took place, most likely between Takara and his killer. None of it landed on the camera even though it went around it. It was almost like somebody was protecting it.**_

 **Truth Bullet #8-Natsumi Fuuma**

 _ **Hotaru Amemori notes that around the time the murder would have taken place, she was no longer controlled by Natsumi Fuuma. She went to Hayato Akimoto so he could tie her up even though that ended up not working in the end.**_

 **Truth Bullet #9-Damaged Keypad and Door**

 _ **The keypad and door that leads to the secret room were damaged to the point beyond repair in the virtual world. For the keypad, it looks like a knife or a sharp object similar to it was constantly slashed against it. Somehow the door got off some of its hinges.**_

 **Truth Bullet #10-No Lights in the Secret Room**

 _ **When Hayato Akimoto and Yasu Matsuhita arrived to the secret room, all of the lights were off.**_

 **Truth Bullet #11-The TV**

 _ **The TV only turned on to a static channel once Yasu Matsuhita and Hayato Akimoto entered the room. It let out a noise that hurt their ears.**_

 **Truth Bullet #12-Ayano's Body**

 _ **Ayano Nishiki was found bound to a chair in front of the TV. Compared to other victims, Ayano was not brutally killed, only suffering a slit neck. She was crying during her death but her eyes remained normal.**_

 **Truth Bullet #13-The Weapon Piles**

 _ **Around the body, the weapon piles had been arranged differently. Even though there is no known motive to do so.**_

 **Truth Bullet #14-The Shelves in the Secret Room**

 _ **Some of the shelves in the secret room have been tipped over, almost as if there was a fight that took place there. However, despite the danger that this would cause, neither Ayano Nishiki or Kaneshiro Kazuma have any known injuries from the brawl.**_

 **Truth Bullet #15-The Explosion**

 _ **The additional keypad and room connected to the secret room look to have been bombed. However, nobody else felt anything throughout the school, even Natsumi Fuuma. Because of the explosion, the keypad and extra room had been completely destroyed and could not be investigated thoroughly.**_

 **Truth Bullet #16-State of Weapons**

 _ **Madoka Ueno analyzed the weapons visibly seen in the photographs and found that none fit the description of the one that killed Ayano Nishiki.**_

 **Truth Bullet #17-Honorary Ultimates**

 _ **Ayano Kirigiri and Matoko Kirigiri used to assign Honorary Ultimates. It was thought to have died after Matoko's death and the founding of Hope's Peak, but Izuru Kamukura continued the legacy.** **Kazuma Kaneshiro used to be the Honorary Ultimate Hypnotist.**_

 **Truth Bullet #18-Previous Killing Game**

 _ **There was a previous Killing Game that Kazuma Kaneshiro was a part of with sixteen other Honorary Ultimates. Hanami Fukushima survived with one other, while all the others are currently unaccounted for.**_

 **Truth Bullet #19-The Code**

 ** _The Future Foundation found the survivors because of a mysterious signal that had been sent out to them. Nobody knows who sent the code._**

 **Truth Bullet #20-The Pod Room**

 _ **When Yasu Matsuhita and Hotaru Amemori woke up, they were still in their pods for the Killing Game. Nobody else was there, even the students who have died.**_

 **Truth Bullet #21-The True Fifth Killing Game**

 _ **There was another Killing Game that happened in the simulation that ended in the deaths of five of the students. One of the known students is currently missing. Only Misao Arikida, Manami Yamada, and Yen Thai are confirmed dead. That leaves Bjørn Beck, Ambrož Čermák, and Charles Watson of the known class. It is unknown what is motive behind this Killing Game was. There seems to be a hidden student.**_

 **Truth Bullet #22-The Suicide, Despair, and Hope Videos**

 _ **The True Despairs have the suicide, despair, and hope videos. It is odd that they have not destroyed the hope video.**_

 **Truth Bullet #23-Mitsuru Banda's Death**

 _ **Hotaru Amemori also thinks there's something suspicious with Mitsuru Banda's death. Now that they have figured out that Atsuto Togami was actually Kaneshiro Kazuma, that means the facts have to be different than the ones stated before.**_

 **Truth Bullet #24-Shinichi Fujimoto**

 _ **Hotaru Amemori notes that she finds something weird. She says that the Despairs called Shinichi Fujimoto a traitor even though he has no known connection towards them.**_

 **Truth Bullet #25-The Birthday Code**

 _ **In one of the books, there was a list of codes. Madoka Ueno tells them that they are the birthdays of the people shown in the photo above them. The picture is of Honorary Ultimates. The code has to lead to somewhere but where?**_

 ** _̵͓̰̫̣̳͚̪͙͚̣͍͚̥͂̀̇̏̄T̴͔͇̯͕͚͇͔̾̀̆r̶̨̛̜̞͓̮̳̤̩̙̮͚̪͓̭̉͑̽̐̌̄̓̀̌̓̚͝͠u̵̢̼͔̟͐̀̅̊́̎̋͂̑̑͂̈̐͝͝t̵͓͔̒̈́h̸̡̙̻̟̭̮͔͙͇̬̲͎̜̏̅̑́̆̾̌̒̄͌͠͝ ̸̛̘͙̭́̈́̈́̅̐͗͛̇̎̀̚͝B̸̯͈̣͖̻̋͌̋̍͘͝ù̶̢̼̭͍̝̞̾͠l̴̟̗̑̃̋̋͛̈́̂̕̚͠͝ļ̶̳̞̞͎̮͚̱̖͎̎̋̽̅̒̅͗ȩ̶̛̟̝̭͉͖̌́̇̃̎̆̋̐͊̓͑͛̒̇ț̸͙̟̞̬̥̦͉̦̦̀̈́̇̈́̀̎̍̋͒ ̵̯͒̆̐̔͒̈́̂̍̂̋̏͋̑͒̿#̷͕͇͎̳̦̟͌̑̾̔̏̅̆2̸̨̢̢̻͉͇̟͎̯̣̻͎̽͜͜ͅ5̴̡̨̛̰̳̻̦̓̌́͊̊͂̆̈́̌̈́̓̕̚̚͜-̵̺̞̜̘̠͙̹̯̯̘̹̤̲̓͜C̸̨̨̞̹͉͚͔͈̪̮̣̣̯̲͈̎́̅̋̊́͌ǫ̶̡̡̮̫̪͈̲̩̦̯̳͖̻̓̉͑̃͌̈̈́̈́̑̓̊͝ͅn̸̛͔͕͔̠̝̬̯̼̲̾̂͑ͅv̸̡̧͖͚̳̗̟̥̙̺͎̭̹͕͕̔̄̕ȩ̸̢̗̰͖̭̰͎͇͛̓̀̆͒̈̒̊̎̌̓͘̕ṙ̵̢̘̼̟͖͈̯̭͈̤̮͈̼̅̔̎̿̂̑͜s̶̡̖͊̐̇̋͐̉̓̑̿̇̇͂͘į̵̯̣͙͙͓̇̆̎͂õ̸̡̺̘̯͛́̋̐̕n̷̡̧̜͚̯̩͚͉̣̹̥̖͕̹̂̌͜ ̸̤̠̏́̽T̷̝̆͛̐̀̎̑̀̄̎͐̇̋̕͠͝h̸̢̩̟͈͈̍e̴̻̳̩̤̜͛͐̓͌r̸̝̔̉̀̑̐̊̉͂̚͝à̸̛̦̗̩͇͙̙͓̊̊̿̀̆͒̄̓̋̈͆̀͘p̵̠͍͋́̓͜͠ͅỹ̷̯̥͙̲̏̈́̈͊̈͋͗̀̀̈́͝͝_**

 ** _̵̛̛͓̺̩͔̭̤̓̉̅̐͂̒͑̌͂͌̏͗̕O̴̢̨̥̖̝̺̍̆̕͜n̵̛̝͉͎͈̼̒͂͆̇͊̾͒̀̽͊͝ ̵͖̳͍̮̱̜̆̏̈͠t̴̟͎̼̞̭̗͎̗̳̻͗̊̑ͅh̷̫͙̳͔̭̭̒̈́͆̅͊̇͌̋̒̔̏̕͝͠ͅë̶͈̣̬̰͔̠́̆́̉̊́̑̓͠͠ ̸̢̧̠͚̝̖͖̠͖͌̈́̐̃̇̓̀͜͠ͅs̶̡̨̡͕̘̪̝͍͉̟̜̞͛̒a̴̛̰̯̼͕͍̣̗͔̣̳̱̣͇̥̋͒̌̑̈̓͐͐͗͗̅̚͜͠m̴̘̣̦͕̪͕̟͓̹̤̠̭̥̌͑̋̓̆͆̀̏̂̐͜ë̷̦͖́͊̑̽̓̍͆͋̋́͂̂ ̶̲̫̼̳̣̙͊̚͠ͅp̸̝̯̥̻̊̂͑͑̎̈́à̷̪̞̳̅̏͂͒̉̀͘̕͝g̸̳̪̠̮̻͖̥͖͚̊̕è̸̖̹͚͍̯̈̒͐̏̃̌͘ ̶̖̲̝̋̎̅͐̓̔̇͗̈́̆̌ǫ̴͔̭̤̯̤͉̜̱͎͈̙̰̣̼̌̇͗̿̐̈̿͠f̵̡̟͓͓̣̬͎̰̮̮͇͖̉̇̌̆̂ ̷̢̢͚̖̙͓͍̬͍͙̲̜̘̬͆̊̊͜t̵͈̤̦͇̲͚͉̱̪̫̘͍̕h̸̡̗͍̩͚̦̻͔̮͇̗̅̌̕ͅė̵̫̬̈̈́͌̀ ̸̢̡̭͚̪̱͙͇͖͆̈́̐b̸̡̢̘̺̲̥̳̺̠̖̺̭̱̗̘̀̓̌̐̊̾̐̈́̈́̔̇̕͘͘i̶͈̜̙̿r̷̢̟̘͈̺̠͎̦̄̀̒̒̒̀̂̿̄ť̷̙̬͇̯̼̠̼̐̅̉̄ͅh̵̢̩͓̜̪̬̯̘̽̍̐́̈́̒͊̋̽́ͅd̶̤͖̈͆̿́̐͂a̸̺̬̓̈́͐̀͌̂̑́̌̾̊̚͠͝͝ÿ̴͔̙̞̳̣̰̞̲́̏́̀̉̋̄͌̽̊̋̉̕ ̶̢̮̰̹̰͆̌͐̍͐̒͂ç̶̢̛̞̻̝̠̀͆̌̂́͊̏̚ǫ̸̪̬͚̟͍͓͓͊̉͐̕ḏ̵̤̜̠̽͒̈́͐̃̃͆͠ě̴̢̬̼̮̯̰̥͇͍͗͐̄̆̈̑̇͆͝͝,̴̡̭͕̰̫̪͔̹͙͖̜̦̻͊̀͐͒͌ ̶̧̛͈͚͔͌͆͌̓͌̽̋̈́ẗ̶̨̩̪̈͂͝ẖ̶̢̌͑͐̔̑̐͂͘ȩ̶̦͔͎̤͕̳͂͛̉̎͌̾̈́̒̍̍̅͌͘r̴̦̘̟̰̻̝͈̳̙͍͉̺͉̣̮͛̿ę̴̧̦̹̻͍͈̭͔̺̦̱͔̮̔̓ ̴̫͙̼̱̤̞͖̙̪̙̑̑̃̕ŵ̷̫͔͓̟̈́̓̃͐̔̐̎̌͐̚͝á̸̫͍̰̪̞͈͎̫̖̘̠̥̏̅̄̕ṣ̸̖̜͇̤̤̋̍͆̚ ̷̨̯̖̘̲̞̱͈̪̽̆́̊̍̋̉͆͊̃̍̇̚͝a̸̼̮̦͖̠͕͌ ̶̡͍͇̭̂̀̓̑͒l̶̨̥̗̹̬̠͖̞͖̟̘̱̯͔̔̈́̓̉̀̓̀͘͝ͅȉ̵̛͈̝̘̟̥̫̹̗̳̝̂̊̆̅̏͂̚͘͜͠s̸̡͕̳̯̻͔̦̔̀̈́͐̈́͑̋̋ẗ̸̢̡̢̧̮͓̼̼̠̯̜͍͎̟̝́̾̈͂̀̚͝ ̶̧̛͉͙̦͖̟͉̐̓͒͌̒̓̌͊̍̕͝o̵̡̨̹̪̟̯̲͖̫͚͓̓̎̓̑̈́͋͘͝f̴̧͈̘̟̥͎̙̥̳̌̍̓̐̃̈̀̇͆͑͜͝ͅ ̴̢̨̜̟̯̩̰̳̰̘͕̦͎̱̓͗͆̋ͅs̴̭͙̜̠̯̭̝̳̝͈̣̱͎̣̎͗̂͜͠u̶̓̋̄͌̔͒̐̌́̾͐͘̚͜͝͝b̸͎̺̄̑̓̚j̵̨̢̨̖̮͇͔̯̲̗̜̲̈́͝e̷̡̡̱͍͔̜͕̠͙̙̝̲͉̍̈́̀̒̈́̀͜͠c̴̡̙̘̅̽͛̈́̊͌͂̃̀͛̎͛̌͘ṭ̷̡̣̣̪̹̳̩͔̤̤̳͓͆̂̈́͛́͑̊́͝s̵̬̥̖̝̱͚̞̻͖̫͇͍̆̑̏ ̶̡̝̜͇̼̼̯̱̩̝̏͑̍͑̀̈ṭ̶͕̩̜͚͙̞͙͔͇̉̅͒̆̐̌́͂͐͆͂̕͘͘h̷͉̲̭͈̹̞̄̚a̴̢̙̺̙̦̠͓͍͚̮̤̩̳͗̎̐ͅt̷̡̼̺̯͉̜̞̩͇̩̙̜̥͉̳͂̆̈́̚ ̷̢̮̎́͠p̴̛̮͂̆̋̀͗̕a̷̡̢̛̳̫̩͉̳͙͎͍͕͊͋̒͛̀̕͝r̷͙͕͈̬̞͎̝͉͎̻͔̩̮̖͉̓͑̏̓͋͐̎͛͐̈ṱ̷̻̻̝̜̐̑͒̂̀͑̃́͑̌̾̕̚͘ͅi̵̬̻̱͕̿̽͛̇̄͌̍͌̔͑̀͑̾ͅc̶̛͇͕̺͓̬͐͛i̴̧̢̥̫̩̪̰̠̟̱̮̹̲͌̿̈̔̿͝p̶̧̟͔̖̮̟͍͇̪͚͈̳͖̊̄͛̉͜a̷̧̡̭͔͉̖̟̥͒̍͛̍͋̋͘t̶͙̳͕͎̯͖̣͔̞̞̭̟͕̮̙̀͒͌́̆̍̿̌̈́̈̽̚̚͠͠e̶̼̱͍͓͔̹̗̰̻̙̻̾͊̄d̸̨̢̨̛͚̯̝̲̣̘̤̖͖̩͚̗̓̂̀͝ ̶̛̘͕̜̮͇̇͌̓̑͑̕ī̵͓͉̋̉͆͋͌́̅͑̓ǹ̵̢̧̠͇̣̠̫̬͇͔̅̒̔́̔̕͜͝ ̴͚͍͔̟͚͔̓c̶̺̼̗͉̹̬̭͍̪̙̟̩̺̺͒͑̆͑͋̓͂̌̈͘̕͝ͅơ̴͇̥̝̭̙̰̖̜̍̆̈́̌̎͐̄̍̚̚ņ̷̡̗͓̤̲̪̥̲̘̜̣͈̃̄͝v̴̧͚̼͔͍̮̪̙̌̑̊͐͌̊̎̈́̏͘̕e̸͈̭̮̒̓̉͌͆͒̒̒̈́̓̍̀̀̾̔ŗ̸̛͈̙͔͔̣̈̿̉̂̈́́͊̅̇ŝ̴̛͈͇̝͌̿͒̈́̕̚͝i̶̖͚͙̬̱̺̬͉̮̭̳͓̥̭͋̍͐̆̓̄̀̑̋̕͝o̴̡͚̒͑͗̍͋́̈̈́̈̋͘n̵̡̝͈̙͚̣̩͍͕͍̙̞̳̩̍͗̔̋͗͑͛̈̅̔͋̔̃͝͠ ̵͔̗̩̙͉̹̟̙͐̾̒́̌t̴̨͇͍̰̩͚̐̋̒̔́̅͂ͅh̶̛̹̔͒̒̾̃͒́̐̿́̔͜͜ȇ̸̛̟̃̔͘͝͝r̷̨̧̢̛̛̭̜͉͍͉̱̣͂̅̄̅̚ą̴̡̡̢̤̣̻̮͔̥̯̤̇̂̐̉̀͑͂̈́͆̕͜p̸̢̫̥͉̣̜͙̣̫͚̞̝̺͎̉̒̌̓̏̋̃̐̉̃̕͘͝ͅy̶͇͖̳͙͇̤̗͈̭̫̹̌̐͒̓̌̉̈́́̑̽̒̂̕̚ ̷̛̗̭͈̱͓͕͑̀͊f̴̧̠͔͚̮͇̖̺̑̆̊ō̵̧̥̤͉̞̗̾͠r̸̡̹̳͐̇ ̷̨͕͉͚̥͒͑͌̈́͂͊ţ̵̹̱̫̙͇̣͎̲͈͍̙̮̻́́̉̈́̆̋̿͜h̸̡̢̥̲̪͇͕͋̍̇͋͜͝ͅͅe̵̱͍̩͍̚ï̸̳̠͕͚̣̻̲̍̆̈́̈̿̍̒͘͝r̵̡̧̼̻͍̮̰̖͉̰̖͕͈̠̰̂ ̸̡̏͐̉̅̃̎̓̓̆͊̔͆̀̕͝g̴̡̛̪͓̗̬̝̥̣͙̩͉̘͗̔̄̎̍̂͗̉͐̾̚ę̷̬͕̤͓̬̭̭̣̘͕̆̐͐̋͌͐́͗̈́̓͂̚̕͝͝ǹ̶̨͈̠͎̫̦̉̃͜͝ͅď̷̗̽͋̅́̿͐͐͐̇͂̉̕͝ê̴̢̛͉̱̟͍̞̘̼̏́ŗ̵̳̤͇̠̟̖͙̲̜̣͂̆̀̓̌̆̏́́̆͌́͝ ̵̙̤̦̖̥̙̞̘̘̰͇̺̲̐͛͜ö̸͇̬̥̬̟̭́̓͊̏͜͝r̵̛͍͉̘̭̖̬̃̈́̊̀̆̈́̕͝͝ ̷̢̧̝̰̰͚̼̯̀̋̔̆͜ş̷̧̢̛̹̤͉̭̫͇͇̬̀̇̅̈́̓͠e̶̹͗̅̉͑̈͝͠x̸̝͉̜͇̽̅͊̋̾͝u̵͍̒̂̈͒̚͝͝a̶̰͍̠͖̪͉͉̻͉̙̝̰̞͒̉̓̿́̈̔̔̂̐̊́̈͘l̵̳͖͈̘̻͉̦͗͑̌̆̅̐͆̆i̷̦̯̝̘̪̭͍̙͈̻͓͐ͅt̸̻̞͈̞͇̣͕̭̯͓̖̳̘̳̫̐̈̎͘̚y̸͎͔͇̙̰̞͈̍̂̔̚͝ ̵̗̔̈́̾ŵ̴̛̠͙͔̬͊̉͒̌͐̓͝͠i̵͉̜͉̩̗͉͉̪̹̗̮̓̐̔̀̿̐̋͂̿̊͆̚̕ͅț̶͎̲̌̍̊̍̓̀̀͛͋̕̚͠͠͠͝h̵͍͔̖̯̝͇͈̺͚̩͉̪̎̄̿͛͐͌̇̕ ̷̧̢͕͔͓̹̱̬̻̘̤̼̣̥̥͑̅̃̕t̶̛̛̲̘̘̀̎̍̀͛̓͂̅͊̊̃̕̚w̸̯̻̙̜͕̞̤̟̖͌̐̀̿̈́̀̒̓̅̊̇ȭ̸̮ ̸̪͔͑͒̏̎̂́̍͂͊̕̚͝ń̶̨̡̧̧̯̯̯̰͚̘̫̪̜͇̄̃͗̑̚̚͝ͅa̷̧̟̙̗͕̮̪͚̠̖̼̳̞̟̱̾̏̌͗͝m̴̱̝̭͍͙̱̦͓̫͍̠̺̘̳̮̾͗̌͆̋̒̄̈̓̚͝e̶͖͔̮̞̹̠͓͚̩̗̺̋̅́̾̅̂̆̉͘̕͝š̶̡̧̠͙̹̰͚̹̦̞͉͇͓͒̍̂̀͂̌̇͋͘͘͠ ̴̛̳̯͓̩̜̂̊́̃̌̍̑̐͒̕b̷̛̪̫̖͙͕͙̥̹̻͎̺͎̮̼͊͊̀̉͗̎̎̍̿̽̑̕͠ͅe̵͔̜͈̤̜̞̣͉̭̒̅̓͒̈̾̊̂͒̌į̸̥̟̫̠͍͉̯̠̗̠͍̊͝n̴̳̜̠͝g̵̳̉̄̊̈́̾̈́̒̿̒͝ ̵̫͙̱̜̣̺̺̥̘̃̈́̆̎͜m̴̰̘̮̬̰̹̞̲̌͐͂̉͑͋̕͜ä̵͖̟̼̬̠̭̝͖̻́̈̅͒̌̈̍ͅr̴̝̰͖͙̤̱̭̘̓̂́͗̊̽̄̕͜k̵̢̛̭̺̺̮͚̩͙͍̱̤̥̳͈͂̑̋̅̽̍̌͗̆͠ͅe̶̡̞͉̫̘̙̰̫̦͍͔̪̱̾͒͗̃̊̏͊͐͌d̸̡̨̛̺̥͚̪̗̣̾̊̐̔͋̎̑̃̐͛̈́̕͠ ̵̧̡̛̯͓͎̥̜̪̫̦̈̐̉͐̔̆̅́̓̂o̷̗̩̟͎̣̳̦͐̏f̴̢̨̛̝̩̱̫͍̩͓̰͊͗̊̈́̂̽͗̿͜ͅf̸̛̭͚̾̈̊̓͗̈̏͌̂̽̈́̄̈ͅ ̴̯̝̱͆̽̀̿̍́̓̊̏͗̍̐͐w̴̬̪̻̹̠̯͔͈͊͑̈́͂̓͆͗͗̉̊͗̚̚͝i̶̙͖͕̳͇̒̔́̋̀̉͐̄̇̍͂̓̕͘͝ţ̸̡͇̹͓̫͙̲̖͔͚͉̺̉̐̑̑̀̈̋̂̚͠ͅͅh̸̩̍̊͂̀̑̆͆̍̊͝͝͝͠ ̵̖̭̺̼̪̭̣͇̹̱̖̮̙̅̓͌̋̃̈́͑̕͝m̷̨̭̙̱̜͎͙̮̻̋̅̓̽̎̈́̊̉̚͠a̷̯͉͖͕̯̖͇͂̓̈̀r̷̪̤̟͚̯̒̾̒͋̈̇͗̋͛̉̐͝k̶͓̥̯͓̬̘͔͔̥͙̫͇͖̽͑̉͛͌̈͒͒͑̋͜ę̵̛̰͚̠͎͎̤͙̗̰̠̤͋̈́͆̋̓̆̓̿̋̃̓͠r̵̙̹̙̘̗̉̓̂̎͑̇.̷̠̭̙̦͓̀̈́̄͜ ̴̡̣͈̪̺̲̻̺̟̬͍͂́̒͌̽͂̈́͜ͅY̵̢͓̥̜̥͙̭̤̘̣̦͒͑a̵̗͒̄̑͌̉͜s̴̩̘͎͗̑͛͝ǘ̸̡̖̤̹̞̺͇̜͈͚͈̮̽̽̏̍͛̔́̌̋ ̴̖͚̭̍̀̒͆̿̈̓̋̐̀̕͝͝ͅM̸̡̢̹͖͉̪̣͔̜͉͇̦̣̅́͑́͛͌̏͠͝ͅȁ̶̢̗͇̺̼͙̻̘̟͎̹͖̘̬̳͊̔̆̈̕t̵̠̹́̐̈́̉̊̾͑͌̇͛̉̒̕͝s̷̙̺̟̩̦̥͚̳̈́̍͛̂͗́͠ú̷̘̰̺̹̣̺͔̲̜͙͌̏̿͗͒͠͝h̴͖͍͇̃͊̎̔͂͒ͅȉ̴̩̙̼̮̤̹͙̞̭͔͈͔͎̒̍͜͝t̵̜́̓ä̶̛̻͙͕̰̠̯̙̼͈̝͔͖̝̜́̑̀̑̍̀̊͠ ̷̨̤͖͓̗̝̞͎̤̲̂͐́̈́̌̀̍̉̅͆͘i̸̛̝̿̽̋̒̎͛̅̏̂́́s̴̺̗̙̺̖̞̣̗̤̭͉̈́̎̂͒̈̒̾̄͑͌̓̒̃́̕ ̸̨͈̥͖͉͇̝̀͐̀͘͜ơ̴̯̺͚̪̑̂̈́͊̾͒̒̃̅̈́͝͝ņ̵͇̱̼̗̟̙̤̥̣̾̆̓́̅̓̄̑̑͠͠͠ę̶̛͔͈̺̮̲̠̼̔́́̌̉̕͠ ̸͕̺̒̒̔̌̓̎͋̓̐̕͠o̶̪̗̬͕̭̰̽͋̐͊́̏͒̔̌f̴̧̨̧̞̪͓̬͎͈̤̺̬̾͐͂̀͋̓͂̾̾̿̈́͋̉̕̕͜ͅ ̸̛̀̈̊̓̇͂̀̌̕͘͜͜͠ṱ̸͓͇̃͐͑̏̀́̏̈́ḩ̶̥͉͉̞͇̖̥̚e̶͚̙̒́̊̊̓̔̿ ̷͕̖̜̙̰̈́̽d̷̙̲̱̮̱̐̄͂̓̀̚͜ẽ̷̘̤̭̟̮̰͙̜̣̲̆͝l̴̨̢͍̹̪̤̯͓̘̍͑̒͌͌́͗̅͒̌̓́̈́̈́̚e̵̙̙̣̰̝̫̦̜̋̔̀́͋̍̆͐͂̚͜͜ṫ̴͉̠̤̼̩̹̻̭̿̅̔͋̈́͗̈́͋̅̔̿̍ͅè̴̛̬͕̻̪̹̲͎͔̮̂̓̑͗͗̈́̓͛̐̈́̓͝͠d̸̖͍̺̰̫͔̙̜̻͈͚́̈́̀́̿̇͜͝ͅ ̶̬̹͎̐̐̍́̂̌̎͝ͅn̷̛̛͚̠̪͍͒̏̅̊̅̑̉̓̄̀͌̈̈́ạ̴̥̓̀̇̎̏m̷̛̝̖̭̱̪̱̉̅͑̿̓̂͘͝ͅe̶͍̗̫̐̊̐̍̆͋̈́͜s̵͍̻̜͎̘̖͓̦̳͈̤̯̍͆̅̎͊͋̍͜͝.̵̧̨̧̬̮͇̞̞̠̰̹̲͙̙͙͌̀̐̂̍ ̸͚̼͔̤͔̖̱̥̞̼̟̖͓̱̒̿͊̽̐̔͐̀̀̓̀͋̕͜T̷̢̛̯̟̖̗͈͐͐̐̊̽̀̉̈́̊̎̚͘ḩ̴̢͙̥̬̰̘͎̀̒͗̓e̸̛͎̗̬̙̤̎͛̉̚͘̚͜ ̷̨̼̪͇̝̙͓̘͉̜͈̳͙̾̆̓ͅơ̷̺̘̠͍͉̰̪̳̭̬̙̽̏͂̎͌͒̒͐̀̾͘̚͝͝ţ̸̛͉̜̫̱̭̣͕͇͙̟̗̥͛̿̿̃͗͘͝͝h̷̼͕̯͍̼̜̺̎͑̅͗̐͋̎́̉̕͝͝͠ͅę̸̡̞͚͖̯̣̫̝̗̦̻̼͓͆͜r̷̯̦̍̇̅̐͐̓̀͝͠ ̶͇̠͗̏̄̌̿̃į̶͖̮͓̮̙̠̩̫̱̪͙͓̅̃͊̔͒͐̓̿̐s̸̢̙̬̩͕̤̞̝͖̦̠̽̍ ̶̧͈̙̤̟̲̫̻͎̳̤̱͇̟͛́̏ç̷͎̖͍̘̠̇̂̍͋̒̽̉͑̊̚ų̴̤̹̟̺͕̫̬̜̠̟̈́̍͊͊͛͒̉̽̎́̚͜͠ŗ̵͚̭͈̟̱̅̅̾̏ȑ̴̨̛͕̝̩̫͙̦̮̦̠͕͓̠͎̋̉̀͆̂̏͋͛̐͝͠ë̴̠̙̻͉̫̥̳̬̼͙͇̪̣́̅̓͜ṅ̴̲͈̭̱͇͖̩̖̎ţ̷͍̩̈̒̅͑̇̅̂̎̾̂̄̂̀͐̕l̶͇̒̎̾̑̽y̴̬͔̓̃̇̾̏̄̍̌̓͑̀̕̚͜͝ ̸̛̰̣̙̗͔̝͓̰͉͈͆̾̃̆̔̌͘͝ư̴̧̠͖͊̒͆͂̿̆̀͋̈̽̕͜͜n̵̢̡̛̘̰̯̼͚̝̲̬̞̜̍̌͝ͅk̶͍̱̫͉̯͔̬͍͋n̵̨̛̲̝͔̝̝͈̮̳̻̯͔̲͛̓͂͆̈̈́̀̉̕͠ͅo̸̢̩̪̪̦̲̻̻̰̟͚̘̗͝ŵ̴̯̝͍͇̮̠̟̟̣̲̮͇͙̝̀̒͆̀̾͆̾̓͒͐̇͠n̵̩̄̽̌̑̈́̕.̸̘͉̮̂̾̿̈́͒̓̋͆̍̕̚_**

 **Truth Bullet #26-A Flashlight?**

 _ **Madoka Ueno accidentally snapped a photo of what appears to be a flashlight in the Hospital. However, it looks weird, so it cannot possibly be a normal one.**_

 **Truth Bullet #27-Rosalina Irving**

 _ **Rosalina Irving was the second in line to the Committee when she was still alive. It is unknown why she ended up with much more different morals and values than the rest of the Irvings.**_

 **Truth Bullet #28-The Ayanos Getting Shot**

 _ **Both Ayano Nishiki and Ayano Kirigiri were shot by an unknown person. The person only gazed Ayano Nishiki and clearly did not plan to kill her. However, the person killed Ayano Kirigiri.**_

 **Truth Bullet #29-Ayano Kirigiri's Motives**

 _ **Ayano Kirigiri was not allied with the True Despairs but instead the American World Restoration Committee. She stated that she hated Kotori Hiraoka. Due to Kaneshiro Kazuma tricking her, Ayano Kirigiri was no longer the main mastermind.**_

 **Truth Bullet #30-Personality Experiment #045**

 _ **Only two out of the three experiments are known. The known subjects were Akita Yamazaki and Takayuki Anno.**_

 **Truth Bullet #31-Personality Experiment #044 and #046**

 _ **There was a precursor to Personality Experiment #045. It involved the same idea but failed miserably.**_ _ **There's also Personality Experiment #046. Not much is known about this experiment other than it now exists.**_

 **Truth Bullet #32-Kotori Hiraoka**

 _ **Kotori Hiraoka was killed by Kazuhiko Hiraoka to protect Ayano Nishiki. This fact has something to do with the Killing Game but what?**_

 **Truth Bullet #33-Junko**

 _ **Junko Enoshima is back and its unknown on how she has not aged.**_

 **Truth Bullet #34-Photo of Dead Classmates**

 _ **Monokuma sent a photo of all the dead classmates together. It includes all of the dead. Something is wrong about it. Especially because Hotaru Amemori is included as well.**_

 **Truth Bullet #35-The Apartments**

 _ **The Apartment Killing Game is somehow involved with this Killing Game. Not much is known about it other than there were only two survivors.**_

* * *

I did not think that we would have this much evidence. To be honest, it is a bit overwhelming. Those two were working so hard while I was being useless. There has to be something with Junko, as there is something strangely fantasizing about her. Something is screaming inside me but I do not know what. I have been ignoring my feelings for so long that I do not know what any of them mean. It was rather childish of me to do that. However, I think that was why I became friends with Cassius in the first place, because he freely expressed himself in a way I forced myself not to. Cassius did not care what others thought, only that he made himself happy. That idiot loved himself so much that his self-importance became his downfall. But at least Cassius never saw the monster I allowed myself to become in those dark days. But perhaps he would have saved me from my dark fate, or just drag us both into the very depths of Hell.

 **Class Trial: All Rise!**

"I vote we start by discussing Ayano's death!" Hotaru blurts out. The podiums must have moved before because it was a simulation, for these are just saying. And there is also the suspicious lack of Monokuma to take into account.

"What about Takara's death?" I question Hotaru. While it is not known whether or not Ayano or Takara died first, I have the horrible suspicion that Takara was killed before Ayano. Participating in so many trials, and being a murderer myself, I have too much knowledge on how crimes like these get committed. And yet, somehow I get blindsided by all of them. Especially Cassius and Tsukiko. Those two did nothing wrong yet get too involved in Kaneshiro's game by not thinking things through. I told Tsukiko how stupid it would be to target the mastermind but she did not listen to me, and that decision cost her life along with Akemi and Kira.

"Let's see how the villains react to this. What do you think of our discussion starter? Or are you just gonna change it again to fit your messed up agenda?" Hotaru asks Junko and Kaneshiro. She points to both of them using her middle finger.

"This _really_ isn't the time to piss them off, Hotaru."

"Its just not smart for you to focus on one thing. Having that way of thinking will only back you into a corner and we want this to be over as soon as possible," Kaneshiro responds. That is strangely helpful advice. Now there has to be something more going on here, more than I originally thought. Kaneshiro has always been charitable with information, but only when it served him.

"Let's focus on the death! So much death! I love it!" Junko cheers. She points to me and I move as far away from her as possible. "This one agrees with me. Don't you, honey?" I decide it is better just to not answer that question. Playing into whatever game Junko is playing will only waste time, along with her being the only one who truly benefits.

"One thing before any of this starts..." Yasu looks down as they clutch onto the bottom of their shirt. "Was anything real?"

"That is something you have to figure out yourself-"

"Can't ruin anything!...Otherwise, it'll all be boring and only further show why life has no meaning outside the in the moment rush of despair," Junko replies. Kaneshiro is oddly calm, even more so than with the confrontation with me and Hanami. It almost seems like he is not paying attention.

"Let's just get on with it," Hotaru sighs. She taps her foot.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence: Battle Arena Preparation**

"You kids have decided to talk about _murder and that type of shit_. Where do you start first?" Because of Junko's words, I notice that there are no longer words floating in the middle. This is truly an old-fashioned debate. Would not be surprised if there can only be non-stop debates, or if they have to change the others for this situation. All the podiums are bolted to the floor.

"Well, there's _something odd with them_. There's always strange things. Though this is bigger than usual. Why is there _no stated time of death_?" Yasu brings up a good point. Although it is clear that the deaths happened sometime after we saw them last and when we found their body, leaving only a couple hour window, there is nothing pointing to which one of them died first in the file.

"The Despairs have done this trick so many times already that it has _gotten old_. I'm leaving. There are more important things I need to be tending to. Message me when something important happens." Kaneshiro then walks off his podium and goes to the execution viewing room. He has a phone in his hand before he closes the door.

"You know what, I think its boring too. Tell me when we're both with the whole boring Ayano Takara thing. Its such a drag. Everybody knows what happened anyway already." Junko sits down on Kazuhiko's podium and pulls out her own phone. I look on the screen and see that she is playing what has to be an old mobile game called Candy Crush.

"...Okay then..." Yasu looks around, confused. I am as well. "Let's discuss some other shit so we could piss them off."

"And I thought you were the one that told us not to do that," Hotaru coos. Although Junko is still not interested, we could use this time to clarify some things without those two affecting our judgment. It does not follow the rules of the original game but it does not seem like people are doing that here.

"They keep breaking their rules so I'll do the same." Yasu smirks. Some of their confidence is back. Mochi comes from out of their toolbox and hops onto the floor of the podium, staying near their feet.

 **NON-STOP DEBATE NO LONGER FUNCTIONAL.**

Although I do like to follow rules, the ones for this entire game are utter garbage. It was boring following the guidelines for the trials. Truly it hampered our ability to truly think out the case. Rather than focusing on the mystery on hand, it was more like a game testing who can outsmart who. Everything about it was made in a way that favors us going against each other rather than using our collective brain power to solve the difficult puzzle.

"Freedom to the people bitches!" Hotaru shouts. She begins to jump around. "This is easy..." That is when she stops and frowns. "...This is way too easy..."

"There must be a revelation somewhere that they want us to be broken by. Too bad we will not let that happen," I respond. "We have the help of each other now. No matter what, we will not give up on the hope of-"

"Power of friendship, blah blah blah. Get on with it already." Already beating all the levels of Candy Crush, Junko went to another game. This one is called Bitlife. Once again, I know nothing about it other than it is an old app game.

"Um, can we still discuss death? Kids, I want to figure out what truly happened to Mitsuru." We might have no evidence left of that event but, with the brain power of all three of us, I am certain we can think of something. The three of us have always been a help during trials. It surprises me that nobody thought to kill us, other than the obvious but I do not like thinking of that incident, for we are important obstacles in this game. Even with thinking about the times I almost did die, it was either because I wanted to end it all myself or the mastermind found me too annoying. Honestly I was prepared to die after the third trial, pretty sure that Ayano or Akemi would at least try.

"Because it is now clear that Kaneshiro was pretending to be Satoshi and then Atsuto, it clears up the problem of getting the body to the trial room. He could have easily dragged her there, especially since most of the surviving students then were knocked out." Kaneshiro used his position as the mastermind to manipulate the scene as much as he could. Knowing that he would not be executed because he worked with Hideyoshi to kill Naoko, Kaneshiro made it so that he would have the perfect opportunity to kill Mitsuru. Kaneshiro did not view Hayato and Yasu as true threats to him than, and seems to have other plans for Hotaru, so the only person he truly needed gone at the time was Mitsuru. Though he probably got yelled at for doing this, which is why he did not do it a second time for any of the other threats. Mitsuru had always been a pain for the Despairs to deal with so they probably did not care about her death compared to some others. The two students who had this big of a target of their backs were Mitsuru and Shinichi, but both of them died fairly early.

"Then that kid lied about overhearing things," Yasu adds-on. They cannot stop looking at the podium next to them.

"Even with a talent for being unlucky, its pretty much impossible to accidentally cut off somebody's head off that cleanly. Damn, we just blamed all the inconsistencies on his talent. That son of a bitch played us all like a goddamn fiddle." Hotaru sighs once again. I do not blame her, I was so focused on myself that I did not question anything going on with Kaneshiro or Hideyoshi. Kaneshiro's plan was risky yet he was able to pull it off so well. There was no fault in his own planning, the reason why we figured out is because Kaneshiro wanted us to solve the mystery. I cannot figure out what that bastard is planning. Clearly, it is something that can be viewed as 'good' due to what seems to be a hero complex.

"Hmmm...I think this is what happened..." Yasu picks up Mochi softly and begins to pet him. The moment he starts to resist, Yasu places him down and takes a deep breath.

* * *

 _Mitsuru was killed. And all for her position in her gang. It was too powerful for them. What better way to kill something than cut off its head?_

 _Kira told Kaneshiro that Mitsuru was alone. She then fell asleep. Mitsuru was still getting food. She was taking longer for the reason of weapons literally being everywhere. Then Kaneshiro brainwashes Mitsuru. Probably despair video. He then shoots her. The despair was just to disgrace Mitsuru._

 _Then he cuts Mitsuru's head with a sword. He probably uses a saw for the limbs. Those things are dangerous. And then he just cheats and deletes everything. Too much power. Not even Junko could do that-_

* * *

"Hey, I'm right here! Let me continue this sweetheart." With hearts in her eyes, Junko blows a kiss to Yasu. She puts down her phone and returns to a more normal position. Yasu stares at her. All of us are, waiting to see her next move. The textbooks are not an accurate depiction of history so none of us know how she would truly act while being interrupted like this. Junko looks different than how she is in the textbooks, but I cannot decide what is so strange. "Now, my lovelies, I'll show you how to make things truly interesting! None of you have enough flair! You gotta express yourselves more, not be afraid to yell at the top of your lungs! Just having an info dump is boring so you have to spice it up a bit. So, ahem..."

* * *

 _Doing something Junko can indeed do, screw you I created this game, Kaneshiro deleted a lot of evidence! Its not like I couldn't do it, I'm just not a pussy like Kaneshiro. Anyway, he made Mitsuru into Mitsu-bits. Hahaha! I crack myself up._

 _Actually, no, that's boring. Nobody likes that joke. Its a meme that died a long time ago. Just like doors being the mastermind and Mochi being a sparkly unicorn. So then he dragged her body to the trial room. It took forever since she was in bits, you know. Gotta go back and get the next one. He could've just used the program to transport everything. I truly cannot understand him. That's what makes him so interesting!_

 _And then he used one of the podiums to move everything up and down. Like, seriously, it took forever, it was so boring just watching him do it. Get on with it already, loser. That's what happened. Of course, you can choice not to believe me, but I know you came to a similar conclusion. There's no reason for me to lie right now. Plus, he's in the other room, I can say whatever I want about him._

 _You already know that the killer of Mitsuru Banda, the Ultimate Sukeban, is my precious Kazu, the most precious of Ultimates, my precious little brainwasher. How many times can I say precious in one sentence?_

* * *

"Okay, back to my games." Having completed what she wanted in Bitlife, Junko moves to yet another app, Love Nikki. She is not even that interested in the game, yawning even before starting.

"Finally closure for Mitsuru," Yasu says, probably louder than they intended. That is when Mochi hops off of the podium and goes to Hotaru. Hotaru smiles as the rabbit starts to run around the tiny space. Everything is much easier because Mochi has somehow stayed alive during this entire ordeal. I was half expecting for the Despairs to reveal the Mochi in the program was just data and the real one either never existed or was already dead. This game has strangely taught me that humanity was better than I suspected.

"Who else should get closure? I vote that Shinichi guy," Hotaru says. "Because Takara had something to do with him, right? And I'm pretty sure that Shinichi knew way too much for being the second victim. And, you know, them targeting him over _Mitsuru_ as the person to get rid of." She is right, Shinichi was so threatening that he was the one targeted for the poisoning. They could have easily done that to anybody else. Cassius was tricked into taking Shinichi's life and I want to know why it was so important. If Shinichi was not such a big target, there would be a chance, probably an extremely low one, that Cassius would still be alive. Cassius really was too stupid for his own good, but that was part of his charm. I still cannot figure out how Cassius managed to keep his smuggling ring a secret, and also get me involved in it. It was far from a good idea yet I still wanted to be by his side.

"Oh, him. Its just that he was also a secret agent inside the Despairs for the Saviors. Nothing major." Junko is way too lax about that. Learning new information with her around is way too easy. There is the easy answer that she is bored and wants us to move on already, yet there is something missing here.

"That's something major," Yasu comments.

"Despairs back in my day would love something like this! Now the new generation is making such a big deal out of everything. Like shut up little snowflakes, nobody cares." It scares me how familiar that sentence seems. Everybody complains about that. Even though Junko looks to be in her teens, and is extremely childish, this ages her a lot. Though I still wonder how all of this can be. We might be able to get answers from her by continuing with this trial. Plus, focusing on matters that are not viewed as important will make there more time for our rescue team to come by.

"Hey, mind telling us about Mirabilis too? Since you're in the giving mood." Hotaru is smiling. Perhaps she is waiting for Junko to mess up and tell us more than she plans. That sounds like a good idea yet I do not think that Junko will be so easy to manipulate. If she does reveal more than she should, it would be for a hidden agenda.

"Nobody knows. Please give us the answer. Like seriously, I don't know how that girl hid everything from the government. Guess that's something for prequels." Though many would think that the meta is just them joking around with us, it has happened way too many times to be ignored. There is a reason why they think this way. The Despairs I have meet were in on it too, so it is not just something that, say, the higher-ups know. Everybody does.

"That's enough playing around. Let's return everything to normal. Master's orders." That moment, Kaneshiro comes from the room. He does not look that pleased. It scares me how much I want to see Kaneshiro die. Hopefully he is the killer so we could manipulate everybody else and get him executed.

"Aw, guess I don't need this anymore!" Junko throws the phone onto the floor. She breaks it by smashing it harshly with her heel. Then she kicks it onto the floor underneath like it is nothing.

"This is the true start to everything-"

"Tell us why." Yasu looks Kaneshiro directly in the eyes, and he does the same to them. They are visibly shaking but try to stay strong.

"That's something you've to figure out yourselves. This is done for a reason, and once you figure it out, you all will be on my side-"

"Not this bullshit again." Seeing Kaneshiro's face only makes me want to punch him even more. He has a lot of nerve to still be trying to claim that. There is no way that somebody like him will be considered a hero in my book. Too many lines have been crossed. Only those who fall victim to his way of thinking would even dare to think him as the protagonist that he makes himself to be. Even in his own story, Kaneshiro is nothing more than an antagonist, a villain to be defeated so the heroes can all live happily ever after. But this is real life and there are no purely happy endings here. Somebody gets hurt no matter what you do.

 **Class Trial: Resumed**

"But we were having a trial!" Hotaru complains. Junko rolls her eyes.

"Discuss the deaths of Ayano and Takara. That's what the Master ordered." Kaneshiro is no longer paying attention to Yasu yet they are still focused on him. I did not notice Mochi returning to them but I see that he is back by their side.

"Fine." Yasu breaks away their attention to crouch down and pet Mochi once again. Mochi returns to the toolbox. It is a wise decision to keep him in there for now. One does not know what would happen if any of these Despairs get their hands on him, other than it would be a terrible scene.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence: Battle Arena Preparation**

"Well, well, well, we're finally doing this again. I remember back in my day things weren't this complicated. But then again, we had to deal with Hangman's Gambit. Watching Makoto stand there thinking was really awkward." Junko perks up. "Anyway, have fun! Make sure none of you kids get hurt before the despair can truly start! We want you all alive and happy so we can truly break you!"

"Well, that's reassuring," Yasu responds. Even they start to move away from Junko, who is now laughing like a little kid.

"We should get on topic. Getting this done will allow us more time to focus on more important topics." Kaneshiro checks his phone, most likely to see what time it is or if he has any more notifications.

"Oh, you probably had something _to do with it Kaneshiro_. Because you always have something to do with it."

"That is where you're wrong, Hotaru. I've done the things I've done with a reason but there would be nothing of the sort here."

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"And you forget that I was not in the system at the time of murder. I wanted Ayano alive but the Master has more power than me. She was too big of a threat for them so they elected to get rid of her." Kaneshiro is now giving away information too freely as well. At least now we have half of a motive.

"That means one thing kiddos! The killer has to be one of you! Nobody else was in the simulation." Junko gives a most twisted smile as her words begin to sink in. "That's right, Natsumi took control over one of you. And because little miss blood thirsty over already killed him, that means we've to punish you."

* * *

 _Lights._

 _So many lights._

 _The lights call for my name._

 _But I'm unable to answer._

 _They call louder and louder._

 _Yet nothing is there._

"Welcome my child of despair! The whole family is here to welcome you with open arms!"

 _Master._

 _That is the light._

 _The light in darkness._

 _The light the darkness must obey._

* * *

 **OH SHIT**

 **Anyways, don't be afraid if this starts updating like crazy. I've been busy for some time but now I'm less busy. Plus, I'm trying to stop this the day I started it. So, yeah, I'm now gonna update like crazy. But its crazy to think this whole big project of mine is gonna complete writing soon. I'm gonna miss writing this but I'll finally have a reason not to abandon my other babies. (Note: MoDE is coming off of hiatus in April so have fun with that)**

 **QOTC: Who do you think killed Ayano and Takara? ^_^**

 **Req's Rec: Danganronpa SYOC: Family's loss by QueenofChocolateWinx**

 **Reviews~**

 **Ziggymia123- Please don't. If you want to, break the reviews after I finish writing the story. Yeah, my inspiration of Kingdom Hearts is showing, isn't it? I still have no idea how I came up with all of this. Hotaru is still alive, they just like pranking her. Its revenge for pranking Akita in her intro. Don't play dead, kids, or you might actually become dead.**

 **SanityRequiem-I just really wanted to fix the reviews guys. It makes writing these author's notes so much easier. So much. Like dear God.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-It is, don't trust girls who time forgot. There's a reason time forgot them. Yes, yes it is because Yasu's dad is an utter piece of shit. I hate him more than Kaneshiro. _KANESHIRO_**. **Don't say that with me around, you're only tempting me.**

 **AnonChan1-The mystery student is the mystery student. Yasu is amazing! Mitsuru is our nice bitch. Good, being confused means its working. Their fits only make Yasu feel worse and me want to hug them more but choosing to make them suffer instead. Mirabilis was the world's hope because she could have changed the Committee from the inside to a government that is more fair. Kotori just doesn't like Junko. Nothing's fair in this story. GOOD HAVE MANY QUESTIONS. Atsuto is still salty. The girl is a girl. FUCK YES. The Master is the Master. ;) Junko would have a lot of fun doing that though. Yes, the prequels do involve these characters. Izuru sucks at his job. Akemi is my sinnamon roll.**


	75. Trial 6-2

**Trial 6-2: For Want of a Nail**

* * *

Too easy. I cannot focus yet I'm solving everything. But I cannot stop focusing on Kaneshiro. The answers are right there. There are so many lies. Lies upon lies. Yet so much painful truth. Mochi is here with me though. He cannot lie. Though he can't tell the truth either. Maybe that's why humans love pets so much. Since they can't keep secrets from you or manipulate you using sweet words. We cannot know what they're thinking. The same is with humans though too. With everything. Its human nature to lie. Lie to protect. Lie to steal. Lie to despair. Lie to hope.

"That son of a bitch!" Hotaru yells. She slams her fist into her podium.

"Wait, one of you killed Natsumi?" Hayato questions. Guess we didn't bring him up to date. But we also have no idea what happened to him. Wouldn't be surprised if he was brainwashed and acting as our friend. Everybody lies here after all. Nobody is truly my friend except for Mochi. Do Hotaru and Hayato even know anything about me? And do I know anything about them? Not really.

"Yep, she did," I respond. Its kinda sad that nobody cares more about him. He was a piece of shit yet everybody deserves to be remembered. Well, everybody besides me. Pretty sure Natsumi had to do something right in his life. Or has family that actually cares about him.

"We have to stay on topic." Atsuto...Kaneshiro is doing...something? Helping? Does that mean something? Is...is...I don't know...what...um...something, right? Its...its...something? Um, he's helping us? But not. Seems disinterested. Yet intrigued. Like he's Atsuto but Satoshi but Kazuma...my head hurts. What the _fuck_ am I supposed to think?

"I've a nail appointment this evening. Hurry up." Junko plays around her nails. She blows on them. Don't understand why. Is that a girly girl thing to do? A way to be more cool? But I could never be more chill. Even if there was a super computer in my brain telling me what to do. I would somehow still find a way to mess up.

"This is more important than nails." Kaneshiro sighs. He wears no clear emotions on his face. "The fate of the current world hangs in the balance and you don't care. No wonder Kotori didn't like you."

"Well whatever, time to continue on kiddos! You gotta decide, Kazu~"

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"Let us discuss the murders of Ayano and Takara. What was the motive behind it?" He asks. Almost like he doesn't know. Which is bullshit. But he's being helpful. Probably could be more. Could probably solve the case faster than this. Is there Atsuto somewhere in him? Or am I being too hopeful again? He won't even look at me. Am I just not good enough?

"Its clear. _They figured out your secret_ ," I reply. I should be angry. I should believe in the words coming out of my mouth. But I don't. There's something more going on. Why am I feeling this way about a monster? Its clear that he doesn't give a shit about me. Or maybe he does. He lies so many times I cannot tell. Wouldn't truly falling in love with me give him more despair? Isn't that how Despairs are supposed to think? Then why am I not dead? Aren't they supposed to kill their loved ones? Is that what he was trying to do as well when we were alone together? And how is Mochi still alive?

"Shouldn't there be something more sweetie? There has to be a better reason than that! Or you'll all be dead by now~"

"Does it have to _deal with Natsumi_? We still have _no idea_ why he abandoned the Committee to work with the True Despairs." Hayato is so much smarter than me. I think I didn't come to that conclusion at all. But its so obvious. People just don't decide one day to join a terrorist cult. Everything has reason. Except for me. Pretty sure I was an accident. And everything after my birth was an accident too. Excluding the bunnies of course. Though what happened to Dango was the saddest accident of them all. Turns out trusting my dad with the rabbit was really stupid. So its all my fault.

"Yeah, what the Hell is Natsumi doing here? I thought he was supposed to be getting a pizza for Kirigiri or something. Ayano probably knew so it sucks that _she's not here anymore_. Death sucks. Despair sucks. Hope rocks. Which is why I hate it so much! Wait, that's not the right word. _Despair brings about hope_ -"

"Please shut up," Kaneshiro interrupts her. Junko rolls her eyes at him. I try to see his face. But its blocked by his hair. That goddamn hair. I hate that goddamn hair. Why can't he have his blonde hair instead? Blondes are better than brunettes. Considering I'm a brunette. Everything is better than brunette. Except when its somebody that's not me. Though I can dye my hair and still be ugly. I've been cursed with my mother's face. That's what my dad says. But he says only good things about her. And he's right with how useless I am.

"Fine," Junko frowns.

"Goddammit! And we still don't know why Natsumi decided to screw the government," Hotaru looks like she is about to explode. Even Hayato is having trouble managing his cool.

"Something strikes me as odd. There are so many events going wrong even without the involvement of Ayano Kirigiri, considering her _unfortunate_ demise. And there are codes that we have strangely been able to get a hold of. Is it possible that Natsumi _could have something to do with this_?" Another goddamn point I'm too stupid to think of. Hayato is so much smarter than me. Somebody should teach him hacking. He would be far better at it than I am. Considering he's a man of many talents. I remember him translating at the beginning! I cannot think of doing that outside computer language.

"If he did anything like that, it wouldn't be when _he was controlling me_. So it had to be _before the end of the fourth trial_ ," Hotaru states.

"Oh yes, he also deleted that _troublesome_ AI. So you can't blame it on Izumi." Junko is acting...normal? Kinda like somebody you see walking down the street one random day. Anyway, I don't remember who or what Izumi is. Figures I wouldn't know or remember something important like that. I can only remember things related to my tools. And bunnies.

"Who's Izumi?" I question her. Junko glares at me. So I decide to not push any further. Should've known nothing good would come out of that. Too stupid for even trying.

"You need to focus. We are spending too much time on this subject." Atsuto raises his voice and everybody stares at him. "I already know everything, you too Junko. You have to figure it out yourselves."

"Natsumi's motive, right? There is a _clear one for Ayano_ , those two seem to not have a positive history with each other. But there would be _no reason to attack Takara_. Even then, with all the hatred that he felt, shouldn't Ayano's death _be more graphic_? He is the _only one that could have killed her_ except if he somehow _convinced somebody else to do so_. But he could have had a _hidden motive_ to keeping everything clean. Yet I cannot think of one since we were in the program."

"You could have just asked him if you kept him alive," Junko tells us while putting glasses on. "Keeping him alive had more pros than cons in your current situation yet you decided to make a decision solely based on your emotions. Thanks to that, you are now suffering due to lack of information. Natsumi was known to run his mouth too much when he felt cocky and you could have exploited that weakness of his to gather all the information that you needed." I should've stopped Hotaru. Goddammit I'm so stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Everything I do just makes things worse. Times like these make me wish I never been born. Lord knows it would make everybody else happier. Even Mochi, considering he would not have to deal with my dad.

"Get off your fucking high horse bitch," Hotaru sneers at her. "You literally destroyed the world. Pretty sure you could've used one of the people you killed to figure out how to not get your ass beat."

"We need to calm. Nothing will be found." I cannot believe I'm the voice of reason. I'm horrible for the job. Nothing I do makes sense!

"Yasu is right. This conversation has gone on for long enough. It proves the point that we cannot find the motive without figuring out everything else about the murder beforehand," Kaneshiro looks at me and smiles. I hate myself for the warm feeling I get. "Time to get over with this discussion. _Ayano is still alive_."

"That's wrong..." I don't realize what I'm doing before its too late. But I break apart his invisible words. This part is finally over. Time to move on. But its impossible to move on.

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"Oh, it states she's dead in the Monokuma File. And we saw her body. Yeah." Its so different when there's so little people. There's no other sound. Nobody fooling around in the background. I can't find somebody not paying attention and look at them. The world was waiting for my words. And I hated it. Everything I do is so awkward. I mean, who refers to people older than them to kids? I know for a fact I'm the shortest one here too. Never thought Junko would be that tall. Probably the heels. I can't walk in heels because I'm hopeless. My dad forces me into flats instead. Or at least other types of dress shoes. Yet never heels.

"I am just trying to figure out how this all makes sense. Though Takara is the murder without the motive, his is the one that looks the most premeditated. Not to mention there was a camera there that was newer, so only Natsumi would be able to program it into the simulation. But what purpose would Natsumi have to even do such a thing? It would have been easier to film Ayano's death considering the lack of water involved, yet it seems like he decided to rather block the tripod somehow and record Takara's."

"If we are continuing that line of discussion, who would be strong enough to hold a panicking child's head underneath the water long enough to drown him? Takara has a somewhat physical talent but so does Hotaru and Yasu to some degree. Considering his panic, however, somebody would have to be much stronger than him to defeat the adrenaline rush of somebody who has to hike everywhere for a living." I never thought of it that way. Takara never showed off his physical strength. But he's not here to figure out who can best him. Pretty sure he can kick my ass. Yet I should stop thinking about this stuff. Though everything about this trial is starting to make my head hurt. Gotta be careful. Don't want to end up fainting like a loser. That could cost me my life. I may be useless but I won't die that easily.

"Everybody here is stronger than him. That doesn't do much," Kaneshiro informs us. Surprised that a salesman could beat a treasure hunter though. But then again Hayato did use to have a bad habit of murdering our friends.

"Still find it weird that Natsumi would kill two people," Junko comments. She begins to play around with her hair. "Or anybody at all. Even as a despair, he was like 'I'll never kill anyone' and everybody groaned. Like he would brag about not killing anybody when Ayano did. I don't even know if that statement is true. Pretty sure he killed somebody. But dear God he didn't act like it."

"Wait, Hayato did you say something about Natsumi forcing somebody else to do it?" Hotaru's eyes sparkle but then dim.

"It was only a theory."

"But...but what if its true?" Hotaru's voice breaks at the end. She looks like she is on the verge of tears. What could she possibly figure out? Its not like I'm being my usual dumbass self here too. Hayato is equally as perplexed. Both Kaneshiro and Junko don't have any expression.

"Wait, wait, wait! You gotta discuss it in the thingy...whatever. Seriously, why did I come up with all these names? I could've done something a lot more fun! Like Fuck You Let Me Speak You Dumb Bitch! That's something for you potential masterminds to keep in mind!" Junko winks at all of us. Then blows a kiss to me. That better not be implying what I thinks its implying.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

I'm put off guard by the suddenness. What to talk about? There's too many things. But I gotta decide. Its in my useless hands now. Yet everything I choose will suck. Nothing good has ever come out of what I done.

"Um..." Gotta decide. First thing that comes in my mind. Think, Yasu. Um...But what was the weirdest thing? Oh! "How about...the damage? You know, um, how there was such a fight all around Ayano yet nobody was injured?"

"Good job, Yasu!" Kaneshiro claps. I blush. Goddammit. He's still cute. But he literally kills people for a living.

"Hm, what if Natsumi _programmed it to be that way_? As a sort of red herring. There is no way all of that could have happened. Plus, a real explosion would have definitely burned away the body," Hayato answers my question. So all of that evidence was for nothing? As a way to lead us away from the trail? But there has to be some reason to it all. Natsumi wouldn't spend all of that time programming for nothing.

"Correct, Natsumi programmed some of it, such as the bomb, the shelves, the damaged entrance-way, and the weapons. But everything else about the scene remained untouched." Junko is back to her smart persona. Once again with the easy information.

"This is all true. You have my word-"

"Your word means nothing, asshole!" Hotaru interrupts Kaneshiro. She then stomps on her podium. Its kinda scary seeing her get so worked up about this.

"Hm, Natsumi must have _programmed away the murder weapon_ ," I reason. "Something about it _must be important_." There's nowhere else it could be. The murder had to happen before I meet with Hayato...except if it didn't...but that doesn't make any sense. None of us could be there at the point. We would've noticed Hotaru. Natsumi has to control one of us. And Kaneshiro was out of the program. Ayano couldn't have committed suicide since she was bound...right...?

"What's so important about the weapon? Its clear that she got it from the stash. If not, then the kitchen or Hospital." Hotaru does not realize I gulp. I researched a lot of things for my suicide attempt. Cutting your throat doesn't result in immediate death. No...no, no, no, no...

"..." My breath is heavy. My body shaking. I pray that somebody proves me wrong. Anything is better than this. Why can't things be easy? Just say Kaneshiro is the killer and somehow not Atsuto! But that's a fucking fantasy world. "What if...what if Ayano..."

There has to be no way. This must be my mind playing tricks on me. Ayano tried before but she continued on. She helped me. I was like...if she could do it, so can I. Somehow she found the will to live. To smile with Atsuto and I. To figure out the mysteries of the game today. To promise that she'll be with us when we all escape. Yet none of those things happened. Not even being Kaneshiro's favorite saved her. Nothing can from death.

It must just be my imagination. There has to be something that proves that it is. I couldn't have just found out the big mystery this easily.

...I then turn my head to look at Kaneshiro. He then does the same. And smiles. Tears escape from my eyes.

"Yasu, don't let him get to you!" Hayato and Hotaru both exclaim at once.

"... _Committed suicide_." Silence. Nobody objects. There's the loud sound of gum chewing. Must be Junko.

"But she's bound to a chair!" Hotaru finally shouts. She is shaking as well. Even from here I can tell. Its bad if Hotaru is like this. " _There's no way she could've committed suicide_!"

"That's right! Yasu, sweetie, I get you're trying hard, but stop it. All you're doing is being a burden with your conspiracy theories." Junko then perks up. She smiles at our misery. " _Somebody killed her_! And there's nothing you can do about it! There's no way somebody with her injuries would be stable enough to bound herself!" But the theory made so much sense. Figures it was wrong like everything else I think of.

"Since Yasu has proven that it was, in fact, a murder, and that much of the crime scene was staged. Let's end this argument-"

"No, we gotta break arguments apart!" Hotaru rebuts. She glares daggers at Kaneshiro.

"We are not going to give them into your format of game that easily, Kaneshiro-"

"This is boring. Just break it apart. You didn't seem to mind when he was Satoshi or Atsuto." Junko yawns. She places the gum out of her mouth. Then onto the podium where everybody could see. The next piece gets popped into her mouth.

"It was different then," Hayato defends us. "There he was pretending to be our friend, now he's our swore enemy."

"I was not pretending to be anything-"

"Stop contradicting yourself!"

"If you're gonna act this way, I'm gonna have to get my hands dirty," Junko says in a monotone voice. " _Takara is alive_."

"Excuse me, Junko, but that's incorrect." Kaneshiro is the one that breaks her argument. What a good sign. He can still continue this trial even if we all decide not to. And there's no points anymore to stop this kind of game-play. They can do it whenever they want. There's nothing we can do about it but play along.

 **Non-Stop Debate End**

"There are more important things to discuss in this trial. The faster we get through this, the sooner you will find the truth. Then all of you will be on my side!" Kaneshiro exclaims. He extends his hands outward. There's much conviction in his voice. Such meaning in his actions. Wished I could have that.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not interested?" Hayato crosses his arms. He joins Hotaru in the glare game.

"You will be by the end of this trial. Or at least Yasu will!" I don't know what to say. Guess I'm the weakest link. Being brainwashed would be easy for me. Surprised I haven't already. Would've made things a lot easier for them. Though they decided to keep me around. Probably because it was funny how much of a failure I am.

Then I feel something. I look down to see that Mochi has escaped from the tool box. He hops down onto the floor. Panic fills my being. Nobody else seems to notice. Mochi then bolts off the podium. Like usual, he's too fast for me to catch him. Though I cannot leave the podium. Don't want anybody else to figure out and hurt him. Just have to keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn't get anywhere near Kaneshiro or Junko.

"We have a special treat for all of you by the end! Consider it a special thanks for joining us." Junko is too convinced of us joining them too. What are they planning? And are we in the right for going against them?...Wait, why am I thinking that? They're literally mass murderers who probably just want to take over the world or cult or something.

"Enough of that! I still find it weird that Monokuma forced Yasu and Hayato and see Takara and then Ayano." Just what? Something about my dumbass theory might be true. But I don't want to say. Because of course I'm wrong. And then I'm only gonna embarrass myself again. Hotaru and Hayato are wondering why somebody so stupid made it longer than anybody else. Even Cassius was smarter than me! At least he had the common sense to...actually, when did he ever use common sense? For something! I mean, he ran a smuggling ring, right? So he had to be smart enough to not get caught.

"It could be that Ayano was still bleeding out. There was no way we could save her with our current medical training however. Could be that Monokuma wanted it to be so that we could not figure out who died first." And Hayato agrees with me. For some reason? Hayato must realize how stupid it sounds, right? But maybe he's building on the idea to make it less stupid. I mean, there's no mention of suicide so its already better.

"That's correct!" Junko beams.

"This is almost as bad as the time you told us the killer right off the bat. We would've still figured out Kazuhiko did it, you know? Tsukiko was already onto him." Hotaru's words are sharp, cold, and to the point.

"We had our reasons. He could have all told you who I was if we allowed him to live any longer. And we couldn't have it be that easy. Of course, we would have erased your memories afterward but that requires a lot of work. It was just easier to execute him sooner rather than later," Kaneshiro defends himself. Why does everything he say make sense? Yet it sounds so scripted. I know him well enough that he's not speaking from the heart. "Its been too long without a game. And we haven't done anything else other than debates. We all agree with each other too much. Guess that's because we all have spent so much time together. Finally figured out how to deal with the problems that hampered the way towards us working together in harmony."

"Could we give Takara some love? I get Ayano was the protagonist and all but Takara still deserves some recognition." Junko once again places the gum out of her mouth. This time she randomly throws it on the floor. "Because I want mommy to get tickets for me to see him! I deserve everything mommy! Give me everything I want now!"

"Junko, please stop. We won't give you-"

"But I want it now! Now, now, now!" Junko begins to cry. Hayato sweat-drops.

"Let's just continue the trial already!" I can't agree with Hotaru more. Hayato nods his head. Can't believe we actually want the continued torture of us to get worse. Yet anything is better than dealing with the current Junko persona.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"It's known that Takara was the first victim of this case. But what was the situation surrounding his death? What's the motive for everything that Natsumi had done?"

"He didn't kill him _as a witness._ It would've been easier to rewrite his memory," Hotaru notes. Hell, it would've been easier just to trick him to go away. Or creating illusions creating data. Anything else.

"It was probably to _break mentality._ Ayano probably _had to witness it_ , which is _why she was crying_. Natsumi decide that rather than torture Ayano to get revenge, _that he would make sure she was broken before slitting her neck_. That causes her to pass out but still have time to think about everything." That's sadistic. Just like that cruel bastard. He took over bodies like rag dolls. Still don't feel bad about allowing him to die. Its stupid but fair. The world is rid of one more monster. Though he probably had family, friends, dreams, a goal...a reason. But I shouldn't think about that. Nothing about him changes the fact that his actions were cruel. So why can't I think the same of Kaneshiro? He has done way worse than Natsumi.

"But why record it? Except..." Hayato reaches into his pocket and gets something out of it. It looks like a computer chip of some kind. Junko smirks. She's too proud of herself to not have something to deal with it.

"The master won't let us watch it until they figure out the truth behind everything. He says that its to make sure that they know for certain who the guilty party in all of this is," Kaneshiro replies. That could be nothing but bad news. I know nothing about this Master except that they scare me. How could somebody turn somebody as sweet and caring as the man I feel in love with into somebody causing all of this?

"It can't be that easy," I tell myself under my breath. Though they don't seem completely on board with the plan. Just because they're being strangely cooperative doesn't mean they're on our side. Its so weird to think about. But I want to meet this Master, see the face that's behind all of this. Are they just a normal person? For all we know, the Master could be some random kid from the streets. Nothing is known about them. And that makes them scarier. At least they aren't somebody we know. I don't want to know how I'll deal with yet another betrayal. All I want is to be happy with my friends. To have Atsuto back. The man who always knew how to make me smile. He was the only one who could silence the words of my father. Calm me down when things got tough. There was no need to hide with him. I could finally feel joy being myself.

" _Whoever Natsumi controlled_ , got a hold of Takara and then _began to drown him_. He tried to escape which is why _water got everywhere_. When Takara is dead, Natsumi _throws or places him into the pool_ , ending in him getting in the middle," Hayato explains. Everything makes sense. There's nothing to object. Both murders are simple compared to the others. Guess we're probably gonna spend most of our time figuring out the other mysteries. Including whatever is supposed to turn us all into evil warlords just wanting to seek the thrill of blood. Gotta be something good according to them. Or else they wouldn't be this excited.

" _Was it Natsumi though_?...Remember that theory you had Hayato. That _he forced someone_ because he's a bastard. Maybe that's why _the camera is so dry_. He placed himself in that position _to protect it_. And then watched as somebody drowned Takara." Its so insane but plausible. There have been too many cases like that already for it to be out of the realm of reality. It sucks. Gotta realize that this whole reality sticks. Nothing is ever gonna go the way you want it. Except if you're Kaneshiro and hurt other people.

"But what reason? You gotta get a motive in here," Junko comments. She sighs as she mimics the actions of playing with a phone. "Mommy, I wanna buy useless powerless using real cash! Can I?"

"Junko, I'm not your mother."

"You're the closest thing to it so deal with it!" Junko huffs as she sits crossed-legged on the podium. I see that Mochi is way too close to her. There's nothing I can do. Luckily, Mochi decides to not check out Junko. Should give treats for Mochi just for being such a smart boy.

"Back on topic," I remind everyone.

"But who could he use...oh no..." Hayato's eyes widen with realization. "Would it be possible _that Natsumi used Ayano_?"

"What!?" Hotaru looks like she's about to cry. Don't blame her. We probably all are. After this, I'm gonna take the world's longest nap. Just to get away from the world. Because I've experienced so much shit I could sleep for a billion years and still be tired. Would be good just to not feel the pain anymore. Dying is better than this. Living has always been painful. Way more painful than death. At least with death you know there's something people will actually give a shit about. Nobody cares whether or not you're secret dying inside! Secretly been wanting to cut yourself again because the pain release felt so good! Its something that I actually have control over! That source of pain. But that's just me being stupid again. Its better to just dig into your wrists until they bleed. That way people will just think you're dumb.

"First we got to figure out who Natsumi was controlling," I state. Its not good to jump to conclusions. Natsumi could have perfectly used himself. But... "But _it would make sense they forced Ayano to do something_. He used the person he was controlling as hostage."

" _It had to be me_! Natsumi used me for everything again! No matter what I do, I end up being his goddamn puppet!"

"That's not true," Junko grins. Hotaru's eyes widen. Junko only laughs at us. Especially when Hotaru cannot stop staring at her in pure disbelief.

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"Guess I gotta refresh your memory. What a drag." Junko picks one of the new mushrooms off her head. She then throws it at Hotaru. Hotaru dodges it. "You were busy getting it on with Hayato and ropes."

Both Hayato and Hotaru stop for a moment and then turn their attention to me. I cannot understand why they're staring at me with horror. Guess I truly do suck. They're both gonna reveal themselves as Despairs. And then I'll get brainwashed into another one of them. Wouldn't be surprised if everybody was a Despair. I'm not special enough for that treatment though. I'm just a random person that happens to be good with tools. And somehow got an Ultimate from that. I would've told the academy no if I knew my dad wouldn't kill me. He just wanted to get rid of me. Maybe he hired them just to traumatize me and teach me a lesson. Everybody is going still be alive and come from that execution room. They reveal that it has been nothing but a lie and thanks for playing. You're the worse player we ever got. Please die so the world doesn't have to deal with you anymore. Wish it was that easy.

"...Yasu...what were you doing before I found you in the gym?" Hayato's is barely able to keep his words straight.

"Kid, are you alright-"

"Just answer the damn question. You can't waste even more time," Junko responds. Kaneshiro has been quiet. Too quiet. Like he is studying the room. Waiting for something to happen. I don't wanna know what. Maybe he's waiting for the cue to reveal this has all been a lie. That he's Atsuto pretending to be Kaneshiro pretending to be Atsuto pretending to be Satoshi. Its confusing but worth it. Worth it to be in Atsuto's arms one last time.

"I was playing with Mochi."

"Before that?"

"I must've pasted out...I don't remember...shit." Hayato and Hotaru can provide alibis for each other. I got nothing. Please don't tell me this is true. I don't want it to be. Let me selfish for once and wish it to be Hayato or Hotaru. Better yet Kaneshiro or somehow Junko.

Something in my being feels off. Like...like there's something trying to devour me from within. I can't stop shaking. All I want to do is run. Run to a place where I can find at least one day of peace. But instead I'm stuck here. Stuck being useless in this death game. A worthless child of th world.

"That's correct. Yasu Matsuhita was the one used by Natsumi Fuuma," Kaneshiro answers. The room is consumed by the overwhelming force of silence again. I cannot believe. That has to be a lie.

"Now let's continue on, you still have to figure out what exactly happened using this new information."

"...I killed Ayano, didn't I?" Everybody is taken aback by my sudden words. But they're true. Nobody else could've done it. Takara was dead. Hayato was tying down Hotaru. And I was being controlled by some crazy son of a bitch. Because I'm the weak link. I'll always be the useless one that nobody ever truly cares about. Except for my darling Atsuto. Hayato and Hotaru are lying about everything. They wish I wasn't ever born. That I was thrown in the middle of the road as a baby and ran over by all the cars in the world. It would be better than this. Anything would be better than this. Hope only brings more pain for me. It has been what I was striving for this whole entire time. It has given me nothing but sorrow. Gotta keep torturing Yasu. Keep hurting them for the sake of hope. The conversion therapy was for the sake of hope. Hope that people will finally all be the same. That's the end goal of hope: order. Loss of one's self.

There's blood on my hands. Blood I cannot wipe away. Because I was born useless. Everything hates me. Proof being this narcolepsy. Mochi is nowhere close to me too. Must have be feigning love for more treats. Treats is all he cares about. He's a goddamn rabbit, of course he wouldn't understand me! Everything's so stupid.

"Yasu?" Hotaru calls out weakly. I don't answer her. Everybody knows she's faking that concern in that voice. There's nothing there. Nothing at all.

"This is surprising. I didn't think this would happen." Kaneshiro steps off his podium. He comes closer to me. I should run. But whats the point? I know the rules. No matter what, I'm gonna get executed. All this fighting for nothing. Only to die painfully in the end with nobody to mourn my death. My dad will probably throw a celebration party.

"Get away from them!" Hotaru tries to get to me. Junko stops her. Hayato stands there. His eyes wavering. Figures I don't matter enough for him to actually do anything. The only one who ever did anything for me was Atsuto.

Kaneshiro doesn't listen. He steps on my podium. Its cramped with the two of us here. But that doesn't matter. Nothing matters. Everything in my life has been pointless. All life doesn't have meaning! Why are we even doing anything? All of us are doomed to die. The heat death of the universe will wipe away everything that values to us. Humanity is nothing. And the afterlife is a joke. So the only thing existence brings is pain. Pain, pain, and some more pain.

And then I feel sleep take me once again.

* * *

 _"He loves me, he loves me not." The girl isn't crying anymore. She is smiling. Smiling like a bride on her wedding day. And she hums a song I don't recognize but is familiar._

 _I sit next to her. She's beautiful. Then she smiles at me. "He loves me, he loves me not."_

 _"Do you mind if I have a flower, kid?" The girl nods. She picks one from her hair. Then she gives it to me._

 _One petal. Loves me. Two petal. Loves me not. I'm not sure this is how you're supposed to play. But its my way. Its the way that makes me...happy?_

 _I see that the girl moves. Don't care. Continue to pluck. Pluck until the flower is nothing but an ugly stem. Destroyed for no reason but to feed my curious mind. He loves me, he loves me not. Those words repeat again and again. No reason. There doesn't need a reason._

 _"...He loves me!" The last petal falls. I see the girl is right in front of me. Her eyes closed._

 _They open to reveal spirals. For some reason I don't care. Who needs to care? Nothing has a purpose. I'm gonna die soon anything. Better be happy with the short time I get! For once in my life! Let me goddamn selfish! Make me show the world the despair it was all too excited to show me! And maybe then it could be a better place for all! Without the fucked up excuse of a government known as the Committee. You know what, fuck everything. Everything but Atsuto. He's perfect! Nothing needs to change about him._

* * *

"...Ha...ha ha ha...nothing matters anymore!" I can't stop laughing. Hayato and Hotaru continue to stare at me. Their eyes are dilated.

"Y-Yasu?" Even Hayato, the damn salesman, can't find the words! How laughable.

"Don't pretend to care about me you pieces of shit! The only person who has ever cared about me is right here, right Atsuto?" I hiccup. Something feels off. I shouldn't be doing this. What has gotten into me? That isn't Atsuto, that's Kaneshiro! I've to get away. Kaneshiro grabs onto my hand. There's no way I can get him off. But what's the point? Everything's useless anyway. Might as well have some fun. Hotaru and Hayato can join in if they like. But I can just have Atsuto to myself. Imagine the future we could have together if I wasn't gonna die. Perhaps Atsuto can find a way for me to survive. Like a body double or something. Or just screw the Despairs. Just live alone together. Maybe on Okunoshima. Raise our own big rabbit family. Mochi can finally have brothers and sisters!

"Yasu, you got to snap out of it! Listen to my voice. Do not listen to what your mind is telling you!" Hayato pleads with me.

"Yeah, don't listen to that creep! All he tells you are pretty lies. Nothing about the ugly truth." They're right. This is stupid. How can I even think like that in the first place? Am I really that twisted? I should really die. This is what I'm capable of. All I can do is hurt people. I don't want to hurt people.

"I haven't done anything actually," Atsuto states. But I don't know what to think now. This isn't me. Despair isn't me. Neither is hope. There has to be something other than this. But there isn't. And its easier to just give in. Nobody blames you. Its all somebody's else fault. So who cares? I care! But I shouldn't. This is getting confusing. But who cares about whether or not things are confusing? What matters is that you have fun!

...Fun...

fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun

Its fun for the whole family!

The world is whats worthless. Not me. Fuck what other people think. Its time to take control for myself. Show them what...what...what...

Yumiko Matsuhita is able to do! Everybody can have fun if they submit to despair!

That's my true name. Who cares about Yasu? Yasu was the person who hated theirself and wanted to die! I'm gonna die but don't give a shit! Because that's the true way to enjoy life. Live it to the fullest. Only if Hayato and Hotaru could understand. Only if everybody else understood. Then we can still all be alive! Its not Atsuto's fault they're dead, its theirs!

Yumiko Matsuhita makes sure that the whole family is able to enjoy whatever they can before they all die!

Isn't it so much fun? Helping all the pitiful children? So much more fun than suffering everyday? For the sake of some hope? Who fucking cares? When you have the pure fun of despair!

Book your despair trip today so you can be able to see me utterly destroy Hotaru and Hayato. They've done nothing wrong. But so has most of the world! Sometimes you gotta deal with how things are.

Reality is reality. Time to accept it. And then destroy it because fuck it. Let's have fun instead. The fun of despair! Its like an amusement park that doesn't cost anything. And everybody can ride whatever they want! Because that's how great despair is. Hope discriminates but despair doesn't. That's what so great about it!

Wait, what am I thinking? This is nonsense. What the fuck. I didn't even know I had this in me. Whats going on?

Ḃ̸̧̢̨̛͈̬̞̬̝͖͖̘̫̼̯͈̝̺̼̳̭̳̠̻̩̬̻͋̎̓͆̀̈́͗̃͊̈̓́̌̕ǔ̷̡̬͈̻͍̠̤͕̜̏̓ṭ̶̢̡̛̮͚̤͙̹͓͓͙̰̠͋̾͌̈̇̉̈́̀̇̈́̕͘͜͝ ̸̧̛͕̭̣̦̮̼̽͛̃̓̍͗̊͆̃̀͘͝į̵̡̨̥̘̲̮̝̻̠͋̄́́̈̏̌̂̀͛͝t̷͓͈̮̗̰̹̥̙̺̺̝͈̭̦̳̥̞̯̼̖͔̪͍́͋̏̌̈͂̓̄̀̈́̃̽̆̓͊̆͌̊̐͘̚̕̚͜͝ͅş̴̧̲̼̯͚̮̙̱̪̈́̎̀̾͠ ̶̨̨̨̧̻̼̘͕̥͍͔̘̞͓̰̹̼͙͉͔̟̫͓̬̮̳͈̯͕͙̪͊̈́̍͑͗̊̌͛̇̓̓̀͋͊̾̈́̚̚͜͝ņ̴̡͍̫̖̩̥̦͉͈̥̘̩̹̫̹̝̠̹̻̤̰̮̗̗̀̈̒́̓͌̒̌̎̒̃͛̐̃̊̀̄̄̉̚̚͠ͅó̵̩̀̓̿̅̍̅̍̏̍̋̌͋͂̀̾͋̑̋̿ẗ̷̢̡̡̢̛̛̖̞̱̹̟͙̳̟̺̭͉̹̬͓͇͚̱̺̠͕̰́͐́͂̃̆̊̂̀̀̑̃̈́͗̊͆̆̐͋̋̆̅͊̅̾͘̕͝͝ͅ ̷̙̠͇͍̖͎̦̠̯̙̝̦͓̩͎͔̙͓̰̩̞̹̓͐̽́̿͗̎̾̀͒͌͋̈́m̶̢̢̢̛̖̫͉͍̩̗͉̘̲̮̟͓̎̌̈́͆̄̈́̀̂̀͋́͠͠͠͝ĕ̷̡̢̝͓̜̩͍̫̘̠̦͓̲̬̮͚̬̼̪͚͓̱̰̖̪̫̹̋̐͆͒̽̅͑̾̌̔̓͑̔̉͊̍̈́̍̍̾͠͝ͅ.̶̨̡̧̮͚̩̯̪̫̟͇̥̞̖̥̩̘͕͎̲̭̲͔̭̥͎͇̙̇̌͐̀̃̆̔̈̍͘͜͜͜͠͝͠͝ͅ ̴̨͙̦̈̍͆̽͌͂̔͂̇͒͆́̌̌͂̍̐̓̽̉́̿̕͘͝͝S̵̢̥̩̤͎̯̗̪̼̭͍̪̙̫̹̖̜̙̩̀͒̈́̈̂̈̀̽̿̅̃̄͑̈́̿̈͜͝ṓ̸̧͙̺̲͙͓̲͈̟͖̱̞̙̺̠̮̣͔̠͉̭͙̜͖̜̘̲͍̘͒͋̔̂̓̒̔̿̇̆̂͑͑̑͒̌̔͒̕͠ͅͅm̵̧͉̲̘͉͈̲̼̺̪̻̳͉̞̤̭̔̂̍͆̂̋̊͑̽̈́̒͒̏̕͘ͅe̴͉̝̽̏̆̍̌̍̃͛͆̽͑͂̍̾͗̈̚̚͠b̸̧̡̢͉͖͍̤͔͙̞̫̖̯̦̳̝̞͉̠̦̠̮̺̂̇̀̈́̈́̋̏͊̃͗͛̊̈́͊̕͜͠͝ͅͅơ̸̡̨̛̖̖̟̪͍̞̠̭̘̤̮̬̺̰͇͚͈̫͖͂̔̇̋̇͐̅͌̑̓͒̈̆̏̓̑͘̕d̶̢̛̗̣̻͚̹͙̹̖̫͔̰̰͖̼̝̣̣͉̬͇̪̩͈̩͋̂̉̎̀̐̾͗̏̿̾̀̊̅̐̔̓̂͐̽̏̐̑̽̿̎̽̿̀͘͘ͅͅy̸̧̢̨̼͚̝̖̣͚̘̹͙̜̠̙͉̝̠͖̙̺̬̦̞̠̝̲͖̅̿̒̔̾̂̽̔͗̏̑̋̐̾̔̒͂͋̌̓̔̆̅̏̀̃͛̚͜͝͝͝ͅ ̷̧̢̛̹̲̪̩̻̻̘̔̃́̈́̇̅̋̆̌̂̕h̶̡̨̨̢̡̛͙͙͔̼̰͙͍̰͚̠̫̫̬̗̞̑̿͊͐͒́͂̿̽̿̒͗̈́̀͒͗̇̆̂̂͑̒͘͘̚ͅe̵̖̲̲͇̭͍̔̒̏͂̐̓̈́̾̔̃̆͛̒̊̈́͊̆̊͘̚͘͠l̶̡̧̗̰̣̊̀̀͗̂̐͗͋̀̚͠͝p̴̢̨̡̭̖͙̗͈̤̳̫͔̲̙͚̬̙͚̭͖͍̺̳̀ ̸̧̛̛̰͉͉̫͚͙̭͓͇̣̝̟̞̗͎̪̺̺̩̪̼̺͚̺̓͛́́̓̀̍̑̋̈̊̇͑̒̐̀͐̂̕̚ͅͅm̸̡̡̧̡͉̭̗̞͍͓̼̖̹̪̗̠͕͖͉̳̪̜͉͙̖͔̹̥̜̔͊ē̶̪̟̱̓̑̒̑͑͂̄̔̊̍̿̓͐͘̕̚͠͠͝.̶̧͎̲͓͎̟̠̗͚͔͖͔̖͈͎̰̰̯͖͈͖̙̘̖̬̦̱͚͖̥̼͇̀̃͌̅̾̈́̍͝ͅ ̷̡̛̩̺̭͙͓̞̳͕̮̬̳̟̭̘͍̹̟͈̎̑͑̏̐̃̚P̴̛̟̹͕͕̳̪̰͊̍͂̓͆͌͐͂͛͑̾̆̄͛l̷̝̣̃̂̏̾̍ḙ̵̫͍̗̯͔͇̭͎̄̊͗̎a̶̢̧̘͍̞̣̹̜͚̪͕̟̣̠͇͓̻͙̥͕̬̯̬̻͓̜̰̾͛̌͌̆̍͋̋̀́̓̉́̋͗̊͋̽̀̓͛̚̕̕ͅs̶̨̛̛̫̘̰̦͓͔̲̲͓͙͕̻͂́̈́̌̑̆̾͑̃͂̽͆́̓͆͗̓̅͂̾̈́͛͋̿́̕̚͜ͅė̵̛̛̼̼̝̜̻̤̍̃̾̌͗́̐͊̑̎̃̋̆͆̉̆͐̔̏͂̚̚ͅͅ ̴̡̧̦̯̘͈̞͈̩̫͈̗̤̯͓̼̫̯̬͎̀̋́̈́̀̇̍͐͊̀̎̀̆̐̇̋̋̔̄̈́̆͂̔̎̑̀͒̐̚̚͠ͅh̸̢̢̛̜̖̪̠̯̹͇̻̀̈́̉̈́̑̆̑̎̿́̀̏́́̃͂͊̐̒̎̑́̐̓̕̕͘͠ͅę̸̦̺̱̬̩͙͕̘̱̞̫̲̰͔͊͜l̶̨̨̡̨̛̛̛̰̬̰̤̣̥͉̤͇̮͓͓̩͖̺̫̗͍̺̜̬̺͉͙̠̀͒͋̊̓̆͂̋̋͐̏̉̓̽͐̐̈́̍̎̈̒̓͛͒͗̾͝͝ͅp̸̧̛̛͓̯̦͓̗͖̝͂̓͑͒̑̀́́̋͌͛̍̑̅̆̔́̕.̵̡̨̲̟̘̻̺̦̮̫͓͉͓̩̟̪͇̞͚̦͎̦̦̞̂͋̈́͆̌͊̃͐͒͆͆̽̃͒̐̐̄̿̀̓̑̕̕̚͝ ̵̡̨̧̡̨̨̡̱͚̘̠̠͔̼̥̪͖̭̙͙̬̻̗̰̹̫̯͙̼̩͒̈̓̓͊̈́̿͑̌ͅḨ̴̗̩͍̳̞̳͖̰̩͙̗̗̣͊̂̃̆̾̾̑̄́̓͂̓̃̃̔̌̑̒̃͂̑̂́̕̚͝͠͝È̶̛̛̥̤̝̞̼̭̭̘̦̼̲̤͇̟̘͑̈́̀̈́̀̈́̀̋̈́̒̓̉̀̒͒͊̀̉̆̒͘̚̕Ļ̷̤̲̤̣̙̥̖̗̩̬̮͎̲̘̪͉̺̟͉͔̫͚̍̐͂͗͂̿͌P̵̡̝̫̹̹̯̃̀͋̌̔͋͒̿̆́̒̄͂̋̂̌̅̎͝ ̷̧̰̱̣̹͉̰͔̲̲̟̠͉̳̠́̆̇̂͐̔͜M̴̧̧̻̻͉̝̻͕̟͇͚͖̗̺̥͍͔̠̯̯̗̠̯͓̱̹̆̀̏̈́͊͒̈̔ͅĘ̴̧̢̢̧̝̟̫̦͖̤̥͓̖̞̱̰̱̟́͐͗͘͜ͅ.̵̢̢̭̻̖͉̗̣̫̺̫̠̬̮̲̗̥̼̭̝̝̟͈͔̳̪͖̝̼̔͌̓͊͋̀̾͛̒̋͗͛͑̐̀̏̈́͗̇̈̐̎̍̎͌͘͘̕͘̕͜͝͝ ̷͉̭͊̊̀͌Ḩ̸̛̟͔͚̤̝͖͔͖͚̹̘̻̤͇̥̘͎̙̂̅͊̏̽͑̅͑͒̈́̔͊͂͋̌͆̎͂̒́̀̈͐̔̔͆̋̀̕̕Ę̷̧̡̧͙͇̫̫̣̭̣͙̦̋͗̈́̋̀͒͌̌͒͆̚͝L̴̨̧̧̢̛̛͙̹̫̪̖͖͚̮̰͈̮͇͛̀̎̇̋̽͌̉̍͊͊͊̚̚͝͝͝P̸̡͎̮̬̥̱̜͍̖̞͇͖͉̜͎͚̦̺͎̘̱̝͍̪̻̓̀̌̈́̊̎̍̏͋̏͛̈̈́̔͘͝ ̶̢̬̻̟̮̗̗͈̩̟͎̣̙̬̖̣͍͈̱̹͎̙̔̓̃͐͊̈́̉̈́̅͑̔̒͐͊̊̐͛̄̈̄̽̔̌̓̉̐̕͜͝͝͠͠M̴̡͙̟͍̺̙̤̻̞̣͉̞̝͈̥̪̫͉̳̫̥͇͉̬̘̯̮̦̭̈́͋̎́͜͜͜ͅȨ̵̢̗̩͕̲̦͍̼̒͆̑̿͜.̵̢̩͙̞͚̯̠̖̠͚̙͓͕͎͍̼͖̌͒͆͆̆̈́̾̌̆̎͒̚͘͠͝ ̴̞̻͎̣͌̂̐̓̆́́͛͑̇͂̊̿͋́̏̌̌͐̏̓̀̏̎̂͘̚̕̚͠Ḩ̴̨̨̻͖͈̺̦̟̝̯̭̹̘͚͚̜͎͎̯͉̝̤̟̐̅̅͜͝ͅͅͅÈ̵̢̹͙̙̻̜̹̥͔͖̰̬̖̗̙͎͍̓̽͐͑̔̈̄͒͗͛̊̅̓̏̀̆̏͒͗̇͘̚ͅL̶͇̐͐͊͂͐͠P̶̡̗̲̙̼̥̻̯̦̰͇͓̬͍̜͔̥͖̤͈̮̮̤͈̫̘͆̈͆́͂̔̾͋̋̽̉̓́͊̽͝͝͝͝ ̷̧̦̞̮̝͔͇͕͚̗͎͚̺̰͉̈́̇͋́̉́͛͘̕͜͠͝ͅM̸̧̡̧̫̳̠̝̭̝̰͎̱͍͓̝̳͎͈̗̺̯̯̲̣̆̏̈́̍̎̓́̈́̀̈̏͌̽̿̆̍̃̓̅̊̿̏͋̌́̑̑̄̚͘͜͜͠͠ͅE̴̛̯͇͔̭̺̱̙̤̟̝̩̜̳̖̤͎̜͙͈̘̦̮͈͇̫͙͉̟̝̜̣͎̿̂̃̃̈́̑̾͜.̵̫̇̌̓͘͝

Ḭ̸̡̧̨̛̛̞̯̖̝͉͍̪̙͈͙͓̜̙̓̀͑̈́̐̽͐̈́́͋̐̇̊̀̈́͛̓̆͊͂̓̓̐́̈́̊͐̀̾̽̎̇͊̀̾̈́͊͑̃͐͗͑̓͌͆̈́́̽́̄͗͂͊̍̉̋̃̉̆̂̌̾̈͊̋̆͛͋͛͊̓͌̅̿̃̉͊͊̐͆͐̒͛͋̈́̓̇̐̈́̾͒̄̾̚͘̕̕̚̚͜͜͝͠͝͠͝͝͝'̵̨̹̘̼͔̤̰̻͍̗̭͖̪͍͈͖͙̝̩͚̘̺̤̘̲̘̖̬̤̲̦̌̌̃̿͗̒m̴̨̢̡̡̢̧̡̨̧̢̧̢̛̛̛̛̹̣̣͔̼̮̗̼̥̲͙̙̙̥̪̗͔͚̬̭͕͎̼̝͔̞͔̦̲̹͎̟̯̖̤̰̹̗͓̙̣͍̲̥̫͚̹͔̼̤̺͉̬͔͍̗̥̺͈̳̖̻̹̯̤̠̼̖͙̹͇͍̺̭̫̻̙̻̼̻͕̖͕̘͕̫̖̳̙̯̥̗͈̠͎̳̋̋͑͌̍̃͒͋͆͌͒̑̇̍͋̄̂͋̑̃͌̾̉͋͂̍̓́̊̓̍̑̓̃̍͗͌̀̍͂̊͊͑́̚̕̚̕͜͝͠͝ͅ ̷̧̧̧̢̛̜̰̖͚͇͔͚͉̱͕͔͕̪̥̦̫̘͙̥̯͚̥͉̥̩͕̲̹͉̮̻͇̼̹̯͔̭̮̖͕̞̠͈̹̳̑͒̉̑̎̒̐́́̆̈́͆̾͊̍͂̓̏̓̏̈́̀̾͆̐̈́͑͋͛̀́͊̽̉̀̀͐̈́̚̕̚̚͘͜͜͜͜͝͝͝͝͝͝ͅͅw̴̧̧̨̡̡̢̡̧̛̛͓̻̪̺̮͚̙͔̞͎̟̰̟̤̻̼̱̠̫̬̻͓̹̲̗̘͚͕̟͓̰͔̯̝̱̫̟̠͚̱͈̥͍̼͇̻̜̗̯̞̙͓̭̯̞̟̟͓̯̜͆͆͌͗͑̋͂̅́̉̏̐̔̔͐̾̋̓͊̒͋̏̋̔̅͗͐̉͊̑͑͋͐́̎̿͛͊̚̚̚͜͝͝͝ǫ̵̡̭͉͇͇̰̠̮̯̼͉̼͕̟̮̤̦͍̲̤̣̠̲̤̳̺̦͖̟̹̼͚̖̯͚̗̖̘͂̂͜r̶̨̧̨̧̨̛̛̛̛͓͚̰̬̫͈͈͚̝̰̱̮̼̮̜͔̙̥̰̝͚̖̟̤̠̝̝͎̥̯̩̥̖̩͚̰̹̪͖̠̦̦̙̬̪͕̖̳̩̘̟̲̫̦̰̤͙̼̗͉̼̻̜̲͎̭̖̥̻͉̹̯̮͙͚̙͈̖̣͋̂̈͋̀̔̋͂̆͆͗̎͌̅̃̀̈́͑̿̓̃̂̌̄̄͐̐͋̃̀̆̎̈́̌̈́̇̊̇̓͆̃̚̚͘̕̚͜͜͜͝͝͠͝ͅͅͅt̴̡̡̡̛̛͙̬̮͇̻̙̝̟̮̦̦̠͇̰̯͊͛̾͐̆͛̓̒̉̇̍̍͗̌̈̃͗̀̄̄̇͆̀̓̑̅̃̈̋̈̇̌̄͒̊̇̅̒̌̇̈́͂̔̾͑͛́͌̀͐̃̍̀͐̆̒͆̂̈́̈́̓̌̑͌͌͛̂͊͋̒̂̈̀͋́̎̂̿̇̉̉̌͒͂͑͐͂̑͘̕̚̚̕̚̕͜͝͠͝͠͝ͅḩ̵̢̡̢̢̢̢̡̨̨̛̛̛̤̱̙̬̤̻̟͇̩̜̜͔̜͈͔͚̟̜̙̹̣̗͕͖͈̥̜̯̲̤̗͎̪̜͈͔̱̱̩͈͍̞̰̫͕̩̻̝̘̰̦͈͕͕͓̹̻̥͓̭̯̯͔̬̙̺͓̺̪͈͓͙̱̲͙̼̟̯̩̭̩̼̮̫̥͔͍̱̫͕̥̬̹̮͍̦̀̎̒̀̐̿̍̐͊̃̿́͐̃̄̀́̉̈́̔̍̾̆̊͑̈̔̊́̍̊̂̿̒͑̅͗̃̉͋̽̽͗̀̃͒̂̈́̚̕̚͜͜͜͠ͅͅͅͅͅͅĺ̸̢̨̡̨̧̩̗͓̲͖̱̘̙̰̝͎͔͉͉̣̩̤̳̳̦͍̗͇̠͍̼̖̻̼̼̯̲͚̟̙͓͙̣̗͎͔̤̦̜̪̲͚̥̲̟̣͙̳̺̖̯͈͍̤̣̳̯͎̪̦̺͉̭̰̤̼̱͚͉̫͍̐̅̉̈́̑̀́͑͑͛̈̆̑̓͑͑̌̋͋̉͆̈́̿̾̊͛̀̊͋̈́̒̊̈́͊͌́̏̎̌̌̍̅̂̕̕͜͝͝ͅͅę̴̧̨̧̛̛̛͍̤̥͍̥̺͔̯̳̫̫̺̺̹̮̼͙͙̈́̈́̒͗̃̊̇̔͆̏̈́̾̍̈́̑̃͗̍͂͒̃̏̓̽̂͗̋̅̂̈́͗̽͗͋̀̔̀͛̃̉̐͌̓͑̾̈́̿̈́͌̍́̏͌̏̈́̀͗͂̃͌͆̅̐̑͗͐̇̐̇̈́͆̽̆̄͗̏̒͒̍̇̄̓̆̃̔̓́̈́̍̊̈́̆̾̿̑̈̎̈́̽̍̐̋͑̓̈́̐̂͑̀̈́͛̌̽̊́̔̚͘͘͘͘͝͝͝͝͠ͅs̷̡̢̢̢̡̢̧̧̡̢̧̭̗͕̘̰̤̼͉̟͈͔͉̰̰̻̩̬̩̜̥͖̥̯͎̲͙̖̲̞̯̣̬̭̝͈͙͇͇̲̙̙̤͓̦͓̩͍̯͎̞̥̖̖̟̦̜͈̬̝͙͉̪̰̺̖͍̜̟̰͔͎͖͚̮̩̥͕̓̈́̃͗̏̑͛͆̊̐̓̐̎̐̎͋̒̅̄̈̓̐̎̔̇̈̉̃͌̃̔͊͐͛̽̏̑͒͐͗̃̄̈́̆̓͛̄̀̈́́̈͆̏͒͌̀̀̈́̏̏̈́̓̚̕͜͜͜͝͝͝͝͝͝ͅš̵̨̡̨̡̡̡̢̨̛͙͉̖͕̥̣̰̙͕̱̣̞̥̱̣̜̲̻̫͎̩̗̠͎̗̤͇̤̥̤͇̗̦͍͓͚̤͈͍̩͓̹͚̱̲̰͓̤̮͉̻͎̮̹̙̲̙͕͈͔͙͎̩̜͕̬͍͍̠̥̭͚̯̜̬͓͖̲̲̠̪͓̱͇̙̫̘̞͖̪̞̲̮͙̠͕̊̊̾̐͋́̆͑̓̓̆̔́̐̂̀͊̒̏̀̉̒̔́̚͜͜ͅ.̵̨̧̨̡̨̡̧̡̨̥͈͉̤̼̮̟̗̺̪̜̜̱̪̖͇̦̖͙̖̤̠͙̲̯͍͚͎̦̠͈̭̳̭̙̲̗̲̗̭̠͕̭̬̟͚̫̜̟̼̱̱̞̹͉͔͇͇͔̟̰̠̪͔͎̮͍͎͓͍͇̠̫͈͕̹̉̀̈́͌̎͊̓̍͊͌̎͛͆̈́̊͋͌͌͊̿͊̐̇̂̍̔̇̿̓͛̈́̍̀̃̽̇̈́͆̅̓̕͘͘̚̕͘͝͠͝͠ͅͅͅ ̶̡̧̢̧̢̢̧͇̱̞̰̗̫̦̫̹̞̜͕̜̭͙̭̠̯̗͈͎̘̳͓̳̮̟̲̭̘̪̱̩͉̲̪͚͔̞̹͙͓̠̯͈̐̋̀̓̌́̐̽́̂̃̍̃͛͐̔̔́́͌͒̓̌͊̔͌̎̽́̿̈́͗̋͛̉́͛̋̎́̈́̿͑̈́̎̀͐̈̅̀̆̐̄̆̑͗̄͒̇̀̈͐̚̚̕̕̚̚̕͘͝͝͝͝ͅͅͅỊ̸̧̡̡̨̧̛̝̟̺̩͔̰͎̪̦͓̜̩̦͇͈̺̘͖̤̰̻̖̗̲̣̥͔͎̟͖̥͓̪̼̳͙͔͖̼͓̉̒̄͗̑̓̂̽̾̇́̊͒̀͂͒̅̃̄̎͊͆̓̉̿̉̑͋̀̏͊̃͌̋̍̀̀͒̀̓̐̏͐́̿͌̐́͛̈́͑̊͐̽̿̈͗̈́̽̈̇͂͐̃̋͑͐͛̒̇͌̑̈́͆͘͘͘̚͘͘̚̚̚̕̚̕̕͝͝͝͝͝͝͝͝͠͠ͅͅ ̴̧̡̛͍̲͉̭͔̦͖͕̩̜̝̩̳̟͍̩̹̯̖̦̹̺͎͙͚̖͌̄͑̌̾̑͛͑́͆̿̏̏̓̾̒̍͛͆͊́̈̎̋̈́́̍̂̂̉̓̆̅̉͂̿̀̾̃̎̔̊̿̔͌͌̿̈́̄̿͌͐̅͊̽̐͑͐͒̒͛̃̇̏̈́̚͝͠͝ͅn̸̡̧̢̡̛̛͚̱̯̤͇̝͉̖̝̯̞͚̫̜̞̪̠͍̹͙̦̣͚̪̟͍̤̙̫̬̭͉͆̽͌̆̿̀̉͊̓͛̇̾̍͒̂̇̊͆̑́̅͛̎̃̎̐́̈́̌̊̐͐̓̏̊̓̈́̒̈͊̽̽̒̎͂͛̈́̅̈́̏͑̆͗̅̈́͗̐͗͋͗͒̿͊͑̿̈̓̈́̊̿͗̒̑̎̊͊̿̇͑̚̕̕͘͘͠͠͠͝͝͝ͅͅe̵̛̛̫̝̙̱̱͚͎̺̥̳̮͍͍̣̔̑̅̈́́̓̎̋̑̎̾͑̈́̋̒͊̓̊̈́͒̀̑͋̌͐͒͐͋̍̑̀̌̾̂̀̌͆̂̀̽̊̐͂̽̌̏̔̃̈́́̑̍̿̃̓̓̆̐̀͊͊͂̔̋͆̀̐̊̔͂́̀̅̓̏̋̎̽͘̚̚̚͠͠͠͝͝͝͝e̸̡̨̧̧̛̛̛͙͚̘̣̦͈̳̝̝̬̱̠̮͚͈̬͉͕̝̤̮̺͓̪̅̈̈́̓̽̑͆͆͑̎͐̈́̐͑̾͒͂̈́̽͋͊̌̍́̓͋̌͗̉̍̅͒͒̑̍̂̽́̈̀̊́̾͑̈͐̈́̃̄́̔̋̉̉̑̌̂̎̍͑̾̎̐́̔̆̀̀̉͆͌͛̋̈́̈́̓͛͆̅̅̒̈́͂́̈̅̀̀̆̇̒̔̇͒͊̉͋̕͘̕̕͘̕͘͘͠͠͝͠͝͝ḓ̸̡̨̨̡̨̧̛͎͚̬̳͇̠̤̲͉̼͍̼̜̙͈̦͖͖̳͔̩͚̦̥̫̗̞͇͉̩̫̭͙͙̳̦͙̰̞̥̟̯̥̥̞̤̮̹̥̱͚̫̻̣̰͔̯̖̟͍̩̭̦̫̼͉̈́̋̂̄͌̂͑͛̊̓̾͌̓̆̌́̓̔̀͂̔̑̂̋͑̎̎̓̔͂̀̃̅̋̒̔͒̍̒̏̌̉̑͊̎́́͛̓̽̈́͂̑̆̂͌͗͆̏͋͗͐͒́̋̓̀͘̕͝͠ͅͅ ̷̢̢̢̢̢̨̭͉̬͖̣̭̠̬̞̩̳̲̫͉̠̖̲̘̥̝̞̰̹̲͖̜̜͎̙̟̘̦̼̻͚̗̣̙͎̺͍͚̘̭̜̻͉͚̱̖̳͙̳̤̲̤̪̠̻̣͚̳͖̖͎̞̰̫͚͕̭̗̙̪̲̠̳̹̩͍͙̩̘̪͉̲̮̝̟͖̫̫̲̦͎̳̥̩̞̞̘̦̖͇̩̗͇̺͈͎͙̩̝̼̯̘͒̏̒̑̅̇͂͒̿̋̐̀͋̀͛̾̿̅̈͐̌́̄̾̎̚̕͜͜͝͠͝͝ͅͅͅh̷̡̡̨̢̡̢̛̛͙̼̻̦̥̘̘̖͔͖̘̹̰̘͕̫̺̘̮̹̖̞̬̪͙̤̺̰̩̣̳̖̤̱̼̗̣̲̻̹̗̪͖̹͚͓̲̞̮͉̯̳͎̗̭̥̠͔͔͍̞͓̙͚͔̦͎̼̗̪̪̹̭̻̲͉͍̥̠̼͆̑́́̂̅̓͗̾̀͊̋͒̄͐̒̾͐̑̌̓̽̊̋̔͑̐̈́͂̂̔̔̄̐̾̈́́̀̄̃̾̂̀͆̽̾̂̋̈́͋̄̀͊̀̄̾͂̐͆̓̆̐̈̐͑̐̋̓̆̌̉̆́̈́̍̀͊̀̈́̎̔̈́́̏͆̓̊̅́͗̈̍͌̚̚͘̕̕̚̚̚͜͜͝͝͠͝͝͝͝͝͠ͅͅė̷̛̛̛̛͕̣͇͎͎̟͉̝̫̤̱̩͈̬̤̈̅͌̽̑́̄̐̈́̃̇̈̔̓͗̃̄̋̇̾͑̾̏̉͒͒͛̌̽͂̓̃̊̽̆̾̾̾̿͗̾͒͒̎͐̂͗̆̾̌̓̍̈̃̽́͒̅̆̿͆̏̓̆͐͆̅̾̌͒̾̂̑͗̅̃̃̏̒̃̍̽̓̚̚̕͜͝͠͝͠ļ̴̡̨̨̘̮̫͎̩̺̙̮̜̤̪̮̺͓̫̥̦͚̹̜̱̞͔̜̫͓͔̖̫̦͖̟̻͎̘̠̣͓̝̖̗̖̟͎̏̾̿̾͂̆͛̈́̕͝͠͠ͅͅͅͅp̷̛̱̲̑͆̌͆̎̃̅̎̏̈.̶̧̡̢̨̛͎̱̘̜̮͙̖̪̬̞̖̳̩̼̺͈̺͕̗̲̖̝̞̞͈̲̜̭̰̻̰̘̩̘̪͔̹͎̰̲͙͓̣̳͉͕͎̞̫̯̝̫̳̖̰͎̼̳̗͕͔̖͔͖͇̞͚̟̣̙̙̥̻̭̬͈̥̺̲͍̖͍̹̠͓͔͙̜̌̀͊̈́͊͋̂͐͊͋̀̽̓̋͊̈́̑͊͌̋̉͐̓͐͑͘͘͘̕͜ͅͅ ̴̡̛̛̲͖͙̳̋͒̿̐͛͑̒̈́͌͋̿͒͗̓͗̎̋͂̈͒̏̀͋̓͊͛̈́̔̈́̀̒͗̉͌̀̃́̎̀̐̏͋̈́̿̅̓̀̈́͌͊̏͊̋̿͂̆͋̌̈́̃̇̍̐͑̈́̇͊̕̚̕͘̚͘͠͝͠͝D̸̡̨̧̧̨̧̧̢̡̛̖̫̗͇͓͈͚͇͇͖͇̘̣͎͕̱̭͖̺̟̹̺̜̖͈͓̗̳̥̘̭̤̦̭̫̩̜̱̦̪͕̣̅̀̇̇̄̀͊͆̍͌̉̐͑͐͐̉̅̔͂͊͐̂̏̈́̈́̌́͋̆̏̋̀́͑͘̚͘̚̚͘͜͜͜͜͠͠͝͠͠͝͝ͅͅͅỡ̵̧̢̨̡̨̧̢̨̢̩̞̗̻̰͍̳̝̯̯͔̱̪͕͍̖͈̦͍̤͕̥͓̫̜̘̫̺͈̠̯̗̤̪̹̳̯̤̥͎̹͍͓̻̝̦̫̩̹͚̩̥̭̲̻͓̜̺̲̻̺̙̯̼͍̬͈̬̫̭̙̭̥͉̳͖̼͇͙̗̣͓̬̪̰͎̄̈́̈͐̏̒͐̈́̑̀̊̊̈́͒̆̀̓͊͌̊̄̃̀͂̆̔̐̿́̔̌̇̆͑͌̈́͌́̋͊̏͂̔̄̆͂́̍̀́̿̾̑̕̕̚̕͜͝͝͝͝ͅǹ̵̢̡̛͇͖̖͚͖͙̱̻̞̩̪̠̯͙̳͓͕̻̤̭͓͚̜͚͕̾̈́͆̅̈́̾̏̅̂̓́̽̈́̎̂̿͑̍̅̐̾̓̓̾̓̈́̒̌͋͐̿̄̀͘͜͝͝͝͝ͅ'̴̙̲͕̱̻̯̄̽̃̈́̐́́̔̑̏͐̓̈́́͊͊̀̏̿͌̽͋̅̑̊͛͑͛͊̌̍̔̈͛̾͊̔͗̓̍̚̕̕͠t̸̢̨̧̧̨̢̧̛̛̛̛̞̻͖̹̱͔̘̣͚̻̩̦̺̠͖͎̖͉̳͖̟̻̮̣̮̬̠͔̲͕͓̦̖̙̯̭̖̫͙̦̘̤̭̯̜̮̪̥̺͈͇̼̬̹̖̘̩̱͙̯̫̟̮̫̪̥͇̫̘̞̳͈̠̘̲͉̝̣͓̭̘̰͖̬̯̯͍̟̪̫̻̖̙̮͉̦̪̜̞̰̬̯̫̻̼̱̲͈̗̪̼̪̖̱́̾́̿͗̓͊̓̾̀͗̽͒̑̊́̐͂̀̌̈́͐́̋̔̔̓͂̈́̈́͌̊̓͊̇̆̈̏̐͊̈́̂̓́͒̍͐́̀̇͌̍͑̌̎̆͛̔̽̏̂̏̀̈́̌̍́̍́̈̊̀̇͑͒̄́͗̐͒̎́̑̅̓̕͘̚͘͜͝͝͝͠͠͝͝͠͝ͅ ̵̧̡̢̢̡̢̨̧̨̢̨̡̛̻͕̭͕̣̖̱̱̻̯̩̹̼͇̯͍͖̖̥̱̠̟̠̦̪̥̖͚̖̝̟͚̰̙̜̬̙̟͙̙̤͓̙͍̤̯̮͍͖͓̬̟̝͎̤̻̺̰̣̣͖͚̝̺̖̯̻̙̜̮͈̱̜̘̼̣̯̯̬͉͈͚͔͚̳̖̘̫͔̲̻̟͇̼͚͍̰̹͎͓͉͔̖̱̗͆͊̊̅̒́͑͒̋̀̑͋́̎̐̔̀̉̾͛͌̾̎̀̉͋͆̄̍̓͒͊̓̎̔̍̏̔̑͛̌́̀̀̃̋̎̆͌͗͐̓͑̇̅̅̄̌͐̂̈́̏̎̋̽̀̈̋̐̍̅̄̍̊͛̆̆̀͆̈́̆̿̏͑͑̓͑͛̈́̚̚̚͘̚͜͜͜͝͝͝͝͝͝͝͝ͅͅͅͅͅḩ̷̨̢̢̛̛̛͔̟̻͚̲̙̯͙̺͇̝̙̥͈̦̬̲͍̪͉̪̣̼̱̜͉͌̈̌̊̿̂͑̀̿́͗̓̑̽͑̉̌͆͒̆̋́̈́͛̎̏̂̈́̆͊̈́̅͊͑̄͒̏̑͑͑̔͊͒̆̿́͛͊̋̅̽̌̅̎́̅̒̈́̆̈́̇͋͐͋̏̄̉̈́͂̅̄̓̈́̓͆̾̔̉̈́͂͊̉̇̈́̔̎̓̎̾̈́̃̒͂̑̈̈́̓̅̒̍̈́̕̚͘̕̕̚͘̚͜͜͝͝͠͝͝ͅa̵̢̡̛̗̤̹̩̫̲̲̻̘̲̗̥̰͎̱̰͍̜̞̳̯̥̻̼̎͛̀͊͊̅̔̑́͗̂͒̾͌̐͛̎̋̽͊́̔̍́̈́̈́͌̐͗̈̔͆͊̓̐̊́̎̒̀̉̎̽͗́̆̋̈́̽̓̌̉́͛̃̀̌͊́̈́͆̑̂͛͑͋̌̍̋̆͐̅͆͒̍̕̕͘̕̕̕͘͜͝͝͝͝v̶̡̡̧̛͖̜͍̱̥̠̗̳̘̞̙̥̝̺̘̝̬̮̤͓͉̱̳̱̪͕͎̠̝̩̣̪̻̘̻̲̖̺̪̜̙͉̝̝̮̤͍͍͎̪̜͍̦͎̬͎̰͙̪͍͍͙̪̜͉͖̫͖̲̞̬̭̝̤̝͇̫̤̺̹̜̜̩̲͍̙̩̻͎͈̲̞̟̹͐͑̈́̌̈́̉͆̆̽͆̏̌̄̔́̎͗̆͐͆͊̅̌̋͛͑̽̿̑̑̎͋̔̆͗͛͛̓̆̊̌͋͑͐̈́͐͒͛͑̊̍͂̔̍̀̌͑̽̉̓̊̒̈͊̿̽̒͛̾͆̽̈̑̿̓̈́̀̉́̐̽̌͋̐̈́̋͊̂̐̾̈́̃̂̾͌̒̍̏̒̉̑͗̑̚̕͜͜͝͝͠͠͠͠͝ͅͅͅͅͅͅͅͅẻ̷̢̨̧̨̢̛̛̛̠̣̺͕̯̲̘̞͚͖͙̜̼̬̰̼̤̮̰̭̻͈͔̞̤̥̯͉̩̺̟̞̥̙̹̣̤̯̘̬͙̱̬̥͔͔̙̮̥̺̲̣̙̪̺̙̟̰̫̟̺͚̩͓̞̤̭̥͇͇͉̤̒̌̓̽̑́̓̽̿̊̓͆̍͊͂̓̌̒̃̈̄͛̈̊̍͑͛͌̈͐͂̀̅͗́͌͋͆͗͐͗̊̃͊̄̿̾͊̍̊̆̈́̓̅͛͊̐̂́̒̄̕̚̕̕͘͝͝͝͝ͅ ̸̡̡̧̢̢̡̧̨͉̞̭̺̳͓̱̥̥̬̳͈̭̜͇͉̯̰̺͚͍͙͍̼͓͍̖͙̩̱̗̥̘̯̭̭̰̣̝̠̜̩̲̱̱̺̼̘̦̼͉̘̤̦̝̮̫̥̥͙͈̩͚͖̯̝̯͍̺͎͉͍̖̟̥̗̺̳̲̠͍͍̔̅̉͋̽̉̔́̍̈́̇̀̓̀̎̋̈͐͒́̈́̋̉͂̑̉́̐̈͊̔͊̿̀̑̾̒̀̄̋͐̾͆̐̀̂́̈́̇̎͋̒̚͜͜͜͜͜͜͝͝͝͝͠ͅͅͅͅͅȩ̶̛͇͎͈̼̤̝͇̰̙͎̯̞͈̗͛̒̎̅̍̅͐̔̈́̓̊̈́̌̓̅́͆̌̊̅̄͌̈́̾̂͆̔͆̈́̐̆̀͗̓́̂̈́́͛̓̂͑̍̅̈́̆̋͗̏͐͐̌͆̿͐͒̑̄̎̓͑̌̐̾́̂͂̿̂̌͋̓̆̈̂̈́̍̅͋̕͘͘͠͝͝͝͝͝ṅ̶̢̢̡̨̢̧̛̛͇͎͖͔̞͔̻̹̙̥̙̻̯͉͔̹͈͔͇̝͈͓͖̦̞̰̱̼͉̞̜͍̠̻̙͊̔̎͆̈́͊̍͊͋͗̓͊͐̅̔̚͝͠͝͝ͅǫ̸̨̢̨̛̛̟̘̺̩̰̦͓̩̣͕̬̼̯͕̰̹̬̳̱͉̦͚͖̝̫̤̰̼̪͕̤͚͗̉͋̋̿̏́͒͆̎̈́̈́̀́̍́̇̑̊́̍̃̽̐̊̈́̍̈́͐͐̒͑̓̊̿̈́͒͌̿̎̌̂͆̎͌̀̀͆͛̈́͐̓̒̈́̿̔͌̌̾̍̓͐̏̀̀̉̎̽͗̎̄̌̏͆͊̽̄̆̿̾̇͋͒̚͘̕̚̚͝͝͝͠͝͝͠͝͠͝ͅư̶̡̢̡̡̢̡̨̛̙̜͓͎̮̻͍͇͚͙̱̦̘͉̼͎͉̭̼̦̭̱͎̙̫̥͚̬̝̭̻̖̱̻̝̰̩̮̱̙̠͓̞̗̞̱̮̺̫̰̱̻̯̥̘̜̱͚̖̝͇͕̦̫̼̯̬̺̦̖͕̖̦̪̞̜͖͙͒̍̿̾̈͆͒̄͒̐̇́̈́́̑̂̄̈̓̓̅̾̿͒̋́͛͂͗͋͐͗̅́́͂̏̒̌̅̒̓̉͛͘̚͘͜͝͠͝ͅͅͅͅģ̷̢̛̟͈̰̺̰̲̟̫̙͔̖̭̼̭̲̩͓͔̖̥̺̥̖͎̤͉͉͚̼͚͍̠̩̘̮̫͇̦̫̉̈́͒̑͑̈́̈̓̈̃̅̈̉̅̆̒͑̓̇̐̀́͂͑̈́̒́̀̈́̈́̍̌̽̽̽͌̿͛͂̕͜͝͝͠ͅȟ̷̨̧̡̢̡̧̛̰̲̜̠̙̰̬͎̫̬̤̳̩̼͍̞̝͉̘̻͎͇͉̞̫͚͕̮̲͇̺̺̰̯͔̝͙̖̝̫̦̦̻͓̩̫̬͍͙̦͓̗̗̗̖̣̜̩͉̳̲͙͉͚̼̳̬͉̖͖̫̰̮̻̙̞͖̟͚̙͙̝͇͈̼̰̮̟̟͙̘̮͆͐͒̓͌̐̒͐̊̾́͛́̍͛̋̌̃͌̽̽͛̿̐͂̀̈́̃͐̌̆̇͌̂̕̚͜͜͜͝͝͠ͅͅͅͅͅ ̴̢̨̨̨̨̧̡̡̢̡̨͕̙͇͇̭͍̩͈̳͍͉̭͚̖͕͕̻̬͚̝̘̳̠̼̰͓͔̩̘̮̘̦͕̟̫͇̬̞̜̘͔͕̝̻͍̖͕̰̖̤͈̦̯͎͍̹̭̩̤̺̪̬͍̺̞͍̱̙̣̺̯̫͇̲͎͓͍̺̫̘̱̖̗̬̪̖̯͕̪͇̩͓͙͔͈̠͍͎͓̾̎̆̓̀̄́̐͌͂̋̀̔́̕̕͜͜͝ͅẅ̸̡̨̢̢̨̨̡̢̢̨̢̢̢̖̪̠͖̭͙̗͕͖̤̜̮̘̪̗̯̻͚̹̰̭̳̮͈̩͖̙͎̙̦̤͓̫̝͈̳̙̼̱͚̤̺̲̦̰̞̳̝͓̰̩̳̲̤̜̯̤̯̬̭̪̮̲̖̹͉̖̮͖̼͍̬͖͇͇̠͚͕͖̤̞͉̘̼̰̘̰̤͍̩̙͓̪̝͚̗͉͙̦́́̈́̊̀̐̄̍̿̀́͐͌͌́͂̀́̾͗̇̈́̍̆̐͆̈͊̈̀̄͆̀̈̕͜͝͠͝ͅͅͅơ̵̢̧̢̢̛͉̣̯͕̮͚͈̰̦̩̥̰͖̩̙̳̯̹͙͖̬͊̐͗̉͌̃̽͑́̆̾̀͗̍̈́̄͆̄̌̓̆̉̀̄̏̌̋̏͒̈́̔̌̓͑͐͐͒̒̆̽̊͒̆̾̈́̐̊̑̒̍̒̍͆͐̇̈́͊̔̾̆͌͌̃̈́͂͐͌̓̏͗̓́̍͊̃́̚̚̕̕̚͜͠͝͝͝͝͝͠ŕ̸̨̢̛̺̟̭̼̭̥͉̬̤͈͇̠̖̙̭͉͚͕̜̫͔̗̖̼͉͇̻̣̫̖̺̩̗̭̬͇̃̑͊͒̌̏̓̋͂̌̂̽̌̆̅̆̿̂͒͘̕͝͠ţ̵̡̡̢̢̛̭̤̗͎̱̭̯͚͙̼̜̞͚̻̰̜͔͍̺̞̣̠̺͔̖̣̯̘̤̙̙͇͚̬̮͔̼̯̹͉͚̞̻͉̣̞̩͚͈̬̬̹̟̝̠́͑̿̔̃́̋̀̓̅͊͐̉̿̅̅̋̒̇̀̄̌͗́̈̏͒͆͑͊̏̓̅̽͛̍͌̿̉̔̂̓͒̎̍̈́͛̃̑͊̆̽̈͑̆̆͛͌́́̿̉̇̍́͌͛͊̊̎̄̇̉̇̋͂̈́̍̈̄̅̌̋̅͛̾́̈́̊̓̈́̈́͐̂́̐̚̕͘͘͘̕̚͘͘͠͝͝͝͝͠͠͝͠͝ͅȟ̷̢̡̛̛̩̦̦̭͍͕͍̱͇̗̫̳͚̠̹̗̙̱̭̳͇̪͔̦̯͇̟͍͉̩͉̜͚̻̤̱̥̘̒́̍͂͒̆̈́͛̽̇͒̄̿̂̎͒̑͊͊͑̒̄̑͒̌͗̓̐̾̋̑̑̉̆͆͌̂̐̃͌̓͊͐̃͋̀̈́̒̍̇͛̌͋̂̽̓̎̽̀͂̅̆̑́̊̆̃̎͋̂͘̚͘͘͜͜͠͝͠͝͝͝ ̷̧̨̧̛̛̛̛̮̞̞͉͍̙̹͔̹̲̮̻̮̲̬̳̖̫̭̘̦̻̙͎͔̺̩͚̺̖̱̗̪̣̖͈͖͚͈͕̱̫̳̘͓̜̲̗̱̠̝͍̠̖̻͉̰̙̙͓̞͚̳̤͈̓̔̀̈́̈͂͗̽͌̾͋̇̍̔͒̾̏͛̓̿̂̏͆̌̊̂͐̂̋͒̽́͆̊̊̌̎̌̊̅̎̐̔̈́̍̐̊̽̓̾̀̑̈́͋̄̿̆́̏̾̾̽̍͆̉̒̽̈́̈́͊̍̀̊͛̾̈̈́̽͘̕̚̕̚͝͝͝͝͝͝͠͝͝͠t̵̡̡̢̡̧̧̡̢̨̡̢̛̠̟̼͙̖̠̗̥͍̰̣̼̪̜͎̺͍͉̪͇̜̫̰͉͚̯̪͚͎̳̳̼̮͍̭̥̲̘̹̜͓͇̯̺͕̞̦̼̹͕̬̘͖̣̦̖̹͈̦̱̣͎͚̪̻̠͙͕̖̬̗̟͔̲̖̜̟͖̦̗͖̱̟̘̹̟̥̜̼̦̯͔̼͍͈͓̗͇͎̤̰͕̼̝̟͈͎̤̱̟͉̰̓͑̓͑͐͗̏̅̑̈́̏̇̉̿́̆̉̌͒̐͆̆̌͋̓̐̊́̈́̍̈̍͂͑̽͋̒̋͐͂̓͒̅̒̾̈̏̈́͆̈́̇̋̈́͋̾̄͛́̉̏̍͛͂͒̋̓́̐̈̃̈́̆̾̍͗̀̇̓̋̀͛̾̌̂̅̿̉͑̍̃̊̆̃͒͋̒̄̂̊̅̽̕̕̚̕̚̕̚̚̚̕͘̚͘͜͜͜͜͜͝͝͠ͅͅơ̷̡̧̡̧̧̡̡̡̢̨̛̛̩̹̰͈̬̱̼̲̜͓̮͚͙̩͈̙͎̭̥̦͙͙͕͓̣͓̙̘͖̻̜̩̭̪̞͉̝̮͎̝̖̤̳͙̥̙̹̟͎͚͖͎̝̗̲̮͚̫͍̬͎̭̣̮̩̜̰͔͉̙̗̮͇̫̩͙̣̄̓̓̈́͋̑̑̀̀̍̀̒̓̾̒̎͊̊̍̎̂́̌̅̔̇̆̾͊̎̒͌̍́͛̔̈́̐͐̿̈́͗̊̄̀̊͆̓͂̈́̈͑͛̈́̆̑́͌̃̐̿̄͌̈͌́̿̈͗̽̈̊̄̅͊̄͌̚͘͘͘̚͜͜͜͠͠͝͠͠͝͠ͅͅͅ ̸̧̡̨̧̨̨̡̢̡̨̧̨̧̡̛̛̛̛̛͖̖͖̙̩̙̜͙͚͈̣̣̥̺̳̭̰̪̹̹̱͚̝̯̦̳̩̤̰̠͇͎̣̰̰̫̮͚̜̙̻̥̞̻̜̤̠͕͕͙̣̮͎̰͈̙̬̱̹̣͓̺̠͙͈͓̲̦̠̤̜͕͚͍̫̭͈̺̜̳͚͉̤͇̠͍̙̣̹̩̖͕̰̬͉͖͖̩̘͈̝̘̈́͗̅̃̀̿͑̇̆͐̓͑̈́̽͊̃͌̓̈̇̿̎̒͗̒̓́͆̔̒͌̊̽̇̄̽͗̒͊͛͐̈͆͛̀̾̀̈́̓̆̍̒̅̓̐̄̔͋̈́͐͊̆͛͆̔͒͋̀̇̑̔̓̐́̿͛̓͆̎̾͂̚͘̕̕̕͜͜͜͠͝͝͝͝d̵̡̢̨̨̢̢̙̟̱̱̮̘̬̫̫̬̟̠̖͙͙̗͙͉̩̙̬̤̦͎͔͈̤̖̝̖͙̣̤͇̰͔͑̀͆͂͆̆͘͜͝ͅͅờ̷̧̢̧̨̡̡̧̡̡̧̨̡̛̛͓̫͉̪̬̙͍̪̙̺̦̺̰̪̹̳̼̥̟̘̦̙̺͕̠̹̲̤͈̝͖̥̹̦̣̬̼̥͙͉̱̟͙̹̥͍̺̖̺̦͓̜̣͚͚̗͙̟̥̱̼͉̥̩̼̖̙̙̪̩̞̲̜͍̗͓̝̙͉̤̟̙͚͕̗͆̑͗̍̽̿̎̔̏͐̀̀͂͐̾͊̓͒̌̉̐̔̈́̓̓̎̆̃̂͗͋̀͗̒̈́͐͛̑̃̆͛́̈́̆̉́͐̿̄̐́͌̎͛͐͊̚͘̕͘̚͜͝͠͝͝͝͝͠ͅͅͅ ̶̨̡̢̨̢̡̡̗̝̮̬̫̠̺̠͉̫̭͓̲̦̮͖͍̩̹̫͕̣͙̺̲̻̥͈͇̜̩̜̲̥̫͕͉̳̬̤̥͇͕̺̠̲̰͖̯̦͍͔̺͕̬͇̲̞̫̻͎̮͚̘͎͔͉̯̣̈́̽̀̂̌̇́̾̄̾̈́͋̉͑̽͊̎̔̀́̌̂͛̈́͐̂͋͛͐̓̏͊̊̓̅̉̓͗̾͌̅̇̇̾͑̄̈́̓̽̔͒͋͊͋́̓͆̽̊̀̓̋̃̆̈́͋̔̓̎̅̿̀̔̈́̋͌́̍͆͂̔̐̆̓͗̎̽̊̄͒̉̉̊̿̏͐͑̾̕̕̚̚͜͜͠͝͝͝͝͠͠͠ͅͅï̴̡̡̡̢̢̧̞̖͕̬̳̗͕͍̰͇̥͔̠͕̦̮̼̳̺̬̘̘̗̙̠̘̠͇̣̬̻͓̙̺̪͔̜͎̦̗͔̦͇̲̦̩̦͙̙̪̦̠͙͕͉̟̤̣̬̥̠̟͖̠̤̩͎̣̞͈̠̱̗͕̩͇̩̜̗̮̮̖͚͖͇̬͖̜̩͚̮̻̭̎̎́͗́̀̀̓͗̓̀̑̑̓̒͆͐̒͜͝ţ̷̢̢̨̡̧͈̯͓͙̱̙͓̝̼̳̫̰̞͉̝͖̗̮̮͇̳̝̩̖̟̯͔̘͙̺͕͓̟̦̳̩͉͚̥̀̔͊͒̎̃̃̔̒̀̿̇̑̃̈́͛̓̏̀̿͋͂̏͊̈́͆̀͌̀͊̇̈́̋̃͂̃́̄̀̚͘̕̚͜͜͠ͅ ̶̨̨̧̡̢̡̛̛̫͕͉̯̦̘̘̩̙̼̺͚͉̳̹̱̘̘̼̱͔̙̠̜̥̪͈͓̫̰̠̖̞̹̮͚̟̫̼̮̝̜̼͕͚̻̙̪͇̅͌͌͆̄̈́̅̑̈́̽̓̓̀̂̎͆̽̐̐͛͐̽͂̿͌͆͆̅̾͛̒̐̃͒̈̏̑͑̅̌̓̑͆̆̊̐̾̿̐͌̊̿̐̉́͌́̔͗͋̎̾̓̾͐̅̓̀͑͌̈́̔͗̿͗̈́̃̃͊͐̿̍͒̕̕̚̚̚̚͜͜͝͝͝͝͠͝͝͝ͅm̷̨̢̢̡̧̛̛̮̻̺̙̤̤̩̻͚̠͎͓̯̣̖̝̹̺̩̳̝͖̫̹̣̭̩̩̥̰̖̥͓͎̠̺͖͈̮͉̜͍̟̮͙̮̙̝̟͎̗̻̼̺̤͇̯̗͔̪͎̥̔̈́̔͐̃̌͂̈̊̉́̓̇̋̊̓͑́͆̉̊̊͂̄̅͆̅́̿̀̆̈̎̀̏̊͂͆͑̓̈́̔̏̏͋̋̄̉̐̿̄̈́̿̿̑̋̄͐̽̅͛̓̈́̏͒͋̔̚̚̚̚͘͘̚͘͝͠͝͝͝ͅͅy̷̧̛̲̬̪͍͇̳͓͈͈͔̼̖̹̹̱̻͕̻̗̮̘̪̩̥̖̩̩̘̜͉̘͔̆̈̏̇͋́̍̋́͊̅̆́̂͛̀̋̄̂̇̑͛̆̓͐̅̓̅̎͒͂̃̓̈́̎̓͒̿̔̀́̈́͋͒͊̅̈́̏̃͒́̂̋̎͛̈͛̇̀͑̆͋̄͗̀̓̉̓̚̚͝͝͠͠͠͠͝ś̴̡̨̨̨͈̖̝͔̬̼̬͍̱̭͕̜̣̟̤̘͇̟̬̩̯̱̦͍̩̥̭̱̖̦̝̱̞͖͇͍̩̬̮͔̭̥̙̳̠͈͉̙̙͔͖͈͍̝̫̭̗̙͈̦̪̦̖̲̬̩͙́̈́̈́̉̅͊͗͊͑̄̌̐͘͜͜͜͝ͅȩ̴̢̨̡̢̡̧̢̘̜̣͎̜̠̫̲͖̗͎̖̫̱̥̖͔̠̖͚͔̘̳͎͖̻̭͇̫̼̰̣̪̥͓͍͇̜̙̫̦̩͔̹̱̭̖̮̩͉̬̭̞̙͍̰̦͓̪̯̳͖̲͇͖͓͚̞͙̺̠̘̞̖̼͉̼͔̠̗͇̇͊͒̇̏̎͐̑͋͐̾̋̓͋́̐̓̿̇̀̇̈́̾͛̈́̔̓͌̉̿̑͑̐̊̒͛̈̃̆̆̅̉̀̾͛̀̅͆̆͑̑̇̈́̅̔̿̒̎̋̉͋́̒̈̌͂̓̿̿̊̔̇͑͆͛͌̋͛̍̒̄́̑̈̾̈̿͊̒̌̈́̐̌̊̃̂̑̈̈́̇͌̑̈́̊́́͐̉͌̃̃͊̈́̓̈́̔̾͂̚̚̕͘̕͜͜͜͝͝͠͝͠͠ͅͅͅͅͅl̴̢̡̢̡̡̡̨̢̛̛̛̛̤͎̺̰̥͚̣̬͔̲͓̤̘̗̩̞͙͍̜̰̥͔̦̭̬̺̦̺̠̜͈̲͚̪̰͎̲͖̫̘͙̘̯̜͚̹̰͕̟̱̥̱̬̤͚͈̣̖̺͔͔̙̬̺̙͚̼͖͕̮̘̳͚̳̭͖̭̰͈̦͔͚͓͈̼̲͈͍̜̱̝͙̤̭̏͗̿̉͗͋̎̄̌͊͋̑̄̒̏̾́̊͊͒͊̈́͂͂͑̽̾̇͌́͐̉̓͐̅̈͂́̅̾̌̌̍̀̌̌͊̈́̓́̓̈́͗̌͌̉̽̍̈́̇͐̐̐̏̾̈́̐̎͗̃̀̇̽͐͆̆̒͂̓̌̽̾̐͒͛̋̇̍͐̏͑̾͋̇̂̉̉̕͘̕̕̕̕̕͜͜͜͜͝͝͠͝͝͝͝͝͠ͅͅf̵̧̢̢̢̥̗̠̠̦̱̩̭̞̜͎̥̙̳̝̮̘̜̬̱͓̹̲̠̲̰͈͎̼̰̮͕̗͓̖̹̞̫̟̺̞̝̜̳͍̭̳̠̰̼̪͕̻͍̥̝͎̪̺̪̥̮̫̣̘̼̹̪̱͙̙̰̭̙̼̳͕̭̹̦̎͒̎̑̃̍̆̓͋̄̈́͑͂̆̅̿̏̇̚͜͝͝͝ͅͅ.̸̢̢̧̧̧̨̧̧̨̛̛̛̛̘̞̺̻̤͎͖̼͓̩̤̪̘̫̰͍̘̼̞̱͔̫͖̠̱̯̺̠͓̼̲̟̬̭͎͚͉͓̤̼͈͓͈̱̰̬͎̞̟̤̩͓̰͙̺͈̯͍͇̩̜̺̟̠͍͈̬̫̺͉̥̳͇̺͇̱͇̱̙͉̞̻͖̠̻͉͔̟̬̠̺͖̳̟͈̞̱̦̯͕̲͌̍̈́̊̿̍̈̈́̎̃̐͑͂͛̈́̆͒͐̑̔̈́̈́̈́̆̐̿̄̇͒̋̊͒̽́̀͑̈́͌̓͒͑̀͛̑̈́̽̾̊̔̿͒̉̎̾̒̄͋͋̊̒̓̌̿̌̆͆̏̃̍͋̿̆̈́̀́̽̈́̋̿̓̎͋́̃̀̂͒̈́̚̕̕͘͘̚̕͜͜͠͝͝͝͠͠͝ͅͅͅͅ

Why does everything hurt so bad? Its like everything is screaming out but I can't do anything. I'm too worthless. Everything is worthless. Everything besides Atsuto. That's why I gotta stay by his finally find worth in this meaningless life. Maybe even finally get my dad to love me! Or fucking kill him.

But what about Mochi? I can't leave Mochi behind. I know what Despairs do...whatever, Mochi can fuck a girl and have his children. And then kill him. Raise those children. Force them to fuck other rabbits. And then repeat the cycle. Its better than nothing.

But

This

Isn't

Me

Everything about this is me. Nothing is a lie. Nothing is the truth. Only thing that matters is Atsuto and happiness. Isn't that what everybody wants? Happiness? Even Hayato and Hotaru! Talk to them about that. Have them come over to this side. That way everybody can be happy together! Its one big giant family.

I don't know what they're talking about. Kinda zoned out. But now I have a goal. Convince Hayato and Hotaru to join Atsuto! We're all friends after all. Friends stick by each other no matter what.

"Hey, kids, I think I got the most wonderful plan!"

"Let me hear, let me hear!" Junko beings jumping up and down.

"Let's all join Atsuto in whatever he's doing! It's gonna be fun guys!" I preach. Hotaru looks like she's about to puke. Sucks to be her.

"...Yasu...please...listen to yourself..."

"Name's Yumiko Matsuhita, Ultimate Engineer! And this to my lovely boyfriend Atsuto Togami! His Ultimate has a bad habit of changing!" I officially introduce us. Hotaru falls onto her knees.

Next thing I know I pull Atsuto down to my level. There I begin to kiss him. This is what's right. What's fun. What has taken me so long to get here? It's so perfect!

* * *

 **Despair!Yasu scares the shit out of me. Good luck sleeping me. Who stayed up to 3 AM to finally finish writing this goddamn chapter. I legit cried writing this again.**

 **Like I spent so much time writing this that my laptop died and I had to finish it on my phone.**

 **Please don't kill me Anon.**

 **Reviews~**

 **Ziggymia123-Yep, don't trust it. Ayano is very dead. Natsumi took over Yasu and they didn't take it well. Well um about that.**

 **AnonChan1-Kazuhiko is an underrated husbando. Because Ayano was still alive, they couldn't do anything but still. You were right! I think everybody needs a hug and more friends. NEVER. DD AU time where Kaneshiro is the DM. Yep, Mitsuru was too much of a threat. That's the least of your worries with Yasu right now. Telling Kaneshiro's motive is gonna be so much fun. You guys are gonna want to kill me even more. Well you're gonna have a...time reading this chapter. Yea for Yasu's descent into madness. I'm the same way. I'm excited for the end yet dreading it. You forget that Hayato was almost executed in chapter five. ;) Non-answers are my favorite. RIP to all the outlines that had Mitsuru punch Junko in the face. They especially need it now, like dear God I'm actually so sorry for this but this has been one of the only constants for all the outlines. I had years to prepare yet it still hurt to write. But what if the answer is a question? ;) FUCK YES.**


	76. Trial 6-3

**Trial 6-3: Utinam Ne Illum Numquam Conspexissem**

* * *

That's fucking disturbing. Everything is. Kaneshiro got to Yasu without even trying. He keeps getting to everybody. I've to keep telling myself that I can't throw up. Throwing up is defeat. And there's no way I'm allowing Kaneshiro to get to me!

"Yasu, I...I am doing this for your sake. I do not believe you were the one that killed Takara or Ayano." Hayato states. He is chewing on his lip hard. Something I've never seen him do. And then I see my own shaking hands. Its hard to even stand. But I gotta to show Kaneshiro that he doesn't own me!

"Hahahaha... _kid_. that's useless! I'm gonna die! And there's nothing you can do about it. So suck it up. Give into your fate. Have fun with it!" Yasu's eyes are swirling. Shit. Shit, shit, shit. And there's no way outta here. We're stuck here. I'll bet everything I have that Kaneshiro and Junko will focus on making all of us go cuu cuu now that they know its possible.

I feel something on my leg. Its Mochi. I've never been more glad to see the little rabbit. He does not do anything. The rabbit just lays by my feet, staring at Yasu. Petting him is something that doesn't feel quite right at this moment. Not sure if anybody else knows he's here. Bringing attention to Mochi could be very bad. But I'll figure out how to control evolution and go back in time just for Mochi to be able to flip off Kaneshiro. Then again, I could do more important things. Like kick Kaneshiro off a cliff before any of this bullshit starts. Or, you know, do that to Junko. The world would still be fucked up but better than whatever we call this shit. That might cause me to never be born but whatever. Not like that could happen anyway. All of that is scientifically impossible. This ain't Back to the Future.

"You can't just jump to conclusions. That's not how the Killing Game works!" I shout. My voice is more shaky than I remember. Everything is.

"They are not jumping to conclusions, they are coming to their own answers based on how they view the evidence." Kaneshiro places his arm against Yasu. And I want to murder him. Only if I could get close to him like Natsumi. But pretty sure he doesn't want that to happen. The only reason I didn't do it before is because of Junko. Junko looks secretly jacked so better not to fight her. Though I wouldn't mind killing her too. Killing is wrong but so is these people existing so fuck morals. Killing them would only help the world. Who cares if there's blood on my hands? Its too late to worry about something like that. I'm already doomed so might as well go to Hell with style.

"What happened to the mood? Its so dramatic here now. Isn't it supposed to be happy? We just got a new friend. Let's see if we can get others-"

"No!" Hayato and I exclaim together. Junko's face stays neutral. She blows her bubblegum. It pops in her face and then she gets it all into her mouth again. Only to chew it and repeat the process. All her chewing is loud. It makes it very hard to think. Everything Junko has ever done is to get us distracted from the trial. So its best not to pay attention to her. But I feel like there's something about her that I'm missing. Like this sort of feeling something about her reminds me of somebody I knew, somebody who has already passed. But I cannot decide what.

"In fact, I've something to prove your theory wrong, Yasu. And then you'll come back to us," I bluff. Kaneshiro wasn't expecting Yasu to come to that conclusion or become a Despair. So the answer they've come up with has to be a lie. Basing it purely on this is stupid but its all I got. Pulling things out of my ass is needed for moments like this! Just gotta fake it until we find the truth. There's still sweat running down my forehead. But that could be because of how hot it is in here. I don't remember this heat from before.

"Kid, the name's Yumiko. You guys better start calling me that now. That 'Yasu' or whatever bullshit is over. Everything was so sad and gloomy. Everyday a chore. But everyday can be great at your local Despair cult!" But I refuse! Yasu is not in their right mental state right now. There's no way I can betray their trust.

"I have to agree with Hotaru, Yasu, that there is not enough evidence to point you as the killer. As a matter of fact, I agree with your previous theory of Ayano committing suicide more." Hayato then smirks. "If that is true, then you would not have any qualms with showing us the footage of the computer chip."

"I said everything, dumbass. That includes Takara's death. Did you guys forget about him so easily? And he loved you guys so much too." Junko then begins to cry. The gum falls onto her mouth and onto the floor. She steps in it but does not seem to mind. "If he saw you guys now, he'll despair! How could you do such a thing!?"

"That only comes to show that you do not know how Takara was really like," Hayato rebuts. Junko only rolls her eyes. But that was stupid for Hayato. And Hayato isn't stupid. So he must have some other card up his sleeve. Just what? There's no way for us to discuss. This must be the reason they split us up during the investigation. So there would be a harder time for us to discuss what we personally think about the evidence. Its not just the evidence that's important but the conversation around it. Something Yasu and I didn't do much.

"Let's stop fighting and have fun together. All Hotaru and Hayato have to do is have fun with us." Yasu extends their hand to Hayato. He only stares at it. Kaneshiro does the same with me. Only if I could spit far enough to reach him.

"Never." We both say it in unison again. The both of us look at each other and smile. The two of us can do this working together! And we'll get Yasu back and kill Kaneshiro and Junko!

"Why won't you accept happiness? Do you want to be misery for the rest of your short lives? Accept the truth and find meaning in your worthless existence." Yasu and Kaneshiro still have their hands out. Junko only watches them from the distance.

"Yasu-"

"Yumiko-"

"I will not agree to call you such a name. That is a level I will never go to," Hayato responds. His eyes are watering but he stands strong. So I do the same. Cowering isn't what Yasu needs right now. Strength is how we beat this game together. This very unlikely group of survivors. Seriously, I get Yasu, but how did Hayato and I get this far?

"Why won't you see the truth?! Despair is the only way you can get out something in your pathetic lives! So listen to my words, the words of your messiah! The one who'll save the world from the evil known as the Committee!" Yasu preaches. Both Kaneshiro and Yasu put their hands down, only for Yasu to point at me. "Weren't you friends with the real Akita and Hideyoshi or something, Hotaru? Don't you realize the truth they've reached-"

"And then they killed everybody they ever loved, went fucking insane, died, and got stuck in the Personality Experiments." That sounds like a fate worse than death. Especially considering Hideyoshi turned into a literal serial killer clown. I don't want to know what the fuck Kaneshiro did to them to turn them into... _that._ At least Yasu isn't killing anybody yet.

"That probably isn't the best thing to bring up. Considering Kotori was also a Despair. Its more complicated with her," Junko replies. That's strangely helpful. But I think everybody besides the dumbasses running the Committee can figure that out. No sane person wakes up one day and goes 'I want to torture people.' And take a lot of time finding a legal loophole. My guess is that Kotori had somebody help find her that loophole. But there's literally no way to prove or debunk that theory.

"Kotori is no longer here, no matter how much people want to prove otherwise." Kaneshiro is acting really nice...for his standards. Where did that bloodthirsty sadist go? There's something going on there. Yet this isn't the time to think about it. More important things are happening right now. And I can't give any shits for Kaneshiro. Don't care if he has a tragic backstory or a Freudian excuse, that's never enough justification for these type of things.

"Why won't you listen to me?! I'm trying to bring you to enlightenment as well!" Yasu screams. "Open up your eyes to the truth of how happiness is!"

"Calm down, Yasu, we cannot discuss anything like this. We have to continue on with the trial and figuring out who killed Ayano and Takara-"

"Call me Yumiko! And I'm the one who killed them! And nothing you can say will change that fact! I'm gonna die, kids, so have fun watching my execution! Let it be an inspiration for you all!" That's when Junko laughs and walks her way to the podium. Well, that's not terrifying at all. And then she pulls out a key. She places it into some kind of surface and chuckles louder.

 **Panic Time Action: Start!**

"I'm the one that killed Takara and Ayano. There's no debating that fact! So let me have fun for once and enjoy my own death!" Yasu begins to cry with a smile on their face. They hide their face through their hair. All of our hair has got insane. But that's really not important now.

"There's nothing proven yet, sweetie. Stop trying to hog all the glory." Junko sits on the throne, crossing her legs. She starts tossing all the keys she has. All of them land perfectly in her hand.

"This isn't for glory, its so everybody can finally know how to have fun! Everybody has forgotten in this day!" Yasu starts flailing their arms around. One actually hit Kaneshiro but he did not seem to mind. Yet I still found my brain playing that little moment in repeat.

"Facts do not add up. We have to go at different possibilities with a lot more evidence. Kaneshiro and Junko could be leading us the wrong path, for it would not be the first time that they have done so," Hayato tries to reason with them. He places one of his hands over his heart. What a sap. But I guess that's what needed this moment. I was just internally monologuing about the power of friendship so I'm not one to talk.

"Nothing adds up! Such is the nature of reality! How can reality even exist? Stop questioning things otherwise you'll only be sad. Sadness isn't Despair, happiness is!" But that just doesn't make sense. Nothing in Despair makes sense. That's the whole appeal of Despair. Being able to turn off your brain and not think about your action. And then turning into a monster because of that corruption.

"Despair is subjective-"

"Sorry, sweetheart, but it isn't! Even those who act sad are having the time of their lives!" Yasu defends themself. That's because all of them are delusional.

"There's still no proof you're actually a killer," I state. Of course that means accepting that Ayano is the killer. Its hard but we still need Yasu alive. Ayano has already passed from this world. If this is right, she did so to protect Yasu. And we have to honor her!

"What's the proof otherwise? Its not like you can actually prove anything! You're being brainwashed by hope to not believe in despair!"

"Actually there is! Here's the proof!" I take a deep breath. Hopefully me pulling things out of my ass will work. Or else all of us are screwed. "Ayano was crying as she died!"

 **Panic Time Action: End!**

"I'm...not the killer? Well, that's great..." Yasu looks away from all of us. But I can't believe that actually worked. I should've really used this strategy more often. Maybe it could've even saved a lot of people from their unfair fates. Like Kazuhiko could get the complete trial. Or Cassius wouldn't have been executed.

"It means that Ayano is not the type of person to cry-"

"But what about her crying during Kazuhiko's trial? Those were a lot of tears," Junko interrupts. She relaxes in her chair. And I really enjoy the thought of my hands around her neck. But then Junko gives me an all-knowing smile.

"I'm pretty sure having your boyfriend unfairly executed is enough reason to cry."

"Wait, so Ayano did kill herself? Is that the reason the crime scene was so clean? And the death so...not brutal?" Hayato makes a point. That proves that Ayano is her own killer. But what about Takara? Whose the one that did him in? The most likely answer is Ayano but why? Ayano would never do something like that without reason. And Ayano would kill him more painfully if she was in despair, not to mention get the despair eyes.

"That...that means I'm innocent. Get off of this podium, kid." Yasu then pushes Kaneshiro off. He does what I don't expect him to and that's super weird. I'm not liking anything about Kaneshiro. And even more than before. Nothing can be trusted. Especially when he's being this...calm? Nice? Apparently fake? But its good to have Yasu come to their senses a little bit more. Everything is working a little too well. Something bad is gonna happen soon which means I gotta prepare. Junko being here means they've to be planning something, same with Kaneshiro. They wouldn't risk important chess pieces over something like this.

"Wait, could it be that the Suicide Video-"

"We already programmed the videos out of the Neo World before then," Kaneshiro informs. But the TV was still on. There has to be a reason for that. They wouldn't just turn the TV on. Although they've literally faked everything else. Yet there's something unique about the TV. Its calling for me. Just thinking that makes me think I jumped off a deep end. If a TV talks to me, I'm jumping out of the nearest window.

"But you could have easily made another. You are the Ultimate Brainwasher, correct?"

"Look at this boy, Kazu, he's got you all figured out!" Junko goes up to Kaneshiro and pokes him. All he manages to do is glare at her. So Junko pokes him again. And again. And again. Its oddly satisfying seeing her do so. Only if there was a GIF version that goes on for all eternity.

"Ah, my friends! I'm so sad I've fallen into despairrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr." Yasu giggles. They fall onto the bottom of their podium. Helping them is what I want to do but that's dangerous. Pretty sure that's what they want. "Oh, look at clumsy old me, I've fallen and can't get up! What a tragedy! Still will find a way to have fun from here!"

"We have to continue with the trial. This craziness has gotten way out of hand-"

"Stop being like that! Didn't you hear them? We're having fun!" Junko jumps on Kaneshiro's shoulders. Its not hard because of how tall she is. She easily towers over Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro must be shorter than he was in the program.

"Hayato is right, we have to focus on the trial. The Master gave us a job to do."

"Fine, fine," Junko pouts as she rests on top of Kaneshiro's head. She yawns and then falls asleep. Yasu does the same. Kaneshiro then puts her off and places her on the throne again.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

I was the one who won the panic talk action...minigame...so guess its my turn to decide. They confirmed that Ayano's death was a suicide. So the only logical step is to talk about Takara. Which is why I'm gonna do something completely different.

"What the fuck is Junko doing here?" I question. Everybody is caught off guard except Yasu. Even Junko stops sleeping.

"Hotaru, what are you doing?" Hayato asks. He should realize however. After all, wasn't he the one that tried to get us all to rebel against Monokuma in the fourth trial? That ended perfectly. He meant well but shouldn't a salesman think through his actions? Hayato must also realize there's something fishy going on with Junko. People just don't come back to life looking as good as ever. Junko did once before but wasn't she an AI or something? That doesn't really count.

" _Takara is still alive_ -"

"That's incorrect!" Junko interrupts. Should've guessed something like this would have happened. But it gives me the information that they don't want us to think about that.

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"After we finish this discussion, you can make your theories about why I look so young and am still alive. But there are priorities for you at the moment. I suggest paying attention to them," Junko says as she pulls out a pair of glasses. She then begins to play with them, twirling them around her fingers. The glasses go falling and break on Yasu, but they still don't wake up. And Junko gets another pair of glasses and repeats the process over again.

"Speaking of which, we should do right now." Kaneshiro doesn't even give us enough time to breath. He could at least wait a couple seconds. Or do one of those Free For All talks. But guess he's not doing those since that doesn't give him enough power.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"Anyway, that Takara boy got super murdered," Junko states in what I believe is called a valley girl accent. "Gag him with a spoon! But not that hard like God. You gotta be careful. Make sure they're having a good time. Look super fashionable doing it. Seriously, what's the point of murder when you don't look your best doing so?"

"Fun!" Yasu sleep-talks. They then begin to snore.

"We need to get back on track. Cannot disappoint the master, alright? Takara _was found face down in the pool_. Somebody _drowned him_ -"

"We already know this Kaneshiro. Stating the facts won't do anything," I interrupt him. Does he think we're children now? We can take care of ourselves. Yasu, Hayato, and I could've even done this trial all by ourselves. Its kinda like Kaneshiro forced us to become good at these or die.

" _What if Natsumi convinced somebody else to drown Takara because he was holding Yasu's body hostage_?" Hayato theorizes. I don't want to admit it. In fact, I want to punch Hayato in the face for bringing up that theory again. Though I know it makes too much goddamn sense.

"It would have to be _Ayano_. Are you claiming _Ayano to have killed both of them_?" Kaneshiro questions Hayato. His words are cold and make me freeze. There's that sadist that I hate. But why was he acting like...that this entire time? Nothing Kaneshiro does makes sense to me. Trying to understand him will only make a person go insane. To truly understand people like him, you must become them. Otherwise its all guesswork.

"Don't execute her dead body, you sick fuck," I tell him. I don't want to see a repeat of what happened before. Pretty sure everybody found it hard to sleep after that. That execution was too cruel for words. Kaneshiro has no respect for the dead.

"Stop saying fuck every other sentence~" Junko adds-on. Kaneshiro shakes his head.

"Fuck you! I can do what I want-"

"Let's get back on track please," Hayato says. Kaneshiro grins at him, causing Hayato to scowl. He seems to hate him even more than usual. Did something happen between the two of them? Probably. Who knows what happened to Hayato when we were separated? All I know he had a massive orgy with all the Despairs.

"The proof that _Ayano killed Takara_ is because _she was the only one available strong enough to do so._ _Yasu would not have enough strength to restrain Takara_ in that position. That way, it would make sense that she was crying as well. Both of them must have sacrificed themselves for the sake of Yasu," Kaneshiro begins to chuckle. He glares at me. "Only if they could figure out how useless all their actions were. Its better to just give in. That way you won't be in pain."

"Goddammit, you told us all the truth again-"

"Because there are more important things to focus on. Your lives mean nothing to me." Kaneshiro sneers. "All of you can die here and the world won't give a shit. All of us can die without the world knowing better. That's just how the world is."

Even if they do, I don't give a shit! What matters is me! The world starts and ends with me. So I won't listen to Kaneshiro, no matter what. Nothing can change that fact. He's planning something. Because he's always planning something. But what exactly? If its not related to the deaths, what mystery is it linked to exactly?

"This is getting boring. Why were you such a party pooper and told them? We weren't supposed to do that!" Junko complains. She goes to the floor and begins to swirl around.

"Let us get on with this. We can control this trial if we play our cards right, Hotaru. So... _Ayano didn't commit suicide_." Hayato grabs to the bottom of his undershirt. He cannot look me in the eye.

"That's wrong." My heart hurts. I knows its right but I don't wanna believe in my ears or brain. Only if there was a way of ignoring this fact. But reality is all I have.

 **Non-Stop Debate End**

"Kaneshiro literally just admitted to us again! Why is this so much like the first trial? Are you trying to take Kazuhiko's place even though he's dead?" I shout. Kaneshiro stares at me. It takes everything to stand my ground. To not quiver in fear and want to quit.

"You're one to speak, Hotaru." Yep, the bastard is back. The only reason I don't take a step back is because Mochi is still there.

"Lemme explain! Lemme explain! I wanna explain!" Junko raises her hand as she gets back to Kazuhiko's podium. And I want to punch her in the face even more. Its a death sentence but it would be goddamn worth it.

"Fine-"

"Thank you, Mommy! I'll make you proud!"

"This is going to be Hell," I comment. I want to cover my ears but I need to learn what really happened to Ayano. And why the Hell Kaneshiro doesn't care. He has some weird obsession with her. Pretty sure it would be accurate to call him some sort of yandere. A very weird yandere that allows his target to die by their own hands.

* * *

 _Ahem, time to get serious...this case started when Ayano and Takara decided to confront Atsuto, better known as Kaneshiro, about being the mastermind. Well, Takara more sort of followed Ayano. Though Kaneshiro outwits them, because they didn't know the mastermind could kick their ass and teleport out of the program._

 _So Natsumi got bored of Hotaru and decided to possess Yasu since it was sleepy sleep time. So Natsumi used his programming magic bullshit to summon a bunch of stuff into existence. Of course, Ayano and Takara woke up and found it extremely weird that a camera appeared out of nowhere. Especially Ayano because of her work in technology and knowing that the model used would have to been created after their abduction or hidden from society._

 _Natsumi decided to do something sadistic. Because he's Despair. Sweetie, we always love getting into your panties and getting them a twist! Voyeurisms are what we're known for! And so Natsumi uses their powers to make it sure that Ayano and Takara wouldn't be able to fight back. He moves to kill Takara until Takara and Ayano both created a plan, knowing that they were dead anyway because they knew the mastermind's identity. Oh, how wrong they were. So they decided to please Natsumi's sadism by having Ayano kill Takara. At first, Ayano was supposed to live but things change honey so you better get used to it._

 _And so Ayano kills Takara and Natsumi, being the sick fuck that he was, decided to film the whole thing. Protected the camera and everything to make sure as well. I mean, he could've easily summoned something else but I think he just wanted an excuse to be in front of it, watching the view his audience would get. And then he got another idea. With Ayano is severe emotional turmoil due to murdering her dear old friend, Natsumi uses his programming power bullshit...seriously, Natsumi was way too OP, great he's nerfed in real life and already dead._

 _So then, the piece of shit manipulated poor little victimless even with two murders under her belt Ayano into the not-so-secret secret hideout. Like they kinda really needed to do a better job of hiding it considering its literally right in the open. Mini tangent over. Anyways, so Natsumi is like, look at this new video Kaneshiro and I made that he denied the existence of but actually totally exists, isn't it cool. Ayano is like fuck you. But then she got into really watching the Suicide Video and you guys saw how that turned out. Natsumi thought destroying the scene and making this crime look deeper than it was would make things more interesting. But in reality it just made things boring. Like, seriously, how much could be explained with magic Natsumi bullshit? Way too much. No wonder he's dead, he could only ever imagine of doing anything worth while with his life in that program._

 _Then Yasu and Hayato decided to be idiots and do what we said. It not like we would kill them or anything otherwise...wait, its exactly that. Oops. Well, Ayano was still dying in the other room, probably thinking about how much life fucking sucks, they were taking their sweet ass time with Takara. But who cares about Takara? We don't. Too bad she was already dead when they found her. Absolute idiots. I could've saved her if I could. But that would've been kinda impossible so RIP._

 _So, yadda da. Who cares about this section? The killer of Takara Miyagi, the Ultimate Treasure Hunter, is Ayano Kamukura, the Ultimate Hacker. Can we get to something else already? This is way more boring to do than I realized._

* * *

Junko yawned right before falling asleep again. Ayano, that goddamn lovely idiot. She wanted to die so badly, why did we not keep a better eye on her? Well, I was too busy being taken care. But that only comes to show how useless I truly am.

"Now that is over with, can we finally get onto what I really want to focus on? These murders weren't even supposed to take place. But sometimes we can't control things. Its better to adapt." Kaneshiro and Junko exchange glances.

"You know what, we should watch this now!" Junko raises the computer chip in the air. Hayato's mouth opens as he begins to search his pockets. She winks at him. "...Its boring but whatever. Master would want this. All that bullshit." I paid too much attention to the speech, I notice Mochi has now gone somewhere else. Luckily not with any of the Despairs. Knowing where he is would be good. But looking for him right now would bring unwanted attention to the matter. Just hope he doesn't go anywhere near Yasu. I cannot bear the thought of losing him right now.

Junko walks over to the throne again. I cannot stop looking at her. Her hair bounces as she moves, along with her boobs. But I shouldn't be paying attention to that. She presses one of the buttons on the throne so she could have somewhere to place the chip. My eyes cannot leave the screens surrounding me. Knowing what will happen does not make the dread go away. But I have to do this for Ayano!

Something brings me back to reality. I realize its Hayato grabbing my shoulders. He's closing his eyes. "Don't look at it, Hotaru! Its a trap! That was never the video that was recorded!" But its already too late. Flashing colors come across the screen. At first, they hurt my eyes, but then I get used to it. Its kinda pretty actually. But, before anything serious can happen, Hayato covers my eyes with his hand. He is shaking so hard too, which only makes me realize how dead still I am.

 _Dead. Isn't everybody you love dead? Why are you the only one left alive? You must be a coward. Die so they don't have to deal with your face anymore!_

Shits, it was already too late. Goddammit I was such a fool. Of course they wouldn't make it that easy. Even if they did, they wouldn't waste all that time explaining to us if they were only gonna show it later. Those damn people tricked me.

 _You're always tricked. So why don't you join their side for a change? Be the one tricking instead of treating them?_

But I'll not become one of them! Just have to ignore that voice. For the rest of my life but things could be worse. Its the price for being willing to take lives. So I just gotta live with this now. Great. Make sure I'm not exposed to this video once again. Who knows what will happen if that happened? Me but I don't like the answer. So let's just ignore that for now.

"Kaneshiro, Junko, you cowards! Continue this Trial!" I close my eyes. There's still a great chance that they're still playing it. Its never safe to just guess with those two around. Hayato and I hold hands. Our grip is tight. We got to loosen it afterwards since it was restricting blood flow. Never thought I would be doing this with Hayato of all people. But guess I did save his life, and he did agree to tie me up even though it meant nothing in the end.

 _Please stop being that way. It'll only hurt you in the end. Don't you just want a part in your life where you don't have to take a shit?_

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

I've not been thinking of anything to say. Its too early to question Junko again without them throwing a hissy fit. Next best thing. Figuring why the Hell Kaneshiro woke up one day and thought 'I'm gonna hijack somebody else's Killing Game and make it worse.' "What was the motive behind everything? That's pretty important to clear up."

"Its simple really. Anybody with a brain could figure it out. I did it because it was Kotori's dream! And to screw with the Committee and Kirigiri of course," Kaneshiro answers. Goddammit, stop being so straight forward Kaneshiro. But I highly doubt that's everything. Something must be happening behind the scenes. This is Kotori we're talking about. That bitch didn't do anything without an ulterior motive.

"Stop telling them everything. You've a really bad habit of doing this. No wonder they don't want you to do it again," Junko loudly sighs. "And now I'm stuck with you. What's a girl to do when there's no entertainment?" I hear her nails tapping the podium. Tap, tap, tap.

"Kaneshiro, there is something else going on here. You have been torturing us for I do not even know how truly long. We have gotten to know you by then. The biggest thing I have picked up on is that _you are a coward_." Hayato squeezes my hand tighter.

"Shiro is the coward, not I-"

"That has nothing to deal with this, Kazu." Even without my eyes, I can feel Junko's cold glare. "Stay on topic, that's what the Master wants."

"Who is this Master? And why is he so important?" Hayato questions them. They don't respond. Silence except for the static. The overbearing static.

 _Just open your eyes, I promise you its worth it._

"The Master is the Master, silly!" Junko begins to hum a tune I've heard before. Don't know from where. But there's something familiar about it.

"I know, _your motive is fun_!" Yasu shouts. Well, they're awake now. Have no idea if I'm happy or sad. After all this bullshit, I'm gonna give them the biggest hug imaginable with Hayato. I'm not even that much of a hugger. But we all deserve it after all this bullshit. Last time we had a group hug, somebody died.

"No, that's not it." Neither of us are given the opportunity to answer before Kaneshiro. Damn, they still have full control over this trial.

 _Just give in and you'll finally have the power you need to be free from the Committee._

Screw you, new voice. Listening to you will only make me a slave to whoever this Master person is. They're so hyped up so they better live up to it. Or I want my money back.

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"I don't have to explain that. If this was all fun and games, you all would still be alive right now," Kaneshiro explains. Thanks for rubbing salt in the wound. There is more silence expect for what sounds like faint whispering. And I can't hear shit.

"Mochi! Its good to see you again!" My blood runs cold. Oh shit. Mochi must've been worried about his friend. Goddamn rabbits don't know how to be smart. He would probably enter a burning building just to be with Yasu.

 _Such loyalty. Only if we could figure out how to make animals join our side. But Gundham Tanaka has already passes. A gifted Despair but a complete idiot._

"Sweetheart, can you give him to me? I've very special... _plans_ for him." My breath becomes faster. Fuck all of this. Ayano is dead already. Who knows if Kaneshiro will use the dead body execution again? There's a better chance he'll do it on this poor defenseless rabbit! And that's something I can never forgive myself for ignoring!

"Goddammit, Hotaru, its another trap!" Hayato keeps calling out my name but I don't listen. I don't care if its a goddamn trap! Punching Kaneshiro has been on my to-do list for too long of a time as well. Might as well do that before anything bad happens.

I open my eyes. There's video playing. But most of all, there's a dick with a very punchable face. Hayato tries to hold onto my hand but I force him off. Mochi cannot be seen anywhere. That bunny is way too good at hiding himself. I didn't even know he could do that.

Junko and Yasu allow me to punch Kaneshiro in the face. It feels good. I can do it over and over again if I could.

But Kaneshiro forces my arm behind my back. He places his other hand on top of my head, forcing me to watch whatever is in front of me. That's when I realize the footage has now changed. Its currently playing our attempts to save Shinichi. There's some weird filter over it. But it makes me want to see more.

"Hotaru!" That's when I realize Hayato has also opened his eyes, tears coming down. With my free hand, I look away for a second to reach out for him. But then that Kaneshiro bastard tightens his hold. Fuck him still.

"...Hayato...save yourself..." My arm loses strength. It falls down. Goddamn I suck. I should at least be able to hold up my arm. But I was stupid enough to fall into this mess. Now I've to look forward to a life of orgasms over my loved ones dying. Yippee.

Shinichi dies. The footage has been cut to make it shorter. Now its Kira and Cassius's execution. That was fucked up for Kaneshiro to do. I feel somebody try to tug at one of my arms, only to hear a very loud thud afterward.

* * *

 _"Welcome!" Ayano waves to me. Great, I've truly gone crazy. Seeing dead chicks. Next thing you know, she's only going to be in her underwear._

 _"If you wish, my Master." Suddenly Junko appears. No, nobody wants you here Junko, this is my psychotic breakdown, not yours. What makes it worse is that she's only wearing her black underwear. At least put some clothes on first._

 _"I'm not your Master. I don't get your obsession with me either. Stop trying to convince people I'm already dead," I say to her. But she does not pay any attention, throwing herself on me. This is the best my brain can come up with? Please don't say I turn into a pervert if I go crazy._

 _"Are you so sure about that? You can be anything you want in Despair."_

 _"Already told you, I'm not interested," I reply. I may be going crazy but there's no way I'll ever join their side. Fuck them all. Pretty sure they'll love it._

 _"Don't diss something before you try it-"_

 _"I've seen what it does to people. So no." No laughing mad as a slaughter a classroom of innocent children for me. Thank you._

 _"This is going be harder than I thought. But I always look forward to a challenge. You're such a stubborn girl. They always found you to be a pain in the ass yet failed to realize your full potential." Junko begins to circle me, like a hawk to a rabbit. Slow and steady. Wish she can finally get to the point already._

 _"What do you want Junko? And why are you here?" I ask her. I don't give a shit that she's fake. Some sort of answers is what I need._

 _"Lemme give you a little hint..." Junko goes to me and begins to whisper in my ear. She has to bend down because she's taller than me._

 _"This can't be anything good." Still I allow her to continue on. Because making logical decisions has never been my strong point. Who needs logic when you're slowly losing your mind?_

"Time to take care of you. _"_

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _Fuck._

 _T-that's what all this means._

 _Everything makes sense._

 _And it only makes me wanna fucking die._

* * *

 **This last trial is fun guys.**

 **I stayed up till 3 AM again to write this. I'll have many regrets in the morning but whatever. I got a deadline and I'm insane.**

 **Reviews~**

 **Scissor-Snipper-I'm a musical theatre nerd. What else can I say? I think a lot of people were like that. Poor Yasu has to deal with me.**

 **ZiggyMia123-ZIGGY! Nope, I still owe these characters. If you want custody, then too bad. I'm Req, I'm never nice to my characters.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Because Req loves reqing things. ;)**

 **AnonChan1-Always be scared. Turns out you're right and suffered for it. Poor Hotaru cares about Yasu a little too much. She wants to protect what Ayano gave her life up for. Hotaru isn't doing a very good job. Despair!Yasu loves hugs! Its a sign that Yasu is breaking. Natsumi deserved his fate very much. MOCHI NO KEEP RUNNING. Req will not stop with the nightmare fuel. Mochi has activated his hiding powers to make sure he doesn't get killed. Despair!Yasu loves everything about fun~ Fun, fun, fun. *evil laughter* Never trust me. ;) Despair!Yasu wants all the hugs, they're fun. Thanks so much, I'm so looking forward to finally completing this project.**

 **RioA-That's exactly the point. ;)**

 **Lupus Overkill-Fun, fun, fun for the whole family!**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-I'm having lots of fun. *looks at the outline* And lots of fun in the future as well.**


	77. Trial 6-4

**Trial 6-4: Add Insult to Injury**

 **(I know I said no more content warnings but I feel like I should put a content warning)**

 **(So here's your content warning. Yippee. Let's all agree we want to kill Kaneshiro. I think this is actually the most disturbing chapter out of the whole thing so don't say I didn't warn you.)**

* * *

My hands cannot stop shaking. Bright colors consume everything in my vision. Cassius being unfairly executed all over again. Being unable to do anything about it. I reach my hand toward him, wishing with all my might that he will be able to grab it from the other side of the screen.

This is no time for fantasy, however, since I have to figure out how to get out of this horrible situation with Hotaru. Perhaps there is some way to distract them for long enough? As much as I want to figure out the secrets to everything, I feel that allowing myself to be in this room for any longer than I already have can only end badly.

I look to Hotaru, and I know immediately that there is something very wrong here. It's not despair but some other negative emotion. Her eyes are completely glossed over, no light remaining in them. Hotaru drops to the floor where she does not move. She looks like a rag doll no longer wanted by the little girl that owed her. Thrown in the trash like she is nothing but a piece of meat. Kaneshiro and Junko both focus their attention onto me, with Yasu just minding their own business.

"There are a lot of facts wrong with everything you have told us," I told both of them. Kaneshiro is too close to Hotaru for me to be able to get her without the whole event going completely haywire.

"But its the truth and nothing but the truth," Junko responds. She is oddly serious. Her eyes stare into, seeking a prize but retreating when they cannot find it.

"I'm innocent! Yippee! That's fun. Can I still die tho?" Yasu beings to giggle. It's something that will haunt me for the rest of my life, however long that is. Could be a couple more seconds, could be another hundred years. But one thing is for certain. I will not forgive Kaneshiro for forcing us to be a part of this. Although it is obvious that Yasu did not come from a loving home, any home is better than this bullshit.

"No, that's not the rules of the game," Kaneshiro replies. This is about the only time that he cares. He walks over to me so I slowly start to back away. His steps are measured and calculated. Nobody else does anything. He starts going faster, so do I. My eyes cannot stop focusing on the absolute terror of his eyes. So full of life yet so...dead.

That is when I knock into the wall. I am about to try to run when Kaneshiro catches up to me and pins me to the aforementioned wall. Trying to fight my way out of his grip, all I do is cause myself to get tired. Junko makes her way to the two of us, and I see that she is carrying something new. She must have gotten it from somewhere but I cannot figure out where that place is. But seeing it brings back my fight. It's a fruitless effort. Although I seem to be somewhat taller than Kaneshiro, he far exceeds me in terms of physical strength. How did he even get this strong anyway? Could be that my body is still recovering from belling asleep for so long. Not so hard to fight somebody who just woke up from what basically was a coma. Whats in Junko's hands is a black collar and leash. She twirls the collar using one hand, holds the leash using the other.

"Is this the tactic you are using to stop me from telling everybody else that your description of the case was absolute bullshit?" I question them. Kaneshiro then knees me in the chess. Looking over his shoulder, I see Yasu observing us with sparkly eyes. Hotaru is still on the ground like she has passed out from having way too much to drink. Footage of Cassius is still playing in the background. Something about the footage upsets me but smooths my body at the same time. It's best not to pay attention as there is a high possibility whatever happened to Hotaru was somewhat triggered by whatever they did to the video. There is no way that footage has not been altered in some way or form.

But there have been multiple 'facts' about the case that has bothered me ever since they had revealed the 'truth.' I highly doubt somebody that came out of basically nowhere was to blame for it all, in fact, it seems like Junko and Kaneshiro are treating Natsumi as their scapegoat. There seems to actually be some restrictions on the program that are there mostly because it's running on a computer and needs to process everything. Is it really possible Natsumi could do all of that in the short time period he had? Even if Ayano, Takara, and Natsumi for some reason worked together, there are facts about this case that seem really off. Overlooking the evidence, there is nothing that proves or disproves anything. Though there is one thing, I find it odd they are trying to make us believe that Ayano committed suicide when she was bound. It is true that she has a past in suicidal tendencies and behaviors yet she was not expressing any of those before the time of her death. She had goals and no reason to kill herself. There could be the guilt of Takara's passing at her hands but Ayano is the type of person to wait to make sure everybody is safe before trying to do reckless things like commit suicide without planning it somewhat out first. Or maybe I completely misunderstand Ayano's character. Anyway, the point is clear, this is all bullshit. But what would be the reason for doing something like this? They have made many questionable decisions before but this is a different type of plan. Most of the time, even in this trial, they reveal the truth early in some way to guide us to the point that they want us to make, yet now they are just outright lying in what seems to be an effort to save themselves.

"It's too late for you to do anything now, Hayato. So it's better to just give in," Kaneshiro whispers into my ear. "You're a dirty murderer, just like us. So it's better for you to become one of us. Nobody in society will accept you for what you've done. Kyoto...well, nobody gives a shit about Kyoto actually except for his weird-ass fans on the darkest reaches of the internet. But Mirabilis. She could've saved the world! And you killed the world's hope for the sake of your own selfish need-"

"If I remember correctly, you were then the one that gave me a present of her head. And then forced many to eat her remains." A part of me is glad that I was up in the chains with Hotaru because I was saved from the act of cannibalism. "One of those people were you. You willingly engaged in cannibalism for your own goals. At least I am not like that."

"The truth is that Takara killed Ayano...or was it that Takara killed himself...maybe Natsumi killed both of them...maybe they're all secretly alive!" Junko states. Her words cause me to be distracted enough to give her enough time to place the collar around my neck. Kaneshiro let goes of me. Automatically, I forget Junko's words and focus solely on trying to free myself, finding myself getting farther and farther away yet unable to run. Junko then hands the leash to Kaneshiro and all my blood becomes still.

But then the full weight of Junko's words get to me. Now I know for certain there is even more than I originally thought behind the scenes. Now it is time to figure out exactly what. What is the purpose of Natsumi Fuuma, and what was the goal he was trying to reach by doing something like this? Natsumi might have been completely insane yet everybody has a reason behind their actions. Even if that reason is as simple as they felt like it.

"Kneel." Kaneshiro yanks my leash and I am forced towards him. The suddenness of the action causes me to fall onto the ground face down. He then steps on top of back harshly. It takes everything in my system to not scream.

"We're gonna have a makeover. The trio is back together!" I cannot see what Junko is doing. But it is clear to me that she is taking Hotaru and Yasu somewhere else. Though I want to stop it, there is nothing I can really do about my current situation but to wait for Hanami and Izuru to come. Though I do not want that to happen when I am in such a...compromising position.

"You worthless piece of shit, you still don't realize how the world works!" Kaneshiro lifts me from the ground using just the leash. My neck feels like its on fire. We are face-to-face with each other and way too close for personal comfort. "All you are is a spoiled rich kid-"

"Spoiled? Do not make me laugh. Just because I am rich now, does not mean I have come from a past of comfort!" I cannot help myself. Everything about Kaneshiro makes my blood boil. It would feel so good to punch him in the face but I am clearly in no position to do so right now. "Do you really think just because I am a salesman I got it easy? Have you any idea the shit I have been through? What am I saying? Of course, you do. Its clear you did obsessive research into us before the games started."

"Hayato Akimoto, Ultimate Salesman, thinks he's the saddest person in the world since his poor precious mommy died in a car accident." Kaneshiro gets in my ear again. Hearing about my mother is sad but I have long gotten over it. There are more important things to focus on than people that have been dead for six years. "Nobody fucking cares. And nobody cares about your father being a deadbeat-"

"My father is not a deadbeat. You are not going to get inside my head by playing around with my past. Stop this because this will only make me want to go against you even more. And isn't your goal to somehow bring me to your side so I can be your loyal underling?" As a salesman, I am fully prepared for rivals to use similar underhanded tactics in an attempt to discredit me.

"Why won't you be a good boy for once?" Kaneshiro grabs onto my shoulder and slams me into the hard floor underneath. That is what finally caused me to break my stoic nature and scream. This time, Kaneshiro sits on top of me. He grabs my hair and forces me to watch the footage of Cassius's death over again. Though I try my best to try to keep it out of my mind.

There has to be something with Natsumi. Natsumi is the key to the trial that makes everything else not make any sense. It is hard to get into his mindset when there is hardly anything known about him. But there has to be a reason. And I have an insane theory to tell Kaneshiro.

"Is the reason you are reacting to me revealing the lies of the trial because you as well do not know what the truth is? Is that why you are forcing us in this trial where you could easily torture us like this instead to become your loyal servants?" I smirk as Kaneshiro smashes my head into the ground once again. "With the horrible way that you are treating us, I refuse to be a part of this trial any longer. The truth of Ayano and Takara can be found out later, I just need to find a way out of here and why all of this is happening. Perhaps it was not wise to lead the one known for not wanting to be part of trials last."

"This is why we should've killed you from the start. You do nothing good for the world. All you care about is yourself." Kaneshiro leans down to whisper into my ear once again.

"Natsumi is the one who sent the code for the Future Foundation, right? There is nobody else who it could be. He was literally the Ultimate Coder. If it was anybody else, he would have realized it and stopped it." My head gets picked up and slammed again. But I want to continue going. Natsumi did not wake up one day with the sudden thoughts of betraying the True Despairs. Even though he was clearly helping out with the Killing Game, making it worse for everybody involved and being a horrible person, he decided to an event like this one. Where they have to force the survivors to solve the mystery for them.

"You really need to learn how to shut your mouth." I can feel his oddly cold breath against my neck. Kaneshiro thinks he could distract me so that just means I am heading in the right direction. Speaking of code, there is also the one that consists of all the birthdays. Learning of Kaneshiro's birthday can help complete the code to wherever it is supposed to go. But it's not here. Could it relate to something else? Perhaps...that makes sense.

"How about that code with the birthdays then? How does that connect to all of this? Natsumi would have to be the one who did it since Kirigiri is dead. So why would he give us that clue? It does not have something to do with the game we are currently in so how about the other one you have been alluding to? There is no other reason for it to be there. He must have known we would escape and then try to help others in this situation," I voice. Still, have no idea who this Madoka Ueno person is and how they have to do with any of this, yet they have been mentioned a couple of times, including for this code. Hanami must also be in that photo so she must know what it is about. More reason for her to finally come here with Izuru. There must be so many Despairs trying to hunt them down, however. Now I can only hope that they are still alive and not brainwashed.

"Be a good boy for once and follow instructions. None of this would've happened if all of you did what you were supposed to. Just play along-"

"That must mean I am right. Shall I continue with my current thoughts? Kirigiri herself has always struck me as odd. Kira mentioned something I thought was interesting as well. That nobody was supposed to die, which leads me to think this was supposed to be an experiment to somehow spite Kotori since its mentioned in the bullet itself that Kirigiri hated Kotori. You do realize I had no way of knowing that, right? Kira said that everybody from that game was still alive so that either means you are lying are the True Fifth Killing Game, which is not even true since you admitted in the fourth trial there have been hundreds if not thousands of these twisted games, or you tracked down the participants after all was said and done," I continue. She may have been the traitor but I still believe that Kira had the best of intentions. It just so happens that those intentions of her were easy to manipulate by both Kirigiri and Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro is right about one thing, I have no idea when to shut my own mouth.

"I wonder what your younger brother and sister would think of this-" Not brother and sister, asshole. Sisters.

"Anyway, I remember you and Akemi got to the cafeteria even before the rest of us. And that is odd considering we were all close to the area. With the situation in which Ayano got shot, both of you strangely did not arrive into the initial discovery, probably because you ran away. There is no way anybody besides you or Akemi could have shot either of them, considering that you two have the only motive for the Ayano incident." That gets me another kick from Kaneshiro. I am too used to pain for any of this to phase me. As a salesman who helped run a smuggling ring, I was prepared for torture from rivals or vigilantes. Even Cassius was prepared, as his family did not want him to spill the secrets of the Jacobson name as well.

"You better watch what you say next very carefully, Hayato Akimoto." Junko is back in the room. I cannot see her. Whether or not Yasu and Hotaru are with her at the moment is unknown. Kaneshiro blocks my vision so I hear Junko walk closer to me. She then parks herself right in front of me and gets down to my level. Digging her overly long fingernails into my flesh and bone, Junko grabs onto my chin and both of us can only see each other.

Considering I am surrounded by very pissed off Despairs, they will most likely gag me after this. And then who knows afterward. Seconds turn into hours as I try to get my brain to work. What should I think about? Perhaps I will blindside them even more by telling them a theory not related to my current line of thought. But what has the most evidence? Clearly not the murders since even they do not know what is going on there, at least at the moment. There could be something relating to the experiments. Kirigiri hated Kotori so perhaps she was trying to finish an experiment out of spite...or maybe point one of them wrong? But what exactly? The only people who know enough about the experiments to figure out that are dead right now. Though, even with my limited knowledge, I can perhaps get some information to help form the puzzle. But there is not enough time to do so, as right now I am truly all alone in the world. My family is alright, however, considering Kaneshiro accidentally tell it slip that my sisters are still alive. Those twin rascals better be alright or I will make Kaneshiro face the wrath of a true older brother. I may be a shit older brother yet that does not mean I won't go all the way for them. But that is not what I should be thinking about right now, I have to solve this mystery so I can be with the two of them again.

Maybe I can truly blindside Kaneshiro by focusing on him. His behavior is odd but that is to be expected for somebody that is willing to plan and execute a plan such as this. Yet his behavior has changed to more of his regular self from the beginning parts of the trial, where he seems to have at least some decent parts of his personality. But we all know that's bullshit. There has to be a reason for this sudden shift of personality. Although there are many possibilities, they all share the same root. Kaneshiro must be a Personality Experiment. It would explain so many mysteries. But what Personality Experiment? Hideyoshi and Akita seemed to put Kaneshiro on some type of pedestal, along with Hotaru having some past with all of them that I cannot begin to understand. Hotaru is no longer a source of information so I must figure this all out myself. Hanami has faith in the person Kaneshiro used to be. There is evidence that he was not always a total piece of shit. If I had to place my bet on anything, Kaneshiro is Personality Experiment #044. I cannot think of another reason the experiment would even be named. Kaneshiro being involved somehow is the only reason this experiment would have any importance to this whole story whatsoever. Which means whatever this Personality Experiment #046 is must be connected to him closely.

"Kaneshiro Kazuma, you are Personality Experiment #044. Isn't that right?" I call him out. Junko smiles at me before giving me a small peck on the lips. This is not how I imagined my first kiss to be like.

"Have fun, Kazu!" Yasu cheers from somewhere else in the room. Junko gets up and walks away, winking at me as she does so. That is when I feel less weight on my body. Kaneshiro forces me to get up so I have no other choice but to do so. I see that Yasu has been watching the three of us this entire time. Hotaru is face-down on the ground. The two of them are in new outfits that are so not them I cannot do anything but cringe. Now all I can do is envision the two of them as their old selves, before any of this insanity transpired, and try to defeat the current image. But it is not going to be that easy. Not only do I have to figure out the mysteries all by myself, but I must also find a way to save Hotaru and Yasu from their fates. I will not allow anybody else to be taken away from them. They are my friends and I will fight for them!

Hotaru has been forced into a red long dress with no back or straps. Her hair has been curled. Not much can be seen since she is still on the floor. The shoes she has on are black high heels. Jewelry in all over her body, with me being able to see that both of her arms are decorated with dozens of bracelets and armlets. There are black gloves on her hands that seem to be made out of lace. I have no idea how fashion works but some of the outfit clashes too much together. Not to mention Hotaru has a hat that has been abandoned on the floor. It is a black pillbox hat. Junko had a little too much fun with everything. Though Junko may be disappointed with how little can actually be seen.

Meanwhile, Yasu's outfit is the one that truly disturbs me. Like Hotaru's dress, Yasu's is long and sleeveless. They have extensions in their hair, or a wig, I truly do not know anything about fashion, that makes their previously short, boyish hair, feminine, long (reaching to halfway down their back), and full of volume. It is a white sundress. Seeing Yasu without their singular toolbox sends chills down my spine. For their shoes, Yasu is wearing brown sandals. Their hands and arms are covered with long white gloves. The makeup on their face is neutral colors, with them having brown lipstick and eyeshadow, with long fake black eyelashes. The fact that Junko did this to both of them makes me want to throw up even more than before.

"A Personality Experiment trying to do the work of the person who turned them into the monster they are now. Are you sure you really want to do this?" I ask Kaneshiro. Its time to finally put on my salesman charm. Manipulating Kaneshiro does not make me feel bad in the slightest. "Do you really have to do your goal? Turn yourself in-"

"That's enough talking out of you." Kaneshiro tugs on the leash. It's getting boring how many times I have been forced onto the ground. This time, Kaneshiro sits on top of me again. I feel him place something over my mouth. It's a gag. Great. As if this situation couldn't get more uncomfortable and weirdly sexual than it already was. There is a great chance... _that_ will happen. So its best to prepare myself since I will never give Kaneshiro the reaction that he desires. He can take away everything besides my hope, even my life, body, spirit, and mind.

That is when I feel Kaneshiro grab onto my left arm. Then, he starts to force it into an unnatural position. Before I can fully process what he was doing, there is a giant crack. Lots and lots of pain afterward. I cannot process how I am able to keep quiet. Everything in my body wants to scream yet nothing comes out. It's all just numb. Best not to think about the world as this torture happens. Go anywhere that is not here.

He grabs ahold of my other arm...

* * *

 _It's the beach. I am there with my two sisters and father. Cassius is there as well with his own family, along with Charles their butler. Everything is fine. Deep breaths. Focus on my family. They are fine and safe. Nothing can hurt us here. Smiles. That is something I have not done in a long time. I cannot force myself to do one. There is still a lot of pain yet it hurts less now._

 _I focus on the blue waves and white sand. Although I have only been to a beach once or twice in my life, they have never looked like this. The world has been too destroyed for a scene like this to ever take place again. But just imagine a world without the Tragedy, without human conflict altogether. Where humans found a way to coexist with each other and the planet. Its only idealism but I think humanity has the chance to become like that. If people who learn how to love and understand each other find a way to another planet somehow. Earth, however, is too consumed by hatred and self-righteousness. Of everybody thinking they are right and not even willing to listen to reason or evidence against their ideas. Humans can be so goddamn petty. Instead of hating each other for our differences, we should learn how to accept each other and listen to people. It's possible to like somebody even if you do not agree with everything they stand for. Learning how to accept differences is one of the many ways human beings grow..._

 _And that is why I cannot stand Kaneshiro. He believes that his way is the only way. Kaneshiro is unwilling to listen to reason and does not care about the innocent lives he destroys for the sake of whatever this goddamn goal of his is. The ends do not justify the means. That saying is only believed by people who are too delusional to process the true harm of their actions. Not everything is about you. Although Kaneshiro may not be a coward like I originally thought, he is much more selfish and childish than I originally assumed._

 _I hug my family and do not feel their warmth. Then I wave to Cassius. There is no time to have a proper goodbye. Of course, there has never been time for one. Surprisingly, I think that is my biggest regret because Cassius died being scared and thinking he was a murderer. He needed somebody there to comfort him. Kira may have been there but she was too busy freaking out about the execution to give him the proper care. Can't really blame her. Executions are terrifying. My mind wonders about what would happen if those walls really did close on me._

 _"Goodbye, you all, but its time to face reality." It may be true that reality is painful but its best to face it and accept it for what it is. Only by living, in reality, can you improve it._

* * *

Back from what I assume is some kind of dream, I survey the damage that has been done to me. I try to move my arms but both of them are broken. Moving my fingers is also out of a picture since it seems like Kaneshiro moved to those next. My legs and toes are still intact but I do not know for how much longer.

"Did you finally learn your lesson? Are you finally going to be a good boy?" Kaneshiro asks me. He then runs his hand through my hair. Afterward, he takes the gag off. It's best to stay silent and play along for now. Perhaps he will think silence is my version of despair? I have to be close enough to Yasu and Hotaru and far away from Kaneshiro and Junko so I can try to reason with them. I will rather be stuck as the toy of Kaneshiro's for all eternity then leave my friends behind. There is also the issue of finding wherever Mochi is as well.

"That was so much fun! Is he finally with us?" Yasu questions. I will fucking murder Kaneshiro for what he has done to them and Hotaru.

"No, he's not," Junko bluntly states. Shit. She sees right through me. There goes that plan. But there has to be some way out of here besides just waiting for somebody else to rescue us. For all I know, Hanami and Izuru could be in on it, dead, or brainwashed, so it is not in my best interest to believe so heavily in such big wild cards. That is without considering I have literally just met the two of them today and we were introduced by them killing people.

"Yasu, Hotaru, you have to listen to me! Open your eyes! I do not care about how hard reality seems right now, its better than being a slave to whoever this Master person is! You have to listen to me! We can conquer this reality together and make it better for everyone! No more Committee or True Despairs, the world can finally return to a state where we are not ruled by hatred and fear!" I plead with the both of them. Though it could just be my eyes playing tricks on me, I think I see Hotaru move a bit.

"You just won't quit!" Kaneshiro shouts. He stands up and stomps on one of my arms. There is a small yelp that escapes from my clenched mouth. This pain tries to take control of my body yet I still remain in control.

"I will never quit! And I believe in you Yasu and Hotaru! We will always be together, no matter what happens!" There is no way I can stop now. My mouth will never stop running. Kaneshiro can take over my mouth, my voice, yet I will still try to speak. Nothing can truly silence me.

"That means I've to use better methods to teach you how to be a good boy," Kaneshiro comments. He then gets up and starts dragging me on the ground. I try to get up but I am in too much pain to have that much strength. Analyzing my surroundings, I see that Kaneshiro is taking me to the torture room. Things are only going to be worse from here, and there is no way to contact Yasu and Hotaru from inside. It is now in their hands to save themselves.

"God, he just goes on forever and ever. It's so boring, right Yasu?" I do not even have to be looking at Junko to know that she rolls her eyes.

"Who needs hope when you can have so much fun without it? Broken dreams are the only thing hope promises you," Yasu responds. "And, for the last time, its Yumiko, kid. Get that memorized."

"Do not give up on yourselves or the world! The world may be a big and scary place with a lot of problems right now but you can help fix it-"

"That's way too much talking coming out of you." Instead of getting the gag out again, Kaneshiro forces me on my feet and covers my mouth with his hand.

The door opens and closes. Now I'm all alone with Kaneshiro in a small room with only one chair. This can only end badly. There has to be some way out of here, but my mind is all over the place. Fear and pain make it very hard to think straight.

"One day, you'll see that I was always right. I have always been right. This is all for the good of humanity!" Kaneshiro tries to get closer to me. Out of options, I decide to do the only thing I can. I kick him where it hurts. That earns me a hard punch to the face. "You son of a bitch."

"Just get this over with, Kaneshiro. You know you cannot break my spirit. There is no way you can defeat me. Even with this battle, you have already lost the war." Of course, Kaneshiro won the early battles with me, but there is no way I will allow myself to go down that dark path ever again.

I close my eyes, preparing myself. This will be Hell. Do not know how I will make it through alive and sane but I must at least try. Living is for the sake of everybody who has died and who I have killed. If there is such a thing as the afterlife, Mirabilis will be cheering for me, for all of us, to kick Kaneshiro's ass.

Being as predictable as ever, Kaneshiro starts to force himself on me. It sucks. But I have to survive this. So many others had to go through this. Giving Kaneshiro the satisfaction of breaking another person using this unjust method is something I refuse to do.

I. Will. Never. Give. In.

* * *

Life is such a fucking pain.

I feel like I've been sleeping forever. And then Hayato sounding like the stereotypical anime protagonist who just so happens to be a murderer woke me up. Where am I again? God, my head is killing me.

Oh yeah, this is the final Trial. We've to get through this shit. And Yasu has gone insane. Looking around, I examine my surroundings. Everything hits me like a truck. Those videos are goddamn powerful. It's best to not look at them. They make your brain weird. Like its not despair and definitely not hope. The best way to describe it is that everything is numb. No pain, no emotion, no anything. Just...the nothingness.

And for some reason, I'm wearing a dress. With a God awful amount of jewelry. This is so gaudy. Who would dress somebody else like this? It sucks just like everything else. Everything inside me is screaming for me to sleep but I know that's a God awful idea. Plus, Hayato being super annoying is somewhat inspiring. Don't ask me how, but now I feel like I should punch Kaneshiro in the face. Over and over again. Until he's very fucking dead.

"Yea, Hotaru is moving around! We can have some fun together!" Yasu cheers. They are also dressed up. It's so weird seeing them so feminine.

"Yes, we can." Junko enters my sight. That's when I remember shit. So that's why I had to mentally check out for a couple of minutes...actually, it has to be longer than that considering this whole getup. But now I gotta believe in all that reality bullshit. Hayato owes me so much for doing this.

"Hey, Ayano, you look different." It makes too much sense. The Despairs have access to the program and probably found a way to get her AI back, considering they found out how to save the others deleted from the program a long time ago. And of course, the Despairs would want their mistress to be back. Ayano is dead and they want her alive. So what better way than to just upload Junko's AI to her? Pretty sure the photo is bullshit considering I'm still somehow not dead.

"It's not Ayano anymore...hey, Yasu, can you leave? We're having a personal conversation." Junko crosses her arm while glaring at Yasu.

"I told you, its Yumiko-"

"Don't care." With that, Yasu obeys her. They go to the execution viewing room. The room is big and empty with only the two of us. I've never seen the trial room be this lonely before.

"There's no more reason to hide who I am! I'm Personality Experiment #046, Junko Enoshima. Now let me ask you a question. Do you really think somebody is truly alive if everything about them is erased?" Junko asks. Nothing about her falters. I've never thought like something about this before. Probably because there was no need to.

"Yes."

"But everything about them is gone. Can somebody be alive if there's nothing left?" Junko is being surprisingly philosophical. I never expected this out of a gal like her. But guess I shouldn't underestimate somebody that has literally destroyed the world.

"A person is alive until their heart stops beating."

"But truly? Because my precious sweetheart, nothing about who all of you knew as Ayano Kamukura...Nishiki...whatever, remains. Ayano was killed in the program just like all your other little friends, only I remain now. And don't try the 'oh but I believe you're truly in there' bullshit. That only works in fairy tales." Junko grins. "Besides, Ayano was boring! She was sad and logical and nobody likes that! They like zany and positive! You gotta look towards the future of causing so much despair, my little firefly."

Ayano is gone. Junko is here. What bullshit. Reality is bullshit, but so is fantasy. So its time to make reality less bullshit. Don't know how but it's something to do.

"But, if you want, I can act as anybody you want..." Taking out a wand, Junko strikes a pose. "In the name of the moon, I shall purify you!" Then she throws the wand out and fixes up her hair and posture. "All of you are boring commoners, except for you Hayato but Kaneshiro is having too much fun with you. I shall make my family proud!" It's disturbing how much Junko can impersonate them without clearly not trying that hard. All I can do is stare. What the Hell am I supposed to say to this? Can I just go back to sleeping and forget everything again?...No, this will still be happening if I do that.

"..." Words fail me. Goddammit. Even my thoughts are a mess. It's so hard to think, let alone create overly complex theories that somehow turn out to be right.

"Heya, I'm gonna create a party that totally won't cause many death flags," Junko smiles so much like Namita it's threatening. "My blade is justice and justice is blind so must I." She pretends to have a sword and stabs me with the air. All she does is poke me. "I want a scoop! Heya, can you do a quick interview? My fans are going to go nuts over this story!"

"...What's even the point of you doing all of this?" There's no reason for Yasu to not be here as well. Is this conversation going somewhere?

"Everybody fucking sucks and I'm totally not gonna stab myself eighty billion times if you keep acting like that. Wait, Mitsu-cho, I love you, please don't leave me for dead!" Junko then begins to hug me. I try to get her off but she does not budge. Doing anything is hard with whatever the Hell I'm wearing.

"Get off me!" I command her. Of course, she doesn't listen.

"Hotaru, I always wanted to tell you this. I know I shouldn't but I can't help myself. Um, well..." Junko then gets way too close to my face for me to be anywhere near comfortable. "Ayano is fucking dead and it's way too late to confess your feelings." I cannot react before Junko bites down on my ear hard. As I scream, I fell something on my lips. It's Junko. I push her off as soon as I could.

"Don't you want me, Hotaru? You always wanted me, right? Everybody loves the great Junko Enoshima! But, if you join our side, you can have all of your friends back. They won't just be bodies thrown haphazardly into our oversized trashcan. Everybody can be together again! Don't you want that? And, most of all, don't you want me? Sure, your totally not girlfriend is erased from all existence, but who dates people for their personality? All people truly care about is this bode." Junko begins to blush and bat her eyes. Her eyes sparkle.

"...No..." I begin to back away. How in the world did it come to go of this? And where the fuck did Hayato and Kaneshiro go? I swear to God, if Kaneshiro is doing that once again, I'm gonna go ballistic and actually, for sure this time, murder his ass.

"There's no escape, Hotaru. Nothing can save you now except for us. So join with us, we can have so much fun with Yasu. We can play even more dress-up! This little cult of mine has been collecting outfits for my return since forever. They literally have buildings full of them. How cute." Junko grimaces. "And we've got a shiny new goal! Something far better than just destroying the world. Been there, done that. Finally, something to truly ease my boredom!" She begins to laugh. Because all these crazies love laughing. Isn't there some other evil thing they can do? Or is there an unspoken rule in the True Despairs that states that not laughing every five minutes causes despair to end and hope to survive? I may have gone crazy for a moment there yet I still haven't fallen into despair. Beat it, Kaneshiro.

"You know what, you should see something." Junko then pulls a mirror out of nowhere. Not even gonna question the logic of that. It's the same logic as Yasu's toolbox I guess. "Take a look, it won't hurt ya." She then throws the mirror. Somehow I'm able to catch it perfectly. Then I decide to be a total dumbass and do what Junko says.

...My eyes are red...

That's weird. Must be contacts or something. I go up to feel for the contacts. Yet there's nothing there. How the fuck are my eyes red now? I like my old eyes back. Seriously, that's something I actually like about my appearance.

"See, that's the mark of falling into the Nothingness. You better like those red eyes since there's no way you're gonna get rid of them-"

"We're finally here!" somebody announces. That's when two people enter the room. One of them is Izuru Kamukura. The other lady is somebody I don't know. She looks strangely like that old singer Taylor Swift though.

"Who are you?"

"Hanami Fukushima, and I'm here to rescue all of you."

* * *

 **HANAMI MAKES AN ENTRANCE.**

 **Finally Izuru and Hanami. They're gonna be like...what the Hell happened when we were gone?**

 **QOTC: Who do you think is going to survive this story?**

 **Req's Rec: Fogbound Castaways by Sharkeye**

 **Reviews~**

 **Ziggymia123-Actually, Hotaru didn't fall into despair. ;) Nothingness is here baby. Junko is Ayano but Takara isn't Kaneshiro. The Master hasn't actually been introduced yet, they're mostly a villain for the finale so look forward to that. But that's still not the reason Ayano died, they just found it useful to use her own body because they still wanted that body considering baby.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-Yep, everybody is having the time of their lives. Only fun moments here folks. Thanks. :D Here's some more actual torture.**

 **AnonChan1-They still have no idea who actually did it because I'm mean. But one can dream of Mochi doing it, one can dream. I GOTTA DESPAIRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. They still haven't stopped. Because I'm mean. This whole chapter is just Req being mean. Its should be renamed Trial 6-4: Req Being Mean. But then again, I've been mean this entire story so what's new? Nobody's using that name. The Despairs it's more out of 'its funny to see you freak out because we don't use that name.' Despair!Yasu does have a little of a messiah complex so have fun with that info. Fun fun. Fun fun fun. Fun. Everybody is slowly losing their shit. But Hotaru has got her shit back..somewhat...not really. Mochi is secretly the Ultimate...Hider or something. I'LL NEVER SHUT MY MOUTH. Well, Yasu is already broken so they aren't breaking anymore. Thanks. :D Hopefully everybody likes the ending.**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Anyways, here's some more suffering.**


	78. Trial 6-5

**Trial 6-5: The Final Nail in the Coffin**

 **(Yellow this chapter has V3 spoilers. Oh my God, Yellow, please tell me you've played the game by now. But, because I'm such a good friend, I'm tagging this just in case.)**

* * *

I don't know how to describe this situation at all. Hanami and Izuru examine the area around them. Afterward, Mochi comes out of what seems to be nowhere and hops on top of Hanami's foot. Didn't even notice Mochi was gone. It's good that he's still somehow okay. That rabbit has better survival instincts than everybody else here. He could be the only one that survives this whole thing and nobody would be surprised. Because Mochi is Mochi. And he's somehow more badass than all of us combined.

"Kamukura, Kamukura, yas queen!" Junko exclaims as she runs to Izuru and jumps onto him. He examines her. "It has been decades my king! Oh my God, you've gotten so old!"

"Enoshima, it is time to end this madness once and for all. I will kill you all if it's the last thing I do," Izuru responds. Although his voice is monotone, there's a certain sadness to it. Though it could be anger, as he glares daggers at Junko.

"Kill me? Or you that heartless? Think about everything! Wasn't it so fun back in the good old days when I first showed you despair? Watching all those idiots kill each other so easily because of a dumb motive I came up with in five minutes!" Junko begins to laugh. She really is one crazy bitch. Izuru then punches her and pins her to the wall, a little bit of blood dripping from her mouth. Junko licks it off her lips looking like she is ready to orgasm. Why are all Despairs so sexual? I would hate to be that one asexual Despair. That would be so awkward during all their orgies.

"No."

"Oh, but how about your precious daughter-"

"You fucking shut up or I will crush your throat right here." I really should care that Izuru is about to kill somebody but I don't. Killing Junko would finally make Ayano at piece. Those pieces of shit are the ones at fault for doing shit like this in the first place.

"Izuru, you have to calm down. We have to kill Kaneshiro first or he will only repeat this again," Hanami says to him. That is when Izuru frees Junko. She may have a point but he should have still killed her. Though it's also dangerous because we're currently stuck in an unknown building with people that would either want to kill or worship us for such an act. Then again, I was the one who didn't think one second about killing Natsumi and now all this bullshit is happening. Like oops but still don't regret it.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up." Kaneshiro's voice makes me freeze. This definitely ain't that happiness and rainbows person from before. "Let's finally end this trial! Maybe your eyes will finally be open to my message. All of you be good girls and boys."

Hayato still has that goddamn fetish collar on him and looks worse for wear. Though he isn't in despair yet. They both look like shit. Oh God, Kaneshiro can't keep it in his pants for a single second.

"I'm also here now!" Yasu exclaims. Goddammit they're so creepy with that blank yet excited look on their face. But then again, I just woke up from the state of literally doing nothing but being headfirst on the floor. "Let's have some fun with me finally dying! Perhaps it should be for no reason for the despair of it all!"

"Now let us continue this trial. We're almost done," Kaneshiro states yet again. He then pulls out a knife and aims it at Hayato's neck. Hayato glares at him as the knife lightly rests on his skin. That son of a bitch will never play fair. Even Izuru is at a loss at what to do. And Izuru is basically an one man army. Probably spent way too much energy killing a lot of other Despairs. How many Despairs even exist? There has to be a lot for Kaneshiro not to be worried when I'm pretty sure Izuru has killed way more than a hundred of them.

"Kazuma, lower the knife and surrender your life. That way you can still save yourself," Hanami pleads. Her eyes are watering. Kaneshiro only grins at her.

"Finish this trial and I'll think about it. But there's things way more important things than my life." Kaneshiro smirks as Hanami takes what used to be Takayuki's spot. Guess we're still stuck in this trial. Though we gotta figure out other shit because they probably will force us to. Staying alive after this is the only way to truly solve Ayano's murder. That's fucked up. But everything these people ever do is to help themselves! Greater good my ass. I do more for the greater good and I'm a selfish asshole. They're just using buzzwords to brainwash people into thinking torturing people to the brink of insanity is a good idea. They're no different from the Committee in that regard.

This is such a fucked up world.

* * *

There has to be a way to get out of this situation. Kaneshiro may still be trying to break me but he has to realize by now that all he is doing is wasting energy. A blade is to my neck but perhaps there is a way for the others to confuse Kaneshiro to let his guard down for a second. A part of me wants to give up and I realize that is my despair. My despair telling me that I should just die and just wasting air by staying on this Earth. Although he has not broken me yet, I am not cocky enough to believe that I can outlast the advances of the Ultimate Brainwasher for that long if I stay here.

Everybody is in their spots. Except for Junko, Izuru stole her spot. He must have figured out the secret of Junko before we did. Izuru is way too over powered in his intelligence but no amount of experiments can yet reverse the affects of aging. Junko has instead taken the spot of Akita. Considering the obsession the Despairs had with Akita, it would not surprise me to figure out that she was originally the person that was going to be the host of Junko Enoshima. Kaneshiro told me everything about the Kamukura situation when... _that_ was happening.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"Oh, what should we discuss next?" Kaneshiro playfully questions as he moves the knife higher up on my neck. "How do the other Killing Games have anything to do with any of this?"

"From my knowledge, what you state is the True Fifth Killing Game, although it is not since many have happened before, was _created by Ayano Kirigiri to test out the simulator_ for the current one. All of the _participants are alive_ to our knowledge though _there is one that survived the simulator by murdering another that has yet to be identified_ ," Izuru explains. That lines up with the knowledge that we gained before. It is good to know that Charles is still alive because he can find a way to honor Cassius's memory.

"We already discussed that one silly! _You know_ which one we truly meant!" Junko begins to laugh. Just thinking about everything that they have done to Ayano Kamukura makes my blood boil. I do not blame Izuru for wanting to kill them all. Ayano deserves to finally rest in peace but I do not know if she can even do that. She has been erased from all of reality. It is like she never existed.

"The goddamn apartments. I've such a bad feeling about those. Like I would somehow be the first victim and blow up or something." That is random for Hotaru to say. But she is Hotaru, it must be how she copes. It is good to see her get out of her previous state. Somehow that speech worked, yet there is still the problem of Yasu. I will not give up on them no matter what.

"The apartments? _They have something to do with this game_? We have been investigating them for years." I agree with Hanami, I do not see how this connects to anything. None of us are involved in anyway with it. Not even Akita and she is by far the most suspicious person in the game.

"They had a party in there to got too wild!" Yasu exclaims.

"Yes, they do, do not underestimate how much _everything is tied together_. This game is important to us because we have been _planning the outcome for years and years for our dear Master_ ," Kaneshiro responds. I want to say anything but I fear what will happen. Speaking is not the best course of action when there is a knife to your throat. One wrong move and I die. That would be disappointing for everybody involved, and, if there is an afterlife, I would never forgive myself for dying in such a stupid manner.

"You fucked up there!" Hotaru gets silenced quickly by all the Despairs glaring at her. But Hotaru has a point. They accidentally allowed Akita to die early on because of their arrogance and everything went out of control after that. Keeping a tighter leash on Kazuhiko would have solved all of their problems. The first Trial is the reason why everybody started to rebel. Then again, when Kazuhiko was alive, he always proved to be a wild card for them, since he killed Kotori as well.

But there is something bothering me. The Personality Experiments. There is still the third one that we know nothing about. Perhaps they are connected to this case somehow?

"The Future Foundation has been trying to find the survivor or survivors of the apartment Killing Game for awhile now-"

"There's no need to fear since _they're Despairs_! Sorry to burst your bubble!" Junko then deflates. "But honestly, this conversation is starting to bore me."

"One of them was a _Personality Experiment_ , right?" I shout. Expecting the worse, I am surprised to still be alive.

"Why does everything have to go back to Personality Experiments?" Hanami hides her face. Honestly, I feel sorry for her, but she has to learn the truth. She has to realize what Kaneshiro was doing to me in that room along with everybody else, right? It is silly to admit that I am a little embarrassed.

"Kotori Hiraoka had an obsession with the experiment that turned Hajime Hinata into myself. That is why she decided to take Ayano from Eishi. It is also the basis of all of her experiments," Izuru explains. Although I did not know that, it makes sense. Ayano was quite strong by herself but my guess is that most of it was not natural. Including her height, something about Ayano's figures has always been off, like she was supposed to be inches shorter. I do not want to know how Kotori could make something like that possible.

"Silly, you're still Hajime Hinata! You're just pretending to be your _ultra cool alter ego_! Right, my darling?" Yasu shouts. They must have somehow caught up to speed themselves. Or making stuff up to get underneath Izuru's skin. But there has to be a way to get through to them.

"You're right about the Personality Experiment. Sadly they're in space right now so they can't answer any questions." Kaneshiro must be talking about the Killing Game that is supposed to be going on alongside this one. The Despairs did not think things through with the Experiments considering two of them are already dead. There is a chance that the last is dead as well but we cannot know for sure.

" _The experiments are all here_ ," Yasu sneers.

"You have already proved that wrong," Izuru counters. Kaneshiro's grip on the knife tightens.

 **Non-Stop Debate Stop!**

"Using that method would not work on Hanami and I."

"Kazuma, you have to realize that we have been through the Killing Game as well. Everybody in this room is a pro and we are not under your thumb like Yasu, Hayato, and Hotaru," Hanami replies. She has a point. Even though we like to think ourselves to be free from Kaneshiro, he is still our mastermind and has overwhelming power over our lives. It would be useless fighting against him ourselves but Hanami and Izuru have saved us from a hopeless situation. "So stop having that fucking stick up your ass and tell us everything! There's no reason to hide it! If anything, Junko would be less bored."

"Hey, I take offense to that! I'm always bored!" Junko pouts.

"That is not how the Master imagined this game. I have disappointed the Master so much but I will make sure her needs are meet! The Master is the only one that truly matters!" Even though I cannot see his face, I can tell that Kaneshiro's eyes are swirling. He is panting heavily like a dog, breathing warm air into my ears. "The words of the Master are absolute. For they are the words are all of us True Despairs!"

"I haven't meet her but I shall serve her! Maybe she'll finally give me a fun death!"

"Who the Hell is this Master anyway?!" Hotaru yells. Though I did hear the voice of somebody calling themselves the Master, it did not sound feminine like Kaneshiro is suggesting now.

"That is not important now, you guys are almost done with the mystery!" Kaneshiro lightly gazes my neck with the knife, causing blood to begin to spill. I have to regulate my breathing so it does not happen again. "Now continue or else Hayato will die. And none of you want that, right? You have to save the killer from us. The killer who has done everything wrong and has killed two people. Such a bad person cannot truly understand the will of so-called hope."

 _Oh, but wouldn't it be so wonderful if that blade just ended it all? No more misery, no more despair, no more hope. Just nothingness._

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"For this conversation, I suggest that we look more deeply into the mystery of the codes. Kaneshiro seemed to leave one based on the Killing Game he was in with Hanami. So what is the purpose behind it?" Izuru has a point. That code has to be important yet there is nowhere to place it. Highly doubt the Despair would randomly give us a code that long and have it lead to somewhere like a base that none of us know about. This might be a twisted aversion of a Killing Game but the Despairs make sure everything has a point.

"Finally somebody with common sense! This is why I love you so much Izuru! And now it's incest so more despair!" Junko tries to run over but is stopped by Izuru's stare. She then starts playing around with her hair.

"Despair! Despair! Des _pear_!" Yasu laughs at their own joke. The only other person who laughs is Junko. But even Junko does not seem impressed as she flips them off afterward.

"Stop trying to make everything go off topic. It won't work," Hanami states as she crosses her arms.

"The code has nothing _relating it to this Killing Game_. Honestly, I don't understand why they added it in the first place." Even if it has nothing to do with the current events, it must be the key towards something. Kaneshiro must have put some thought to it.

"Aha! I got an idea! You said this Killing Game!" Hotaru snickers. That is what she is suggesting. Honestly, Hotaru is a force to be reckoned with if she takes things seriously. She must have figured out a lot of mysteries during the Trials but did not tell us out of boredom. I am surprised that they did not target Hotaru for the Junko experiment. " _How about the other Killing Game that's going on_?"

"With the intel we have gathered, that matches up. We still do not know a lot about what is going on but there seems to be talk of a code from our sources inside," Izuru replies. "This knowledge might be the key to saving the people trapped in that Killing Game from situations like these." I highly doubt it would be that easy to save them all. If it was, the Committee would have already done so. The Committee might be powerful but the True Despairs are tearing their world apart without even trying that hard.

"It's so fun just watching from the sidelines and doing nothing. Actually participating in these is so stressful," Yasu comments.

"As I said, that won't work. We figured out what the code does, Kazuma. Tell us if we're right." Hanami's lips trembles and her hands shake. She looks Kaneshiro directly, pointing one of her fingers at him. "You know that this won't work, Kazuma! Stop it so I can finally kill you! Remember that promise that we made? No matter if you brainwash, abuse, rape, or murder me, I'll fucking keep it!"

"That's all in the past! _This has to happen now_!"

"You know as well as me you're just lying to yourself!" To the surprise of everyone, the process ends. Hanami's as well, who is biting her lip so hard I worry it will bleed.

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"You can perfectly stop. It's still not too late to rewrite all of your wrongs. Execute yourself and I'll forgive you for everything." Hanami's tries to hide her face by turning it away from all of us but it does not do anything. Her eyes tear up.

"It is too late to stop anything. We are already making our dream a reality!" Kaneshiro rebuts. He once again almost cuts me with his knife.

"Already? Shit! What are you planning!?" Hotaru questions.

"You know what, what are you planning since I'm on your side now and all. Wanna be brought up to speed." Yasu blows a kiss to Kaneshiro. Clearly not to me. Kaneshiro does not notice, however, as he is focused on Hanami.

"Easy! We're gonna change the world! It's already too late to stop us. Did you ever wonder why you got that code telling you all that juicy info? I guess it's as good as a time to tell you all something. It was a trap!" Junko stretches her arms out with sadistic glee. "Now come to mommy's arms so I can tell you everything! All my children are precious and full of such great hope and despair!"

"We have always known that to be true..." Izuru tightens his fists. "But nobody does that to my daughter without facing my consequences!"

"Hajime, calm down~! You're such an old man now, geez. So much less fun. Seems like your fatherly instinct has fucked over everybody!" Junko's face then goes dark with her voice menacingly deep. "Ayano Kamukura wasn't related to any of you by blood. She's just a random person that got adopted who had good hacking skills. Nothing more, nothing less. Nobody knows where she truly came from or if she's even fully Japanese. But now nobody will know for certain because she has been erased from existence itself."

"You damn bitch!" Hotaru slams her fist into the podium.

"I would love that fate! Be a martyr for everybody just to be forgotten by history! Nobody gives a shit about anything but themselves!" Yasu drools as their eyes begin to swirl.

"Now, we shall continue. Almost to the finishing line! All you have to do is figure out our motivations or Hayato will finally kick the bucket," Kaneshiro explains. He is disturbingly casual. His tone is like we are a group of friends hanging out. Then again, Kaneshiro tricked us all into thinking he was our friend, with Satoshi and Atsuto, and maybe there was a twisted sense of real camaraderie. Even if there was, true friends stab you in the front.

 _Just end me now, Kaneshiro~ End me so I won't have to live like this any longer! Just make the pain stop!_

"Why? Why do you keep on doing this!? Why do all of you keep on doing this!? JUST WHY!?" Hanami's whole body trembles. She is bawling, most likely unable to stop herself. But Hanami still finds the strength to give Kaneshiro a death glare. "Stop obeying whoever this Master is! What do they even want!? What the fuck!"

"Hanami, you need to calm down. They are trying to get into your head," Izuru warns. He is right, I know from experience. I allowed Hideyoshi to get into my head. His words were powerful and cruel, yet somehow sweet and intoxicating. That is what makes falling into darkness so easy.

"I know," Hanami hiccups. She takes a deep breath and wipes away her tears.

"Oh, how touching! It makes my heart flutter...whatever that means~" Junko then puts on glasses and quickly changes her hair into a ponytail. "However, due to you falling into our trap, there is a great chance that all of you will fall into despair and help us with our goals. Having Izuru Kamukura on our side again, however how old and emotional he is now, would prove to be a valuable asset."

"Let's get this over with! Arguing about morals is getting us nowhere!" Hotaru complains. Yasu nods their head in agreement.

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"What is the motive behind everything? _There has to be a reason_! I know there is Kazuma! Nothing will stop me from finding it out!" Hanami claims. Thinking about the evidence once again, there is something that strikes me as odd. In the Hospital, whoever this Madoka Ueno person is found a mysterious flashlight. It has to be important somehow. They would not waste their time making the evidence for us otherwise.

"I have always been claiming so, Hanami. Your words don't make sense." For once, Kaneshiro has a decent point.

" _There's nothing pointing to it_! Give up so we can have a long monologue about it!" Yasu cheers. However, that is wrong. There has to be something with that flashlight! But perhaps that is not with the motive. What strikes me as truly odd is them keeping the hope video. If hope was truly that good, they should have destroyed it.

"No, that is incorrect! The motive can be figured out with this piece of evidence!" Kaneshiro lightens his gasp on me. But, looking up myself, I see that he is staring down at me with a sinister smile on his face.

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"It has something to deal with the hope, despair, and suicide videos, doesn't it? You would not risk getting all of those if they were not all truly important to your plans. Even though you can brainwash people perfectly fine without them, you stole directly from Committee Headquarters! That has to mean something!" Once my speech is over, Kaneshiro surprises me by letting go of me. There has to be an ulterior motive.

"Oh, Hayato, we have much better hostages now," Kaneshiro whispers into my ear. My blood turns cold.

"It truly is a trap! Hanami, Izuru-" My sentence is interrupted by the overwhelming sound of chains. Like we were many times during our stay in the simulation, the both of them found themselves stuck in the chains. Their mouths are covered and they are too trapped to even move.

"See, you didn't age that well Izuru. But I guess better than all your friends considering they're all dead!" I still cannot figure out how Junko is able to grow mushrooms on her head. "Oh well, everybody dies. Accept life is meaningless and deal with it."

"All my friends! So great that we don't have those intruders to bother with us anymore!" Yasu begins to play around with their dress as they spin around.

"Oh God," Hotaru states as she looks at the chains. Her eyes are dilated. I do not blame her, as I too cannot look at that prison without my stomach feeling like it is on fire. "You really need to change up your tactics. They're starting to get a little old."

"Don't move, Hayato. I still can kill you whenever I want." To prove his point, Kaneshiro places the knife near my stomach. "Can't have you being a bad boy after all of this improvement. All it took was some positive reinforcement."

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"There has to be something more _going on with the videos_. They were brainwashing people into their cult of personality _just fine without it_. So what possible reason could they have to risk it all? And, even if they did not want the Committee to have such items, _they could have easily destroyed them instead_."

"Perhaps they wanted a _safety net_ if Kaneshiro died or went against them," Hotaru suggests. It makes a certain degree of sense but starts getting broken apart the more you think about it.

"The Master was the one that taught me this gift. Otherwise I would just be a hypnotist." Maybe that has something to deal with Hanami's mindset about him. But I do not care about Kaneshiro's reasons. The moment he starts trying to get sympathy is the moment I do not care about my life anymore and punch him in the face.

 _That actually sounds like a great idea. You should do that._

"Aw, I'll still love you! Best hypnotist in the world! With the worse engineer reality has ever seen! We balance each other out better than hope and despair!"

"Nah, nothing was better than my darling Yasuke. So I did what all good lovers do and killed him!" Junko shouts. Things are getting way too off topic again. There must be something I can figure out with the evidence currently available. Not even that, but everything else about the simulation too. Everything we have ever experienced in there has to lead to one conclusion.

"Junko, literally nobody else feels the same. Please stop murdering people," Hotaru sighs.

While everybody else starts to discuss the ethics and morals of despair, I start to theorize. There has to be a reason for those videos. And is there a possibility that the flashlight is somehow connected to all of this. Now I am reminded of that video that Kaneshiro showed us. Something was very wrong about it besides the fact that it was being shown in the first place. There were cut to make sure that they were shorter and less gory than the actual versions. Everything seemed oddly fake even though we were there when it happened. It was real.

Everything has a reason. Even the smallest piece of dirt. They are clearly working some type of twisted goal that they have deluded themselves into thinking it is for the greater good. Although they have influence, the Committee has more power than them. The True Despairs only have followers in Japan yet the Committee has spread its hold everywhere. Even if the Despairs got control over Japan, the Committee would flee somewhere else and find a way to kill them all.

Wait...but that...this is insane enough to be true!

"Can you guys just seriously let us continue solving the mystery you want us to complete so badly?" Hotaru looks like she is about to punch somebody. I should probably save the situation before she does something she will regret.

" _You want to mass brainwash people!_ " I shout.

"Holy shit! That makes sense!" Hotaru's mouth opens wide. I am sure mine is as well but I am more focused on the man behind me.

"Took you long enough. Yep. Mass brainwashing. It's like what the Committee does but more blatant," Junko explains. There is no light in her eyes.

"Yeah, we're saving the world! With that, we can convert the headquarters into a bunny farm! There we could raise all the bunnies in the world! Let other animals learn the greatness of despair!" At least Yasu does not want to harm the rabbits. Mochi is nowhere to be seen yet again. He has to be somewhere.

"Alright, we should stay on focus now. Hayato, now that you're figuring out what we're doing, there's one thing left. To figure out why." Kaneshiro breaths into my ear.

"Clearly, _you want to bring the whole world into despair_!" Even with all of their weird, unpredictable actions, this must be the truth. Because what else could they be planning? I would not want to figure out.

"Wait! That's wrong!" Hotaru claims. Even Yasu stares at her. However, both Kaneshiro and Junko have strangely neutral expressions.

 **Non-Stop Debate End!**

"That video doesn't bring people to despair. It's hard to explain. Like, your heart feels like a void. Like it's nothing," Hotaru says to all of us. "You seem to forget, Hayato, that they would've just destroyed the Hope Video if they only wanted despair. They're dumb but not that dumb." I should have seen through that, but, of course, hatred and anger clouded my judgment.

"Your intelligence is what has taken you this far, Hotaru. I'm impressed."

"I don't want your compliments, shithead!"

"Focus, Hotaru. We need to figure out what this means," I remind her. But why would Despairs want to brainwash people not onto their side? That does not make any sense. Is it because it gives them more despair? But it was clearly not hope. Looking around, I see that it is surprisingly still playing. Now it's footage of Mirabilis dying. Of me deciding to pull the trigger and then trying to kill myself. For that is my despair, the despair of giving myself death.

 _Please kill me. End my suffering. It's too painful to go on. I should just die. Everything would be better if I never existed. My own existence is a burden. The world would be better if Hayato Akimoto never came._

"That's not fun," Yasu pouts.

"Whatever." Junko stands on top of her podium yet stays silent. She looks down on every single one of us.

"You're going to hurt yourself up there," Kaneshiro says in an unusually warm tone. Looking back once again, I see he has a face I would find on any regular person and not a psychopathic serial murderer. Like somebody that could be your friend but I know he could literally stab my back any second. That is too weird for any sense of comfort.

"Kazu, you're not my mom! I can do whatever I want! We shall teach the world the wonder of...however we describe it. Honestly, I'm tired of this already." Junko raises one of legs and balances solely on the heel. She jumps and switches legs.

"We have to focus. There has to be something that points to whatever you are truly planning," I state.

"We're planning on making sure the whole world can feel pleasure-"

"Actually we're not-"

"We're gonna feel the pleasure of causing the world to not feel the wonderful bliss of excitement!"

"Can all of you shut up!? Let's just get on with it. Pretty sure Hanami and Izuru aren't having a good time up there." Hotaru rolls her eyes. Looking up, I see that the both of them are helping each other try to escape. I have not realized it by now but their relationship seems to be platonic or familial, but very close.

"Alright, if you want to."

 **That Five Minute Thing We Have Already Forgotten About**

"Oh, geez, I gotta pick shit this time. Goddammit. Oh well, let's see." Hotaru thinks for a second, looking all around the room. "You know what, what's going on with Kirigiri-"

"Anything but that. I'll execute you on the spot if you continue," Junko interrupts. Guess we have to figure that out later when we have more evidence. No matter what, I will make sure that at least Yasu and Hotaru get out of here to live on for everybody. Junko would have to know more about the previous game that happened in the simulation but she must be staying quiet for a reason. Junko must have somehow been targeted by Kirigiri previously. But, if Kirigiri did in fact know Junko was still existing in the program, why did she think it a good idea to continue this game? Only if Kira was alive to tell us more but the only thing we can do now is survive and wait.

"Alright, Miss Buzzkill, what about that weird ass flashlight thing?"

"I like flashlights! But I also like fleshl-"

"Please don't finish that sentence, Yasu," Kaneshiro sighs. He is truly disturbingly like a father to all of the Despairs. Wait, that is not exactly right. Perhaps big brother? That seems more like it.

"Yumiko-"

"Oh, whatever reason could the insane have~ What indeed! I know everything, more than Kazu over there can ever dare to know, but you're not hearing a peep from me!" Junko begins to do yoga poses.

"What do the flashlights do, Kaneshiro? Why do they exist?" I ask him. Would Kaneshiro even be up to telling us such information? There is no way to figure out the truth without his input.

"Easy, they either replace or add memories," Kaneshiro answers bluntly. Alright, that is suspicious, once again Kaneshiro is up to something. But why does he both not want us to know but actively pushing us towards the answers? Keeping his mouth shut this entire game would have given him better results. He has to realize that, right?

 **You Know What Nobody Actually Cares (why did I ever think this was a good idea)**

"The flashback and blackout lights sadly do not work in the real world as of yet, but in the virtual one we are able to access your minds. This way we can see what actually happens to the brain under these side effects," Kaneshiro adds-on, explaining himself in a chilling monotone. He goes up to my ears and whispers into it, "Hayato, we can change a person however we desire."

"Oh, I've a theory! The conversion therapy was to help with that!" Yasu raises their hand but does not wait.

"Correct! You've always been so smart! We change only simple things now but are building up for more complicated ones in the future. Of course, due to Kotori's focus on sexuality, we could easily manipulate the brain-"

"What!? You can't just change somebody's sexuality! That's fucked up!" Hotaru points a shaky finger at Kaneshiro. "You're just trying to get underneath our skin like usual!"

"Perhaps, but we did change a lot. Anybody who knew Naoko Kawabata before the simulation could tell you she had a severe fear of men thanks to her daddy dearest. But that would mess with our goals, so we just erased that part of her. We knew Takayuki has two polar opposite taste in women that I still can't understand. Naoko fit in perfectly. It was too much good potential for a romance arc to pass up!"

"What...?" Once again, I look up to Hanami and Izuru. Hanami stares down at us but Izuru is still working on getting himself out of there.

"But why would you need something like that!?" Hotaru questions him.

"There was this one time that you kids were starting to build support for the floor in the second chapter," Junko says in her smart persona. "We, however, could not allow that to happen since it would ruin us playing around with our experimental motive. That is when you truly first learned the name of Kaneshiro Kazuma as well. Well, some of you did, but all of those people are dead now except for kinda Ayano. Really it's debatable whether or not she is. I'm waiting for a full on debate on the meaning of existence and what it truly means to be alive."

"Why are you so meta all the time? Don't tell me this is like being turned into a TV show or something!" Hotaru huffs.

"I would like to see that! Oh, who else was part of the program-"

"Kira because Ayano Kirigiri is a piece of shit." Junko crosses her arms. Is it possibly a personal thing relating to Kirigiri being the child of two of the people that put her in this situation?

"Oh, Kira, how sad her life and death was. We must honor her by making sure nobody else has to go through the same thing!" Yasu smiles. Right now, the only reason I am truly playing along is for them, and I have a feeling Hotaru is the same.

"Now, I get the feeling this will be truly the last debate we are going through! So let's make it our best, shall we?" Kaneshiro is way too certain of that fact. I can hear him panting from behind me. Hearing those noises only makes me want him to stop.

 _Be a good boy and die. Or at the very least fall into despair. And then die._

 **Non-Stop Debate Commence!**

"Screw the rules, I'm going first! What is the reason you think we're doing all of this? You're a smart people, Hayato and Hotaru. I know you can figure it out." Junko lowers herself down to floor level.

Everything has to connect. Thinking about it now, the footage reminds me of something dealing with conspiracy theories about the Despair that actually turned out to be true. That they were brainwashed into being so by videos. With the reaction Hotaru had, and all of us still sane still trying to fight against, it is clear that they altered the video somehow. But it is not the same. Also, Junko tried to show the world the Killing Game of Hope's Peak but the footage only became popular in Japan. It was shown on TV, and, at the time because of the plans, only Japan had access to any of the networks.

Still, with the purposes of mass brainwashing, Kaneshiro could show these videos to the public due to the internet now being in a lot of places. Especially if they are currently being controlled by the Committee.

"Kaneshiro, did you create this Killing Game for the purposes of _spreading the footage around the internet_? That way you could _brainwash a lot more people_." I wait desperately for a reply. Seconds feel like days.

"Yes."

"That was easy! But that's the easy part. What oh what could we be planning if it isn't despair!"

"Junko-sama, it must be wonderful!" With every passing second, Yasu becomes less and less themself and whoever this person is. We must save them before it is too late. That is our next priority after all of this is said and done.

"Nothingness. _This has to deal with nothingness_. That bullshit emotion won't leave my fucking head. It's annoying," Hotaru complains. But perhaps that will make sense. Because it is not hope, people who surrender to the void would not pose a threat towards any of their plans. But is there really any hope in that void? If there is, is hope really what I thought it would be? Or is it some buzzword to make people feel better about themselves?

"But what about it? Honestly, that wouldn't bring any pleasure at all. And I hate being bored." Yasu begins to tap on their podium. They do it in a tune of a song I have heard before but do not immediately recognize.

"You know what, I think you fuckers _are actually making a TV show_! Oh my God, that actually makes sense. What the fuck?!" Even though I hear Hotaru, I do not fully understand what she means.

"Hotaru, do you have evidence to back up that claim? Without any, it does not make any sense! _What about any of this points it to be for a TV show_?" And that was the last time the evidence would break. Everybody is glued onto Hotaru, waiting for what happens next.

 **Non-Stop Debate Stop!**

"Think about it, Hayato. Not only would it explain how and why they've been so meta of all the time but so many other things as well. All the cameras, manipulating us like we are supposed to follow a script, all of this bullshit about screwing the rules! He could just cut it out!" Hotaru explains herself. But that is true. Even if important stuff has to be cut out, they could either dub over footage or use lookalikes to film similar scenes.

"Congrats on solving the mystery!" Kaneshiro and Junko are perfectly in sync. "It's time to introduce the new face of the True Despairs! Our new name will be Team Dangan Ronpa!"

"Team...Dangan Ronpa?" Yasu tilts their head.

"You see, kids, there's also a reason you've been erased as well as we can. It was more difficult for somebody like Tsukiko but we destroyed her reputation and made her band fall into obscurity," Junko explains. "But now that the general populace has no idea finding out you're actually real people they can be manipulated into thinking you're just a bunch of fictional characters. We have to build it up a little bit before revealing the truth. Who knows? Maybe one day we'll actually have people signing up for it! For people all over the world to know and love the name of Team Dangan Ronpa!"

"What do you mean? Nobody will fall for this!" Hotaru tries her best to keep her voice from cracking. But I agree with her, this is pure insanity. Although they may be successful with spreading it to a lot of places, I highly doubt humanity would allow themselves to willingly participate in these barbaric games themselves.

"While it's true that most of your loved one were saved, they have been forced into hiding. They're with the Future Foundation and nobody will believe them. Most of all, the Committee will think they are in control when it is truly us controlling everything. Hope is nothing but lies. There's a reason the Hope Video makes you nothing more but a brain-dead zombie." Hope is nothing but a lie then? But Despair is just the same. If none of them are truly worth anything, then what is there in the world?...Stop, Kaneshiro wants you to think like that. Yet now there is a bitter taste in my throat that was not there before whenever hope is mentioned.

"I know everybody is so used to the stand-in of Forest of Despair but now we can finally reveal the true title! Welcome to _ **Next Dangan Ronpa 4: Despair Beyond Hope**_! We sure hope you like our show! We worked very hard on it!"

 _See, you should've died when you've the chance. At least you get to live on as a fictional character. Not many have that opportunity, you know? But you've to easily be the least liked character in the whole show. Nobody likes you because you're a waste of air._

"There is no way we will allow you to show anybody this footage!" I tell directly to Kaneshiro. He only laughs.

"While everybody was busy focusing on saving all of you, we leaked the footage all over the internet. There is no way to save everybody from our plan now." Junko gets a new phone out of her bra.

"Look at that, we're already getting comments! Dragonfucker69 says that Akita is their waifu and hopes that she survives. How cute. This one is already calling Tsukiko best girl. Oh, and look at all of these theories on Mirabilis dying soon because of how cute she is. Honestly, I love all my viewers very much!" Junko's eyes begin to sparkle as she twirls around. Even if we manage to beat these two in the trial, that is what they want. They have already won.

"Now that you-Ugh! What the Hell?" I feel Kaneshiro let his guard down. Being as quick as I can, I run to the other side of the room. There I realize Mochi is biting down on his leg. Before he could do anything else, Kaneshiro kicks him across the room.

"Mochi!" Yasu shouts. That is when I rush toward them. After all of this, they still care about Mochi! There is still hope.

I do what any sane person would do in that situation and slap them. It was what Tsukiko would have done after all.

* * *

Mochi drops onto the ground! Oh, how fun it must've been for him to go flying across the room. But I don't want Mochi to feel that fun. Yet is that what I'm supposed to be feeling? This conflict makes me feel good.

"Mochi!" I cannot control myself, however. Everything feels off. Should I be thinking this kind of way? It's way too formal for me. But that's part of the fun of it all! Oh, how I crave to feel the despair that my father felt when he accidentally caused Dango's death! Dango must've been in Heaven as he slowly suffocated on the overwhelming fumes.

Then Hayato slaps me! I should feel amazing! But I don't. Hell, the Despairs aren't even despair. Where is the fun in only creating a TV show? Like come on. That of all things is their master plan? Most of the world still can't experience yet! I had to make my own TV! Most people aren't Ultimate Engineer potential in their childhood. Seriously, these kids should've thought it out more.

"Yasu, you've to listen to me! I don't care about them winning with this TV show bullshit! I just want you back! That way we can at least be together! You're my friend! Please come back!" And then Hayato actually starts to cry. He must be feeling so much pain. Everything would be so much better if he felt despair. But is despair really what it's all cracked up to be?

"Yasu!" Hotaru just straight up punches me in the face. You know what, they could've easily brainwashed Hotaru in that state but didn't! What was the deal with that? Now she's a giant thorn in their side again because of this Nothingness bullshit. I thought the author forgot about that theme but whatever.

"Listen up, asshole, Junko and Kaneshiro are gonna kick our asses any second! So snap out of it and help us!" Don't they realize I want that to happen? But maybe not. There's this annoying voice in the back of my head telling me to stop or some shit like that. Nothing good comes from hearing voices.

 _Kid, I wanna help my friends! Mochi is in trouble! I want to do anything to save him!_

"Whatever, I'll help you guys, got it? But don't think I'm all hope and whatever now. I still want to die for pleasure and all that shit."

"Well, it is better than I was expecting," Hayato grunts. Just be glad I'm helping you. Letting you live might give me the sanctification of making you all fall into despair and all of us to commit a triple suicide. That actually sounds like a pretty good plan.

 _Just help them, alright?_

Fine, fine, stupid voice in my head. There's nothing else that can change this situation anyway. Getting captured by Despairs and tortured to death as a traitor also sounds like fun. Honestly, anything but that stupid goddamn TV show.

"Um, I'm here now guys. What did I miss?" Somebody comes waltzing through the door yet again. It's that goddamn Madoka girl. She looks like she has seen way better days. "Oh, um, this looks like a...situation."

* * *

 **Let's see people freaking out about the title change. Let's see people freaking out about this chapter in general. Like me.**

 **OH MY GOD THAT WAS THE LAST PART OF THE TRIAL FOR THIS SERIES! Now we enter the epilogue. Oh my God, I never thought I would actually make it this far, but I actually did. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Thank you guys so much for making this journey with me. I think we can all say it's been one Hell of a ride.**

 **Now for more talking. Yes, this series has always been made with the purpose of this being the bridge between the world of Hope's Peak and V3. So have fun with that. This is like the one thing that has never changed in any of the outlines. It's always been this. This twist has been in the workings for over two years and for those two years I've been looking forward to people reacting to it. I hope I don't disappoint.**

 **But seriously, thank you all for supporting me through this journey. This is sounding like the finale but it's not, I'm just really emotional rn. Life has been really hard for me and seeing the amount of support and love this story gets always makes my day happier. So thank you so much. This story would've been just abandoned if it weren't for all of you guys being absolutely awesome.**

 **Req's Rec: Glass Runs Empty Clarities by MuatiniMartini**

 **QOTC: How do you believe the story will end in the epilogue?**

 **Reviews~**

 **Ziggymia123-It's up to your interpretation whether or not Ayano is truly alive. Oh, I sure hope the ending is good. I haven't ended a project as big as this one before so I'm kinda...very worried. They caused it so the masses won't rebel against their despair overlords. Well, Kaneshiro is still alive.**

 **RioA-FUCK**

 **AnonChan1-Here's the suffering! Despair!Yasu now is like screw the True Despairs, I'll make my Despair Bunny Cult somewhere else. You know perfectly well what he needs that collar for. ;) I'm a horrible person and going to Hell. Hayato is still somehow alive so there's that. It always sucks for poor Hayato. It's awful and I'm a horrible person for writing it *continues to write it.* Ayano doesn't exist in the Afterlife Theatre. Thanks so much~ And now people are going to be like NO BIG DAMN HEROES! GO SAVE THE WORLD INSTEAD GUYS! Mochi is hurt but still alive. Here's more meta. Mochi has come out of hiding and has gotten hurt. Poor boy. He deserves all the carrots in the world for this. Seriously, Mochi is such a good boy and I love him. We're all traumatized and in severe need of therapy. Especially these kids. And especially _especially_ Yasu.**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-They tried. And they failed.**

 **Reviews for the April Fools special~**

 **Scissor-Snipper-Of course, it's canon. Horses can sing Britney Spears in this universe confirmed. Yes, they were on a TV show and then it turns out that this whole story is one. That is totally what it means. McCOMMITTEE IS HERE! Clearly, Baby Req predicted this story before the original Danganronpa had even come out. Baby Req can tell the future.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-And, you see here, this review shows that Baby Req planned all of this to happen. But not only Baby Req but actually Baby Req. Req came out of the womb and immediately thought of this story. Everything has been planned, even the exact characters you guys have sent me. It's all one big conspiracy!**


	79. Finale

**Finale: Heaven Knows**

 **(Due to Fanfiction weirdness, the last chapter didn't register as an update so please make sure to read that one first. But it was worth it for April Fools. Totally worth it.)**

* * *

Although the result with Yasu is not what we personally wanted, it is better than them being on their side. Now we especially have a chance. There is only two of them and all of us. These odds could make us able to get out of here. Yasu has a much higher chance of recovery if we have them take some kind of therapy.

"Do you guys need help or something up there?" the girl asks. I have no idea whether or not she is trustworthy. Is this the Madoka girl that was mentioned before? If she isn't, I have no idea who else she could be. Everything about her only causes me to question her more.

"Oh, the guest of honor is finally here!" Junko exclaims. Wait, what? Not only did this girl come out of literally nowhere, apparently she was important to the plot that they have created all this time. There must be more going on in the bigger picture. Of course, we are important to their plan, but that does not mean we even know remotely any of it besides apparently this TV show. The Master has to be some sort of twisted genius to come up with all of this with not anybody, including Izuru Kamukura, noticing.

"That's no fun! I thought we were considering you went through all this effort to fuck us up in the head!" Yasu complains. The new girl glances around the room some more.

"Please don't tell us we've to deal with crazy Yasu on our side now. You know what, I'm just gonna call you...Despasu," Hotaru sighs after awkwardly laughing. For the time being, we have no other choice. Yasu is our friend and we will not leave them behind. Abandoning our friends will cause us to be exactly like the Despairs. Kaneshiro killed Akemi for nothing more than a sick thrill. His friend that was already marked for death.

"We really should wrap this up. There's a premiere we shouldn't miss." Kaneshiro begins to try to walk out of the room, but Izuru and Hanami both come down from the ceiling. Hanami has a rough landing, yet, other than that, both of them are completely fine.

"I will not let you get out of here," Izuru states. He and Hanami both take out knives and point them at Kaneshiro and Junko. They only smile.

"You really should be more careful with who you trust, Izuru. It's said that you're heartless but they couldn't be any further from the truth. Your old age has left you soft and stupid." All of us look around yet nothing is happening. We must be on our guard then. Taking a breather for even a millisecond in this situation could cost us our lives. Now that the trial is over, Kaneshiro and Junko have no need for any of us. I am surprised that they have not decided to mass execute us all already. That must mean they have another plan for us. The big question, however, is what?

"Premiere? Didn't you already broadcast the game to the whole world already?" Hanami questions them. Perhaps they mean something else? After all, with this supposedly being turned into a series, they might already be starting filming for the next one. But they got to have something planned for the lack of Ultimates available. Except if the Committee plans to accept more Ultimates, they will lose numbers quite quickly. The two current classes have already been put into Killing Game. Although the first class had fifty, with the numbers of these games, they would not last long. And the second class only had around ten known students. Plus, if they kill everybody talented enough to be an Ultimate too quickly, there would not be enough people in the world with extraordinary talent to make a venture like Hope's Peak profitable.

"Oh, you actually believed that. That was shown to our test audiences! Thanks for all the new Despairs. Did you really think we would show the Killing Game to the world when we haven't completed the final Trial!? We still got to execute one of the survivors. Then we manipulate the footage to make it look like they were the killer and mastermind all this time! It's easy with so many Ultimates on our side!" We should have thought of that. The amount of times that the Despairs have lied to us is too many for even me to keep count. Nothing that they say can be counted as fact.

But it makes sense as well. Junko was only saying that to get under our skin. We should have demanded her to show us the evidence. Even though Kaneshiro is a big factor in the plot that they created, it would not surprise me if they somehow find a way to delete him. Especially if they have Ultimates like editor, scriptwriters, voice actors, etcetera. Though, with the brainwashing, people would probably stop caring about if the plot makes sense or not. All they will eventually care about is that events go the way that they are planned. Playing this trial only helped play into the hands of Kaneshiro and Junko. We should have decided to rebel against them as we did before. Yet, because of our failure, the fate of the series rests in the hands of the children of the future. There has to be a way that 'Team Dangan Ronpa' slips up. Now, though, we have to deal with the consequences of our failure.

"Um, what?"

"Madoka, we don't have time to fill you in. You just have to trust us," Hanami says. So that girl is Madoka, good to know. Madoka nods her head in agreement. She too has a knife pointed to them now.

"Execute me! Or else I'm just gonna do...I don't know." Yasu pouts.

"No, that would not make sense," Kaneshiro replies. "It has to be either Hayato or Hotaru."

Of course, Kaneshiro would do something like this. Both of us have been a major pain for him during this part of the Killing Game. And it would be easy to frame us for being the mastermind as well. Kaneshiro and Junko must have been planning Hotaru to be suspicious which is why they planted all of those fake clues about her actually being dead. There is also the deal with me killing two of their precious characters without facing an execution. Although they have tried to execute me twice, I am somehow still alive. A lot of people have to find that suspicious.

"We're not gonna let ourselves be executed, assholes!" With the podium in her sight, Hotaru rushes to it. Kaneshiro tries to get to it before her but Hotaru surprises us all with being the first there. Hotaru has a brilliant idea. Due to the limitations of the real world, they cannot activate anything dealing with the execution without pressing the button to trigger it all. I hurry over there as well. Yasu does not do anything with the three members of the rescue team try to circle around Kaneshiro and Junko with their weapons.

"You honestly don't think you pose as any sort of threat with those, don't you?" With a snap of her fingers, Izuru and Hanami are both in chains again. "Of course, those won't hold you for that long now that you know the way out. But we just need some time." She snaps her fingers again and both of them are covered with even more chains. Junko does this four more times. Kaneshiro has a button in his hands every time. They could have perfectly programmed everything into a button like that one but I guess they wanted to do it the old-fashioned way.

Kaneshiro tries to get past Hotaru but she defends the throne with everything she has. I look over to Mochi, who is injured but looks like he is going to be okay. Nobody is paying attention to him again which is a good thing. That is when I join in with Hotaru. Yasu is still watching us in the distance like they are analyzing everything.

"Kaneshiro can deal with that." Junko lays on the floor, staring directly at Izuru and Hanami. She yawns as Kaneshiro glares at her. With him trying to get closer again, Hotaru and I both kick him away. He could easily use the chains against us but decides not to. If us fighting back against him is part of the plan, we will still continue because we will not back down. Perhaps he will use this as footage to paint both of us as the masterminds.

"Yasu! Help us goddamit!" Hotaru shouts. Kaneshiro is going easy on us for a reason. Both of us know that if he really tried, Kaneshiro would beat us in a matter of seconds, no matter how hard we try. But Yasu has always been the one that saved us all from danger.

* * *

This is starting to get boring. Whoever watches this TV show and has fun needs to be taught a lesson or two in the art of torture. That girl Madoka stares at me like I'm a creature that ate her family. And that's just rude.

 _Kid, you need to help them._

The annoying voice in my head won't go away. Honestly, I rather hear Junko rant on and on about how anime boys than this. Maybe I should just leave. It's clear that I've no purpose here. But what would I do? Of course, I love my darling Atsuto, but, for some weird ass reason, he thinks that this Team Dangan Ronpa is a good idea. People are going to get old of it fast. Though, if the brainwashing works as intended, then they'll just be braindead zombies or something of the sort. Could be argued the whole world is enslaved right now by the Committee.

 _Who cares about that? You need to help them! Help them! Mochi is in danger too!_

Why is this voice so overwhelming? Will it just shut up? I need to find a way to show the world fun! The easiest would be to die, but everybody is taking that away from me. It sucks. Could a girl finally get some death around here? They could easily frame me as the mastermind! Be like, oh, she was keeping them alive for her own plans, and there was this other mastermind. You know, what actually happened. But with a lot less Kirigiri buzzkill.

 _I won't allow myself to do that! I've...I've to stop this!_

Yeah, I should just leave. Perhaps find some poor brainwashed souls and show them the truth behind pleasure. This isn't about hope and despair anymore. Now those are just buzzwords people throw around to make themselves feel better. You know what, it truly wasn't ever about hope and despair, everybody was just deluding themselves, hiding away from the truth. It's all about nothingness and whatever goes against it. Whatever, I don't care. I need to teach the True Despairs about their very own name.

 _ **NO!**_

* * *

 _"I won't allow you!" Yasu grabs onto me. But I don't care for them. In whatever this realm is supposed to be, I guess the mind or something, I just continue to pick my flowers. Loves me, loves me not, the same kind of bullshit. I really need to figure out something else to do with all of these flowers. Considering this is the mind, anything is possible._

 _"Loves me, loves me not~"_

 _"I'm going back!" Yasu then tackles me, tears in their eyes. They punch me in the face but it's pathetic. Not even enough force to make me feel any sort of pain. And what's the fun of fighting without delicious pain? "Despair isn't fun. It's stressful! Death doesn't end suffering either! I was wrong!"_

 _"Whatever-"_

 _"I'm not gonna let anybody control me anymore! You're just another part of my mind! That means I can easily take control of you!" Not like I care. It would actually be more fun in here with that bullshit going on outside. Maybe I can summon a Ferris wheel of death somehow. Maybe I can execute myself in here. It wouldn't kill me but it's better than living out my days working on some damn TV show. I'm an engineer, not a cameraman._

 _"Whatever floats your boat, kid. Just remember to have fun. But I'm not your mom so why am I going on about this bullshit?" It's not my fault that all this shit happened. I felt like a..seventh or something wheel. And ain't nobody wanna be stuck in that role. Except if that's how they get despair or some shit. Then you do you._

 _Yasu grins._

 _"Hey, depressed little shit, what bought this on? I thought you just accepted me torturing everything you ever loved." They might not be despair anymore but not any of those annoying hope bullshit. It's all propaganda. I mean, Yasu thinks the same way. We're one of the same after all. There's no shitty reasoning that can disprove that fact. And honestly, why waste your time thinking of one? After all, you could have fun not thinking! Let the chaos take control of your mind!_

 _"I remembered something," Yasu responds. "_ I love you the way you are now _." That idiot. Yasu whispers but literally that has no point. I'm literally inside their mind. They can't hide anything from me._

 _"You're a real goddamn idiot. Haha, I look forward to seeing you fall into despair yet again! Know that I'm always here now, and it's all your fault."_

* * *

Goddammit, remind me to not fall into the dark recesses of insanity inside my own mind ever again. I can't believe I'm weak enough to do something like that. Actually, I can. Now I'm yet again another doll for Kaneshiro to control. Or that's what I'm supposed to think. It's stupid to think I can actually do something to save them all yet there is a chance. Mochi needs me to be quick.

Everybody is focused on something else. Makes sense, I'm not exactly somebody that deserves attention. The first thing is to make my way over to Mochi. He is not overly hurt this time around. Seeing me, Mochi perks up. Still, don't understand why he likes me so much. I try to put him into the toolbox. Just realized that I don't have it anymore. Mochi stares at me before running off. That's the best for now. I'm too useless to properly protect him.

Junko then notices me. She only smiles at me. Meanwhile, Madoka, Hotaru, and Hayato are all fighting Kaneshiro. Well, Madoka is on the sidelines. But this is finally a chance for me to show myself I'm not useless! I've caused too much pain to just run away!

 _Cause your own death. Good idea. I love how fun that idea is~_

Junko's grin almost causes me to stop. Yet I can't let other people control my life anymore! I take off my shoes and throw them to the side. The gloves join them. Tearing the bottom of this goddamn dress, I use it to whip off the makeup. It's not a good job but I don't care.

I run to Kaneshiro. My hands grab onto his long hair and pull him down. Don't know how I did that. Probably adrenaline. I'm gonna regret this. He's gonna beat the absolute shit out of me. But that doesn't stop me from ripping the goddamn wig off my head. That hurt but whatever.

"Fuck you."

"Aw, look at that! Redemption! The viewers would love this! Lovers going against each other because that's just the way things have to be!" Junko yells. Hotaru and Hayato stare at me. Stop it, I don't like that. That beats the dumbfounded face that Kaneshiro is giving me. Like, kid, you must have known something like this would have happened. "Another hopeful idiot to sacrifice to the masses!"

"I'm not for hope or despair, kids! It's not all just one or the other! There's in-between!" I remark. "All this game it's been hope this or despair that! I'm sick of it! I'm making my own path away from all of you!" This is stupid. How can somebody like me even do such a thing? But there has to be a way to stop this! Hope has only continued the cycle. The world isn't black and white. Not all hope is good. Not all despair is evil. Though these Despairs are certainly very evil. Like when Hayato was despair. Sure, he killed people. But he did it for a selfless goal. That shows that believing all people in despair are pure evil is just childish. This isn't a Disney movie. None of this would have happened in that utopia. There's no dragon to slay to save the princess. Only a cruel world that wants to do nothing but eat you alive. To consume you into its sick, twisted philosophy.

Kaneshiro tries to get to me. But I won't allow that to happen anymore. For the sake of Atsuto. It's naive to think such thoughts. Yet a part of me still thinks that he loved me somewhere deep down in his cold, wicked heart. I go over to Hotaru and Hayato. They both smile at me. Hotaru gives me a quick hug before backing away.

"You're right! I'm so sick of this!" Hotaru shouts.

"Although hope is valuable to this world, none of us can truly walk down that road anymore," Hayato adds-on. We all grab hands. It's so weird being in the middle of these two again. I don't deserve to be here with what I've done. But both Hayato and Hotaru have made similar mistakes. We're all flawed people just trying to survive. Doing it badly but somehow have made it out alive. And we're not going to let some bullshit kill one of us now after all of this suffering!

"We won't follow your lead anymore!" Hotaru, Hayato, and I exclaim. We don't have to follow the path others have walked before us. We're our own people. This is probably a stupid decision. It would be safer to be hope or despair. But maybe the truth lies somewhere in-between. A neutral party of sorts.

"This wasn't expected. It doesn't matter anymore, however." Kaneshiro backs away from us. That ain't good.

"Hm. Guess we gotta use that plan then. There's no way we'll allow this to happen~" Junko and Kaneshiro just stay there. Great plan guys.

 _Well, that's how they've fun. By doing nothing. Really they should join the nothingness fad. It suits them. Or just die. That works as well._

"We've to be careful," Madoka says. She moves toward us. Her knife still pointed by Kaneshiro and Junko.

"Yeah...kid..." Fuck, this isn't the time. Yet I'm unable to control myself. I fall to the ground harshly before I fall asleep. Ow.

 _Let's do that again!_

* * *

It is inconvenient to have Yasu pass out now, but it is good that they are on our side again. Yasu seems to pass out whenever it would hurt them or us the most. There has to now escape this situation safely without anybody being hurt. Though, with my experience, I know situations like these have a bad habit of turning out poorly no matter what happens. We need to think outside the box so Junko and Kaneshiro would not predict our actions. However, this might prove difficult, as both of them are rather apt of deciphering the psychology of a human's mind. They both know a lot about us as well, for it can be concluded that Junko's AI was watching us the entire game. Although we can do something that we will not normally do, they might predict that. Now the best course of action is stall until Hanami and Izuru free themselves again. I might still not completely trust either of them, yet those two have the only reliable way to safely get out of the headquarters.

"Do you honestly think that this will work? You can still stop!" I plead. My words are nothing but pretty lies.

"It's way too late to turn back now," Kaneshiro replies. "Other than that, this will help the world. Nobody would fight against each other, they will be too focused bonding over Dangan Ronpa!" That is honestly absurd. Even if everybody in the world gets brainwashed into a state of nothingness, humanity will still find a way to start a war. But this time it would only be a senseless slaughter. Everybody would know the truth but not care. What a depressing reality to be forced to be a part of. Humans would be nothing other than mindless drones. Can somebody in that state be truly considered alive?

"The world would be such a better place if the only thing people fought over would be whose best boy and girl? Which character is waifu or husbando material?"

"What!? You can't brainwash the whole world! What about the countries that don't have access to TV?" Hotaru's eyes water as she places Yasu on the throne.

"We'll spread our empire to make it spread everywhere, silly! Did you really think we would forget something as important as that?" They must have planned this for years. With the number of eyes they have in the Committee, which I predict to be many if their lenient nature with Kotori is secretly the norm, them predicting their plans would be easy. The Committee is just a figurehead for the Despairs...or should I say Team Dangan Ronpa...How far the Committee has fallen from the days they basically had the world in the palm of their hands. Fame must have gotten to their heads, so much that they did not realize they were being manipulated the whole time.

"Enough with this talk, we should continue onward. We don't have the most amount of time in the world." Kaneshiro stares directly at me. Immediately, I only focus on him. He is planning something and I do not like it one bit.

"You can't give us that attitude after all the shit you put us through!" Hotaru shouts at him. She is using her body to shield Yasu. A part of me wonders where Mochi is but that is not the main concern right now.

"Oh, yes I can. But you should really pay more attention to your surroundings." Before I could question what he means, I feel this sudden pain near my stomach. I realize it is about the same place that I shot Kyoto. Looking down, I see there is now a knife impaled into me. That is when the wound painfully registers, with me falling onto the ground and screaming. The bleeding has to stop or else I could not have a lot of time left. I did not make it this far to die so easily. A part of me wants to remove the knife, but that will only worsen the bleeding and cause me to die.

Another wave of pain registers. I have almost forgotten that I was tortured earlier that day. My mind is slowly going away, deluded by the pain. Dripping out of my body like my blood.

"Hayato! What the fuck, Madoka!?" Hotaru screams. I cannot see what she is doing. Much like Yasu, I could not control myself from falling unconscious.

* * *

This is bad. Madoka has gone coo coo for cocoa puffs and literally everybody else on my side is currently out of the picture. Did I hurt God somehow in my past life? I see Madoka trying to press the button but nope, I'm not gonna allow that to happen. If I'm gonna die, I'm gonna do so fighting with everything I got.

It's hard to fight in a goddamn dress. Maybe I should've ripped mine into pieces but too late for that now. Doesn't help that Madoka is now covered in Hayato's blood. Now some of it is on me. That's disgusting. Madoka slams into me. I try my best to hold her onto the ground with me so she can't press the goddamn button.

"Lights. So many lights. The lights call for my name. But I'm unable to answer. They call louder and louder. Yet nothing is there." Well, isn't that a little creepy? It's almost like Madoka has badly memorized lines of a mediocre play. Her eyes are blank and lifeless. They're strangely somehow a shade of grey. Not even gonna question how anything that happens with the eyes in this world is scientifically plausible. Especially because my eyes are now a lovely shade of red.

"Nice poetry. Now explain what the Hell you think you're doing!" Madoka kicks me. I grunt as I try to catch her again. Goddammit, it sucks waking up after a coma. The only thing I manage to do is grab her legs. She is so close to the button but cannot touch because of me. Serves you right bitch.

"I wonder how this will turn out~" Junko laughs. Neither Junko or Kaneshiro do anything. And Hanami and Izuru are too busy being useless again. Guess it's actually totally up to me. Time to get my ass kicked in style.

"That is the light! The light in the darkness! The light the darkness must obey!" Madoka shakes me off. She looks directly at me with those goddamn despair eyes. Goddammit, that must be why she was gone for so long. The Despairs managed to get to her. The Master got to her so quickly. That bitch is freaking me out and I've no idea how she is like. I don't even know if she is truly a girl! For all I know, it's a trap! Lying about the gender of their supposed leader would make people have a harder time figuring out who it is. And I know that the Despairs are all the smartest dumbasses in the world.

"What in the world are you going on about?" I reach up to her again yet she pushes me away. There must be a way to stop this bullshit from happening.

"Don't do it!" Hanami and Izuru free themselves. Madoka only hesitates for a second. And then she presses the button. Fuck.

"This is for my mother," Madoka cries. Her eyes are back to normal. There seems to be a second prompt of sorts. Who knew pressing a button prompted more buttons. Don't know what's going on with that. Everybody prepares for the worse except for the members of Team Dangan Ronpa (whatever Dangan Ronpa is supposed to mean). No point of going against her now. I want to see if Hayato is still alive so go up to him. He still has a pulse and is breathing, but if his ass isn't taken to a hospital soon, he's done for.

That is when a chain wrapped its way around Junko's neck. Kaneshiro tries to take it off but Junko does not seem to mind.

"Oh."

* * *

 **Plan Over**

 **Ayano has been found guilty by the court of Monokuma**

 **TIME FOR PUNISHMENT!**

* * *

Junko is placed on a starting line. Behind her, a lot of sets prepare themselves, one after another. Once the shock wears off, Junko begins to laugh. Her eyes turn into pure black for the first time in her existence.

Kaneshiro looks in dismay. Hanami and Izuru try to get them but keep failing. He grabs Hayato and points a knife at his throat.

"If you don't watch, I'll kill him right now!" Kaneshiro's eyes swirl as he realizes there's no way to stop this. Sucks to be you, you sick son of a bitch.

That moment she arrives on the first set. It's a chessboard with two stages on the sides. Oh goddammit, don't tell me that's what is gonna happen. Junko might be the one completely in control right now, with no hope of Ayano ever existing ever again, but it's still messed up seeing her body go through this. These people will pay for what they've done. For everything.

 **The True Ultimate Punishment!**

 **Ultimate Hacker Ayano Kamukura's Execution: EXECUTED**

Junko goes through the motions fastly of that execution, somehow avoiding death every possible way. The pieces try to get her but Junko easily blocks them. With the Monokumas, she gets on one of their heads and avoids them by jumping on all of them. She willingly goes on one of the stages and steals the mic from one of the Monokumas currently performing. The girl headbangs harshly as everything falls apart around her. Before the stage can crush her, Junko jumps off. She is about to make a perfect landing as another chain wraps around her neck and drags her away.

Next thing she knows, Junko is placed in a car. Cutout figures of everybody that died, including Ayano herself, line up the road. Junko decides to be a bitch and purposefully runs into them all. Then she smiles as she runs the car off the road. When the door to the second part of the execution appears, Junko pops her head in for one second. She then slams the door and skips away. Monokuma tries to take her in but she refuses. That's when more chains wrap around her neck. She looks bored when she is dragged away yet again.

Junko is placed into the murder mystery room from Namita's execution. There are robots of Kazuhiko and myself. Great to know they're still trying to convince everybody that I'm dead. She quickly murders the robots. That was easy. The floor opens up to reveal the whole weird five slide gimmick thing. Junko grabs onto the door handle and hangs, balancing herself on one of the sides but making sure to not let go. That is when she opens the door. The moment she walks into the other room, it shuts after her.

Losing her balance like a dumbass, or perhaps doing it on purpose (you can never know with this crazy bitch), Junko lands on a spinning wheel of death. Monokuma throws a lot of needles at her but none of them hit. The floor opens up yet again to the morgue. A lot of other Monokumas try to get her yet Junko just shakes them off and leaves. There is only one way out of the room, especially with the freaky Monokumas now coming after her, down an old elevator. Junko steps inside and cheers when it detaches and falls freestyle. She walks out of the elevator, still with no injuries. That bitch is untouchable. It pisses me the fuck off. Monokuma then appears and tries to shoot Junko. However, the gun jams, so Junko takes it from him. She then shoots him in the face again. Now she's definitely dead.

This time a robot hand comes to take Junko away. She then dropped on a twisted obstacle course. The hand picks up an oversized needle and chases Junko with it. Without a care in the world, Junko skips away from any sort of danger. However, the hand drops the needle and Junko allows herself to be pushed inside an oven. Then the obstacle course morphs to something even more messed up. I can't believe somebody on their team actually thought up all of this shit. Junko runs out the moment it ends. Many things try to kill her yet she dodges them through dancing. The ballet is beautiful but I shouldn't think that way about Junko. Right before the acid bath, Junko stops and backs off. She whistles as the chains take her away once again.

Lastly, Junko is placed on a converter belt, with the shoes being stuck to the sticky paper below. She begins to wave her hand like a supermodel (oh wait, wasn't she a model before all the destroy the world business?). The block comes closer and closer. Junko could perfectly fight against it but chooses not to. Bam. Doesn't even bat an eye. But, right before it crushes her, everything stops. Tears fall from her eyes as she lowers her hand.

"I'm so sorry for being so weak," Ayano tells us. "I love you all."

"Ayano!" Not caring about anything, I drop Hayato on the floor. I cannot just watch from the screens anymore. My legs force myself to go to the execution viewing room. Pounding on the fence separating us, I get Ayano's attention. She turns to face me. Everything is shaking. What am I supposed to do in this situation? This is supposed to be a good end! Defeating Junko is good! Junko could just be fucking playing me! But I don't fucking care!

"Hotaru! I love you!" Forcing my arm into one of the tiny slots, I try to reach Ayano. She is way too far away but I don't care. Ayano reaches out to me as well. We are worlds apart yet I can still feel her warmth.

"Goodbye." That moment, the floor opens underneath her as the block almost crushes her. I stare in horror as chains follow her down. Right before she hits the ground, the chain tightens around her neck. Ayano or Junko or whatever starts to struggle against the chain. She looks in horror as other chains come from the other sides, grabbing a hold of her arms and legs. The Monokumas in the audience below starts to throw rocks at her. And that is when the chains start to pull slowly and painfully. Ayano cries out in pain. I try to break down the fence but it's impossible in my current condition. I fall on my knees.

Then Ayano is torn into pieces.

* * *

 _ **Ayano Kamukura, the Ultimate Hacker, the embodiment of despair, has been executed.**_

* * *

I make my way back to the room. Everything sucks but we still got to get out of here. It's what Ayano would've wanted. Though I come back to a certain scene. Kaneshiro is almost out of the door with Hanami, Izuru, and a now awake Yasu staring at him in horror. Madoka is still at the throne, mumbling something I can't understand to herself with despair eyes.

Of course, the most important thing is that Kaneshiro is holding Hayato hostage with a knife to his throat.

"Hotaru, glad you came. You see, I've got a deal to make." Kaneshiro opens the door. Beyond it, there are hundreds of Despairs aimed at us with machine guns, bombs, grenades, and the like. This is not a good situation at all. We need to get out of here for Ayano's sake.

"Just let me kill you, alright?" What is up with Hanami and trying to kill him? Is it some weird romance thing? If that's how normal people express love, then I'm glad I'm at least a little bit insane. Ayano and I would have done not normal romance things. Don't know what exactly. Never thought I would actually fall in love before. It was only something that existed in fairy tales before all this happened. Goddammit.

"That is not how it works-"

"I won't let you trigger any of your talents, Izuru. Here's the deal. We let all of you go if you allow us to have Hayato." What the fuck. He can't seriously think we'll do this. We have been through so much together. Leaving him behind right now would only cause more misery. Hayato doesn't deserve to rot with the Despairs.

"What's the catch, kid?" Yasu asks. They look like they can fall over any second. Hiding behind them is Mochi, who poops on the floor. Rabbit poops are strangely adorable.

"The catch is the despair of leaving your precious friend behind. There's no other way out but death. Would you really kill the world hope over simple ideals?" Kaneshiro questions all of us.

"Please...go..." Hayato somehow is awake again. Maybe because of something like sheer will power.

"We can't just leave you behind!" Yasu shouts. I agree with them. Hayato is our friend. And leaving him to the wolves is just an asshole thing to do. Gosh, Hayato would be thinking about different escape plans right now. He's losing a lot of blood so he has to be not in his right mind. Nothing has been done to address his increasingly worsening wound.

"Are you sure about this, Hayato?" Izuru questions him. Weakly, Hayato nods his head. Everything about this feels so cheap! But that's just the way Kaneshiro has always been. Using logical loopholes to do whatever he feels like. I look forward to the day that we meet again so I can punch his stupid face in.

"We're not doing this! There's no way we're leaving him-"

"I'll kill you one day, Kazuma. I swear." Before Yasu and I can react, I feel a sudden pain. And then, like so many times before darkness. It's gotten to the point that darkness is far more common than light.

* * *

Coming to, I see that Yasu, Madoka, and I are all handcuffed to the seats of a car. Madoka is in the middle while Yasu and I are seated on the sides. Mochi is placed in a cage near Yasu's feet. He is currently trying to find a way out. Those bitches must have really left Hayato behind to save their own skin. We could have found a way. Hanami is the one driving, going way over the speed limit, with Izuru keeping an eye on us. The car seems to be an SUV of some kind.

"I see you are awake. We are sorry for what we have done. You will be released after we reach a safe area," Izuru tells me. His voice is cold and detached. Like he hadn't just seen his daughter be brutally murdered right in front of him.

"Bastard." Looking out the windows, I see something odd. Everything is stopped in the busy, overly crowded streets of Kyoto. All the cars are parked. Some of them over other people, slowly dying but focused on whatever it is in front of them. Their eyes are all red and dead. Doing nothing but staring at the huge screen in the middle of the center.

"Name's Hotaru Amemori. I'm what they call the Ultimate Dart Thrower. I look forward to being friends. That's what the cool kids do." I look so different there. Like I haven't seen so much shit. I've lost way too much weight. Only if I could tell that person now what would have happened. Maybe I could've stopped all this shit. Really, I should've suspected Kaneshiro was behind something like that. And, you know, not decide to charge a door.

"Are you trying to be brainwashed!? Look away!" Hanami shouts as she quickly turns another corner. Don't know why she was paying attention to me when her eyes should be on the road. I do as she says. Looking behind me, I see the reason why Hanami is going so fast. We're being chased by two other cars. They should've known there was a catch to a deal like this.

"You should've listened to us! Now Hayato is all alone with those monsters! They're probably gonna kill him!" I yell.

"Hotaru, listen to us, there was no other way out of there. Kaneshiro would have killed us all if we decided to go against his wishes. We need to build up our personnel and resources so we can have another rescue mission." They must really be hurting for members if their rescue party is this small. Or maybe they were dumbasses and think to have this number of personnel on the mission was a good idea. So now millions of people will be horribly brainwashed. Yippee.

"Look how much good that has gotten you! Your daughter is fucking dead because you didn't save us sooner-"

"Do you think I do not know that? Do you really think this is all easy for me?" Izuru snaps. A single tear drops from his eye. However, he fixes himself quickly. "Sorry for the outburst, we promise that we will deliver Yasu and yourself to one of our safe houses shortly."

Izuru moves to the back. He then punches me. Guess that is how I got knocked out the first time. What a drag to go through this yet again.

* * *

Those kids really need to learn how to treat people better. I know they're older than me but it should be obvious by now that we are all children on the face of this Earth. That got strangely philosophical for a moment there.

And now I see we're surrounded by forest again. That's just what a worthless person like myself wants to see. I might have spent all this time in one but I still know no survival skills. Because I'm not smart enough to think up something like that. Instead of researching that, I was rereading the Wheel of Time series for the hundredth time. Mochi ate some of the pages yet nobody else needs to know about it. Though everybody is since they're showing it to the whole world!

 _For all you know, you're entering the game again. Or still in a simulation. Imagine how fun it would be to go through it again just to die from something stupid like being stung by a bee or eaten alive by a hippo._

But Mochi is here. He doesn't like the cage. Mochi still hasn't figured out my toolbox is a cage for him. Because he needs to learn how to be a well-trained bunny before he goes free roam. He's my precious angel but he still tries to chew every cord he sees.

"You're finally awake, Yasu. Just in time for us to arrive," Izuru says. Still can't believe they left Hayato behind. Why not do it to somebody worthless like me? I might've 'broken' out of despair but that's bullshit.

"Good, because this has been the second time I've woken up." Hotaru is mad as well. And why did I just realize we're in handcuffs. Knew it. I'm too weak to hold back my despair.

 _Oh, but it's alright being weak! That way you can be the plaything of the rich and powerful!_

We then stop. Looking beyond, I see a small cabin hidden by all of the trees. It's a small, cozy one but lonely.

Hanami stops the car. She gets out with Izuru and opens our doors. Then they unlock the both of us. Madoka is left there, still out of it. Despair is such an awful thing. I don't know how somebody like me was able to break out of it when far more important people fall into it for their entire life.

"Here's the map of how to get out. Everything you need has been supplied," Hanami states. Izuru goes to the trunk and pulls out two bags. "We got some of your valuables. Please, if anything goes wrong, call us using this phone." She places a phone that looks like a brick in Hotaru's hands. Only if I had my toolbox. But the Despairs probably still have it. The only thing that made me worth a damn has been taken away from me.

"Your families expressed that they did not want to see you." Izuru's words don't surprise me. My father doesn't want to deal with how much of a failure his child turned out to be. Guess Hotaru's family are pieces of shit too.

"We've to go. So sorry about leaving you. But everything is in disarray. Plus, we need to place Madoka somewhere safe." With that, Hanami and Izuru get back into their black SUV. They go speeding down the only pathway.

Listening, I can actually hear the sounds of the forest. None of that eerie silence. It's full of life and growth, not misery and death.

"What do we do now?" Hotaru asks me. It's a good question. I never truly thought about what would happen next after everything. A part of me hoped that everything would just go away. But my stupid self should have realized that isn't how this cruel world works.

"We work, kid."

A bird chirps in the distance.

And for the first time in my life, I don't know why the caged bird sings.

* * *

 **OH MY GOD! ONLY THE EPILOGUE LEFT! OH MY GOD! WE ACTUALLY DID IT! WE ACTUALLY COMPLETED THIS PROJECT! OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDDD**

 **Thank you so much for being part of this journey with me. I never ended a project this long before so I don't know whether or not this is shit or not. But...OH MY GOD, WE ACTUALLY DID IT!**

 **I'm actually crying because I'm so happy right now. Thanks so much for all supporting this project. It truly means the world to me. I'm gonna say thank you so many times you'll become tired of the world.**

 **But seriously, thank you all. Without all of you, none of this would have been possible. You're truly all amazing.**

 **And seriously, my writing has improved since the beginning of this project. Although, with the audiobook comes the rewrite, where only small things will be added and I finally fix all of my glorious errors.**

 **Now that we end the error of Forest of Despair, we enter a new one... _Intro_ _Hell._ *Req screaming heard in the distance***

 **QOTC: What do you personally think of this ending? Lord knows I don't know what to think because I'm both screaming and crying right now. My poor mother is just trying to sleep in the other room. Sorry, mom.**

 **Req's Rec: Desperatio est Colosseum by tobi-is-an-artist-too**

 **Reviews~**

 **ZiggyMia123-Yes I can. ;) This twist is what created this whole series so I'm glad you liked it. Well, here's the hopefully improved version. Yippee. Because I don't know what I'm doing. Yet again, I never know what I'm doing. Oh, don't worry, you guys are gonna learn more about Madoka later. ;) Why yes, she is that protag of that unnamed project so have fun with that info. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS**

 **tobi-is-an-artist-too-NOW THIS IS EVEN MORE OF A SITUATION! Madoka was off getting brainwashed. Well, Yasu did snap out of it. I did say that this ending is bittersweet. Yasu and Hotaru are gonna find Kaneshiro's ass and save their precious princess Hayato.**


	80. Epilogue

**Epilogue: You Can't Kill Us**

* * *

Waking up, I do not know for how long I have been out. I check to see if any of my wounds are still here but, to my surprise, everything is patched up. However, I quickly become aware of my surroundings. This room is a cell yet my shackles are not on me, instead, they are resting in a corner. Everything is free but I know that is too good to be true. There has to be something more going on here. The True Despairs, or Team Dangan Ronpa, or whatever they want to be called now, would never make something that easy.

Walking to the door, I notice that it is unlocked. That is even weirder. I look around to see that I am in a cell block of some kind. There are sixteen cells just like mine but all of them are open with nothing but shackles inside. A part of me thinks that this is just some different kind of sick torture that the Team is trying. No way this is freedom, they are just trying new ways to get into my head since every one of their dumb plans fails so miserably. They should realize by now that I understand how they work. If they want me to fall into despair, nothingness, whatever else is out there, then they have to change up their strategy.

Only one door leads out of the cell block. Opening up the door, I am surprised to see that the location is not what I thought it was going to be. This is not a prison. At least this room is nice and colorful, having so many flashing reds and golds that my eyes find it hard to process. There are slot machines everywhere, along with other gambling devices that must have been created by Team Dangan Ronpa since I never have seen them before.

Navigating my way through the overwhelming colors, I notice yet another door. I open that to see that the room is completely different as well. It is like Team Dangan Ronpa could not make up their mind. This time it is some sort of meeting room. There is one other person inside, a girl. She looks to be fairly normal but one can never be too certain in these types of situations. Team Dangan Ronpa is good at hiding their depravity until it's too late to do anything. That is how they get so many innocent people under their grip, false smiles and fake promises. There is nothing they are willing to not do for the sake of their group. Well, everything but interact with the Committee or Future Foundation. Rumors are starting to spread that a new group is starting to form, yet I do not want to get my hopes up. Many different groups have formed but they have all meet the same end as the Saviors.

From what I have heard, much of the world is still rebelling against Team Dangan Ronpa. The brainwashing might be good thanks to the efforts of Kaneshiro and many like him, but it is not perfect. Getting a person away from the screen and giving them therapy seems to work way easier than they have predicted. There are still many flaws in their plans. Now other countries are starting to cut off their ties from Japan entirely if they are not related to the Committee somehow. I do not blame them since Japan has been changed into a warzone of ideologies. The stupidest thing the Committee is doing is making more Hope's Peak schools and accepting as many Ultimates as humanly possible, relying more and more on their overseas countries to fill in the seats. Somehow most of them still have not realized that this only gives Team Dangan Ronpa more fuel for these games.

"Are you just gonna stand there all day?" the girl asks. She is sitting on the far end of the massive white table in the middle of the room. The walls and floor are all the same color, a boring beige. There are many white chairs at the table yet I can tell that they are not made that well. Honestly, I will rather stand than sit in any of these.

"Hello, my name is Hayato Akimoto. It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am."

"There's no need to be so formal with me. Honestly. I'm Mbali Chukwuemeka. I know it's a mouthful so I really feel sorry already for the people that address others by using their last name or something."

Mbali has long navy blue hair and dark skin. She has red eyes that pop out instantly compared to everything else. The girl is also wearing grey, rectangle-shaped glasses over them. For her shirt, Mbali wears a light blue shirt with cut-out shoulders. Her skirt is fluffy and has three layers to it, with the three layers being grey, white, and black. Blue stockings go all the way above her knees. There is only a little amount of space between the skirt and the stockings. Grey boots go half-way up to her knees with both of them having black zippers. It takes me a second to realize she is also wearing a bracelet, one made with black and white beads that alternate.

"Alright, we should figure out what is going on here. Team Dangan Ronpa has to be planning something."

"Team Dangan Ronpa? Don't you mean the True Despairs? Are did they decide to change their name again?" Mbali asks. She gets up from her chair and straightens out her skirt.

"That is the name they are now using. They are creating..." I should have realized sooner. If this is really happening, then Team Dangan Ronpa truly is not going to quit. They are going to keep on trying and trying until they finally get what they desire. Many more possible innocents are going to be forced into these games for the sake of their twisted, misguided justice.

"What exactly? All I know is that I was trying to save your ass from a Killing Game when the Despairs captured me. Worse of all, my sister is now being forced into one of those games and I can't do shit! Please tell me I didn't get abducted just for everything to fail miserably," Mbali sighs. A part of me is impressed at the speed and efficiency that Team Dangan Ronpa is able to get out these Killing Games. But that only makes them scarier. There is a chance they are hosting way more than two games right now. For all we know, there might be hundreds, thousands even.

"Just answer me this. Are you an Ultimate? I am the Ultimate Salesman but you probably already knew that."

"Do you consider Honorary Ultimates that? If you do, then yes. I'm the Honorary Ultimate Researcher."

* * *

 **Honorary Ultimate Researcher**

 **Mbali Chukwuemeka**

* * *

"Oh no," I respond. Being stuck in yet another game is the last thing that I want right now. But there is a massive chance that is the reality of this situation. Team Dangan Ronpa will not allow me to rest. I hope at least Hotaru and Yasu are doing alright. Honestly, I do not know how much time it has been. It could have been only a couple of days since I have been captured once again, or years have gone by without me noticing.

"What?"

"I think we are in another Killing Game." With those words, Mbali goes to yet another door. It is quite simple to know where to go in here since it seems all the room but the cell block have only two doors. Beyond that door is a gym with fifteen other people there, an equal amount of boys and girls. They all look unique, just like us, something right out of an anime. Or at least I believe that is what Mirabilis called those weird cartoons.

"Look, the last two have finally arrived! Now you kids can finally get the message that you have been waiting for. Welcome to Final Dangan Ronpa 5: Monokuma Returns. Just in case you haven't figured it out yet, that's me! Your headmaster! Now have fun killing each other! This will hopefully be my best class ever~"

All I want to do is scream.

* * *

Everything about this sucks. Turns out the Future Foundation visited us again without telling us beforehand. The Future Foundation really is starting to get on my nerves. Who thought it was a good idea to hide us out in the forest after everything we have gone through? Seriously, that person should be fired. Yasu is still out getting supplies. They said I should bond to Mochi more or something, so I'm stuck looking out for the rabbit that somehow survived better than all of us. This rabbit is the only living thing in that game that was not bent to Kaneshiro's will. He was supposed to die sometime, don't know exactly when but maybe when Yasu got shot or fell into despair, yet he's still here. Chopping away at his greens. I guess rabbit feet are really that lucky. Rabbits can still be brainwashed from the information we have gathered but Mochi is still himself.

The cabin that the Future Foundation gave us isn't half bad, though it doesn't have that much stuff in it. Guess they didn't really have the time or resources to further design the place. Everything is in one room beside the bathroom. There is a kitchen, living area, and bed space. Yasu and I have two separate beds, with me taking the red one and Yasu the green. In the living area, there is only really a couch and bookshelf. Well, there used to be a TV, but once we turned it on and it immediately showed us footage of the third trial. We decided to throw it outside and destroy it. Oops. Other than that, the kitchen is really just a normal kitchen, just with a litterbox and pen for Mochi. Really the cabin is boring yet it's all we got in this new fucked up world. God, neither of us are even adults yet to our knowledge but we gotta go through this shit.

"Mochi, I'm back," Yasu announces as they enter through our cabin through the window of all things. Sometimes Yasu still does the weirdest shit. By this point, I've just learned how to not question it.

Yasu now wears a new outfit (I am as well but I think both of those are a given). We both burned the outfits that the Despairs forced us into. Of course, that was after spending way too much time sleeping and enjoying an actually warm shower and actually clean clothes. And there's the fact that this goddamn forest has sound! We spent a lot of time reading about basic survival because who knows when this living situation of ours will get fucked up. Getting too comfortable will only cause us to eventually die. This is the reality of the world that we live in. We cannot ever get too comfortable since both the Committee and Despairs probably want us dead. Wouldn't be surprised if the Committee thinks we have something to do with the brainwashing. The Despairs could have edited the footage to make it so that we supposedly agree with the ideals of the Despairs. Sure, their name now is Team Dangan Ronpa, but that sounds so stupid. Of all of the possible names, why did they choose that one? Then again, their name used to be the 72s or something, so I just think the Master or whoever is just bad at naming things. Or maybe they do it on purpose.

Well, Yasu nows wears a white t-shirt with red outlines. Their hair has grown out since our time in the game and we do not yet know where the scissors are so, for now, they have to deal with their hair being to their shoulders. They wear grey cargo pants with red outlines as well and red pockets to match. Yasu wears red tennis shoes with black laces, along with black socks. We have not yet found anything to act as their toolbox so all the tools they find go into the pockets. Sadly, the pockets don't have the endless abyss of their toolbox.

As for I, my hair is still the same boring grey but now I got red highlights. Yippee. My hair is no longer short, being about half way down my back now. Doesn't surprise me, my hair has always grown quickly. And what's really weird is that my eyes are now reddish-blue. I wear a black tank top with a...black cropped vest...jacket...whatever thing. Honestly, I just thought this looked cute even though I have no idea what it is. And there are red outlines too. Guess that's Yasu and I's thing now. I found another cute miniskirt even though I now wear short shorts underneath it. Though the thought of thousands, if not millions, of people seeing my underwear, makes me want to throw up. This skirt has a design that I don't know what it is again so screw it, hope it ain't some secret Despair pattern. I also found this cool long red gloves. Don't know why all of this was in a cabin but I ain't gonna question it. Lastly, I found some cool red boots. Really, I don't know whether or not this looks good or not, but nobody is here to judge me. Yasu literally can't give less of a shit.

"Am I chopped liver?" I ask them.

"Yes." Yasu sticks their tongue out. Haha, very funny. They went to pet Mochi who stops eating their greens just to be with them. Mochi then does something that I have come to understand is officially called a flop or something in the bunny lover world.

"C'mon, let's go. The Future Foundation came and gave us shit without even saying hi."

"Really? That sucks." Yasu gets up and makes their way to the front door. I follow after them. If it wasn't such a dire situation, I would comment on how there should really be more decorations in here. Seriously, it's depressing how bare everything is. Our most expensive decoration is the dust building up everywhere. We seriously have to clean up around here.

"At least they're not just leaving us to die out here," I respond. Outside right now is Hell for anybody who has a pollen allergy. But now it smells like absolute shit too. It clearly comes from the big pile that the Future Foundation has given us. The flies are attacking it like crazy.

"Are they that crazy? Goddammit." I realize what Yasu is hinting. Seems like they really thought it was a good idea to find all of the severely decayed bodies and give them to us. I guess that's kinda sweet? And kinda horrifying at the same time. Then again, we're kinda way too used to this sort of thing. Guess this is some messed up way to have some sense of closure. Mostly I'm just trying to figure out why the Despairs thought it was a good idea to keep all of these. Did they want to fuck Junko's corpse again? But that doesn't explain literally everybody else. Did they want to fuck all of their corpses? Truly, that wouldn't surprise me. Those people are too crazy to be reasoned with.

Looking through the presumed bodies, I see that they are all in body bags. I take the one on the top and brace myself. Yasu is right by me, covering their nose. Opening it up, I see the body of Kazuhiko. Yep, exactly what we thought it was. My hands work quickly to zip it up again. Can't believe we have to build even more graves for them. At this point, the two of us can become the Ultimate Grave Diggers.

"Time to get to work." Guess we know how we are going to spend the rest of the day. If the Despairs don't kill us, I believe the boredom will if we don't leave. We really should've thought twice about destroying that TV.

* * *

Everything is going smoothly. Sure, there were a few bumps in the way but I did what needed to be done. It needed to be done. That's what the Master says and she is never wrong. Nothing I've done here is bad. There might have been some actions that can be considered...morally grey yet it had to happen. Why? Because the Master said so. And, because of the Master's words, the world is one step towards true peace. None of this hope or despair, no more of these stupid mind games. Everybody, including me, has a chance to be happy and live their best lives. No more worrying about the past, present, and future. All that needs to continue is Dangan Ronpa. Dangan Ronpa is both the hope and despair of humanity. Even though humanity believes they are rooting for hope, they will be falling more and more into despair. We just need the time to perfect the brainwashing. Eventually, there will be a time where brave men and women volunteer for Dangan Ronpa, giving up their bodies and lives for the sake of bettering the world! That will be the world that I would love to be in. A world where everybody cares about their fellow neighbors enough to sacrifice everything for them. It's the world where Riko and Beni will finally have their wishes granted, even those assholes Yugi and Asahi. Even Hanami would see how amazing this world is if only she opens her eyes for one moment! Open her eyes like me and all of her other friends here.

"Kazuma, come here. Your teacher has something to tell you," the Master tells me. She is beautiful like always. Everything she does is perfect. The Master cannot do anything wrong. Her very existence shows that there is a possibility that this wicked world can be saved. Nothing the Committee has ever done can be forgiven. They knew Kazuhiko killed Kotori yet did nothing just because she was in despair! After everything, she did for them! Everything sacrificed for her research is now abandoned for hypocritical justice.

The Committee is everything wrong in the world. The only person that means a damn working there is Aguri. But Aguri cannot save the rotten flesh eating away at the world. Well, the Future Foundation is no better, manipulating Hanami into believing that they stand for righteousness. Their stupidity is what has caused this to happen. Everything would be better if they weren't stupid enough to allow the Committee to be created. Hope is nothing by empty promises and pretty lies. If hope is so powerful and great, all those murders on the despair express would have never happened. Everybody believed in hope there and look where that got them. Hell, everybody believed in hope in the forest of despair only to have all their dreams and desires crushed underneath my heel. I could kill Ayano Kirigiri over and over again and be in bliss. All I regret is that I didn't give her a slower, more painful death for all the pain and suffering she has caused.

"Yes, my Master, what is it that you want?" I ask her as I come to her on her throne. Suddenly, her mood shifts. Rage engulfs everything about her. Fire consumes her very soul for all but a second. She kicks me over and then uses me as a footstool.

"Kazuma, oh Kazuma. You may have succeeded but it was more out of dumb luck. We've to put so much more effort into editing than we should due to all of your mistakes. All you had to do was hold a Killing Game. Not that hard. But you fucked it up so much! Now we've lost so many Personality Experiments. What about keeping Akita and Takayuki alive was so difficult. Hell, you even executed Takayuki so it's all your fault." The Master is always right. It's useless to explain myself to her. All those words are just empty. After all, she will not hear them, instead saying other words that are actually the truth if you think about it. That is just how the Master works. Nobody questions the will of the Master.

"I promise I will never fail you again." Those words only cause the Master to dig her feet further and further deeper into me, sinking her boot heels into my fragile flesh.

"No, you won't be hosting any other Killing Games. You cannot be trusted. There's one person you will now be answering to. Mei Yamazaki. It's your repentance for causing the death of her sister two times. Oh, you should envy the despair she must be feeling." It is true. I am an only child so I will never face the despair of my blood sibling dying. There were times in my youth that I wished for a younger brother and sister but now I realize how futile that is.

"Whatever you say, Master."

"That's a good Kazuma. Remember everything I taught you. That way you can rise to the dawn just like me. Now go, Kazuma, you are dismissed and you have somebody to meet. Though it might be hard since they're still in space. Why is the Killing Game hosted by your type always go horribly wrong?"

Following her whims just like always, I leave the room. I should be glad that I am still on the project I help create but part of me feels immense pain. But why should I care? Despair is just another part of life the Committee censors so everybody can continue being their slaves.

 _Yes, continue thinking like that! Despair is way better than hope. Unlike hope, despair doesn't lie to you. Everything despair does is the complete truth..._

...And that's the best lie of them all...

* * *

After all of that bullshit, Yasu and I finally finished digging the body. I'm surprised they didn't past out once during the whole thing. We even got little branches to make the most pathetic looking crosses I have ever seen in my life. The ones in the sim looked way better than this but that's because the Mom Trio were usually the ones that made them. Kinda hard to do anything when you're dead. But that's a given. I really should stop this inner monologue now.

I cannot help but stop myself to look over all of them. Maybe we should do some sort of funeral thing. We were probably planning to do one at some point during the whole game but got distracted by all of the murder. Though it just happened, most of the game is already a blur to me. Probably because I spent so much of it drunk. It really sucks that they have no alcohol here. I'm just waiting for the day for the withdrawal symptoms to kick me in the ass. Just wait for me to die of withdrawal symptoms and have the most bullshit death ever.

Yasu goes over to Kazuhiko's grave. He's at the end just because he was first. But Ayano better be happy that we looked through all that bullshit to make sure she is buried right next to Kazuhiko. Especially because her body is more messed up than the rest of them. It's screwed to do this to the woman that I loved...love...I don't know, it's complicated. Love is much more complicated than the fairy tales made it seem. But, hey, she was sucking face with Kazuhiko before all this love bullshit between me and her so whatever. Maybe they would've gotten married and had kids if none of this happened. Sure, there was that creepy shit with Kotori but they would've run away together or said screw the rules. Maybe I should figure out what the Hell is going on with whoever Kindra is. Even though Ayano would've wanted it, there are much more important things to worry about.

"Kazuhiko Hiraoka, Embodiment of truth," Yasu states. It's weird to see them this serious. But then again, it's like a funeral thing.

"Shouldn't we start with Akita? Didn't she die first? We really should do it in that order. So we won't be confused and crap." Honestly, I just want to talk to Akita again. Both of the Akitas. That has been confusing ever since I ever meet Ms. Mediator but actually was really bad at it. Really, that should've created a giant red flag right out the get-go.

"Should we do like that embodiment thing? Like I remember Monokuma mentioning Ayano doing it. And, I don't know, it's kinda cool."

"I was already doing that, Hotaru," Yasu reminds me. Oh. Maybe I should take a rest. Part of my brain must be tired. You know what, we really should've taken a break while digging all of these graves. And I really should've changed my clothes since now my nice clothes are all dirty. Really, we should've planned everything out more. But then the bodies would've been sticking up the place. Now that they're six feet under, we don't have to deal with the awful smell of death anymore. Somehow it's even worse in real life and I didn't think that would even be possible.

"Alright, well, Akita Yamazaki. Embodiment of...chaos seems to fit. And whoever else exists inside your head. Oh, and thanks for the shoes, sorry I had to leave them in the sim. Those shoes were rocking. I want them." Thinking about it, I've got the original Akita to thank for all of this. The goddamn bitch who killed the world's hope also was the source of mine.

* * *

 _"Well, somebody seems to be lost. What's the matter, little one?" At that point, I thought that the original Akita Yamazaki dressed funny but I just came to learn that is just how she was. Behind her, there was a boy bigger than her trying to hide._

 _"Nothing."_

 _"You can't hide anything from me. One of my best friends is a private investigator! Nobody just comes running out of a restaurant with tears coming out of their eyes and tries to hide behind the trash can." Defeated, I sighed. Maybe I could've made some bullshit story but I wasn't in the mood. And perhaps it wasn't the smartest idea to trust the people dressed up as a ringleader and clown in the alleyway. But, if I learned anything, it's that children don't exactly make for the best decision makers. That includes teenagers too. We can lie to ourselves all we want yet we are still children at heart. It's my belief that no matter the age, somebody at least has a little child inside of them. Besides Despairs._

 _Honestly, I don't give a shit about my family's restaurant. It's probably destroyed because of the Despairs anyway. Everybody else in my blood family treated me like shit because I'm not good at cooking or cleaning or whatever meaningless task they wanted me to do instead. Nope, only dart throwing. Don't know where that skill came from but maybe sometimes people are just born for this kind of shit. Anyway, I'm not surprised they want nothing to do with me. The years I've known them they've done nothing but look down on me and abused me. They should've all died instead of all of these good people but that's the fair thing. This world is not fair._

 _"I'm no good at my family's job. Why do they need somebody who can't even serve food without screwing something up? Who needs the talent of dart throwing in their lives? When has that helped anyone?" Still, I think that. Why can't I have a cooler talent like Ultimate Archer? That would be cool. But, no, I'm stuck with dart thrower._

 _"Look at Hideyoshi here, he's so shy he won't even introduce himself but won't stop his work to become the best clown ever! Who cares what other people think? You can help out at my circus. It's called the Sakura Circus. Anyway, your dart throwing can help entertain the masses! All it takes for your talent to be worthwhile is for one person to smile. Yourself." With those words, something inside my still young heart clicked. Akita gave me a flyer for her circus. The flyer itself had bright pink colors with many people with smiles on their faces. I don't remember exactly what it looks like only that there was a lot of pink. She then mysteriously went but Hideyoshi stayed. It is still hard to imagine this boy becoming a serial killer clown. But that's just what Kaneshiro does to people, twist them around so much that they only become shells of their former selves, completely driven by their lust for despair._

 _"I, uh, have to go." Hideyoshi hurried away._

 _"They're right! I don't have to listen to anybody but myself!" At that moment, I thought it was a good idea to kick the side of the wall harshly. A trip to the ER later told me otherwise._

* * *

"Shouldn't we do something nicer? Chaos seems kinda mean." Yasu is being kinda a killjoy but they have a point. Doesn't change how much chaos fits. But, you know, perhaps something else to say screw you to Kaneshiro. That we won't be the people that he forced us to be. No matter what, we will continue to be ourselves, even when he takes away everything that makes us unique.

"Yeah, yeah. Well, um...how about perseverance? Even when she went completely off the deep end, she wouldn't give up. That girl was crazy yet you've to admit that she never gave in. Not even to Kaneshiro, despite what he says. Maybe a part of her causing her own death is because of not wanting to be his pawn anymore. But we'll never have a way of knowing what was truly going on in that head of hers."

* * *

 _ **Akita Yamazaki, the Embodiment of Perseverance, has been laid to rest.**_

* * *

"Alright, now Kazuhiko." I just don't want to think about Akita more than I should. Only if I can travel back in time and not tell her to trust Kaneshiro. Then literally none of this would've happened. Sure, something horrible would still be transpiring, but at least not this. Stopping this could only be done by erasing Junko's influence on the world and something tells me that takes a lot more than hoping that she finally just goes away.

Thinking back to Kazuhiko, I really didn't interact with him much, neither did Yasu. He really didn't stick that long. Time flies when you are in constant threat of getting murdered. But one thing is clear to us, that he really did care for Ayano. I really don't know what those two would be doing in the probably nonexistent afterlife. Hell, I don't know whether or not it would be Junko or Ayano that gets sent there. Maybe both. The whole afterlife might just be crawling away with a whole bunch of Junkos for all I know. It's useless to think about that shit because we can't change the afterlife, at least while we're living. Who knows? Maybe there's a rebellion in whatever exists after death going on right now that nobody can ever know about until they die.

Kazuhiko might have had an issue with solving his problems by bashing them over the head, but, hey, all of us have something to improve on, even in death. He protected Ayano even before I knew who, which is something I'm grateful of even though it was all for nothing in the end. Sometimes I wish time travel was real so we could stop anything but that would be stupid. Rewriting your pain will not let it go away. Even if you could, there would be some weird alternate reality thing that is way too complicated to think about and creates way too many goddamn plot holes. It is better to live on despite all the pain than to live in your past only thinking of all of your miserable regrets.

Well, might as well do some memory bullshit with Kazuhiko. Because every single person interacted with each other. Just because I didn't know something was happening, doesn't mean it wasn't. But, then again, I was like the only one not surprised by Namita and Miyuki dating because I found it obvious. It was not that hard to figure out but, you know, maybe they were more focused on not dying. What good it did to all of them. But I was focused on survival too even though I had a ninety-nine point nine percent chance of not making it out alive. I still don't know how I'm still alive. Luck? Nah, can't be that. Lucky is the last word to describe somebody like me. Hell, I'll say Kazuhiko was the lucky one. Even though his recklessness caused much more suffering. It was not his fault that Kaneshiro lashed out in the way that he did.

"I think we can stick with the whole truth thing. That actually makes sense," Yasu notes.

* * *

 _ **Kazuhiko Hiraoka, the Embodiment of Truth, has been laid to rest.**_

* * *

"This is exhausting," I complain.

"We gotta get through this for all of them." Yasu is right. I hate that they are right but they are. Doesn't change that sometimes I just want to run to my bed and never wake up again. But I can't give up. I actually survived. But how much of Hotaru Amemori made it out of the simulation? Is it right to even call me the same person as before? This isn't Hotaru Amemori. It's somebody else that just so happens to share her same body. That girl was killed by the game, replaced by whatever I am now.

"Alright, let's get this over with."

"Next is that Shinichi kid. That boy was...complicated." That was putting it lightly. I wouldn't have ever thought that a small kid like him could do anything like be part of a revolution and be a spy. Gathering information directing from the Committee and Despairs took balls. But turns out that makes them want to kill you. Poor kid probably got the worse death of them all.

If there's an afterlife, hopefully, he didn't have to see everybody he knows and loves die. Or else he might actually go insane. But could people not living actually go insane? And why am I thinking about stuff like this? A part of me wishes that he can live on in Heaven or some other bullshit place that doesn't exist happily with whoever he cared about. But that's too much of wishful thinking. Who knows? Maybe they found a way to torture people beyond the grave. Actually wouldn't surprise me. But I don't think anything can after everything that has happened.

"But that kid got a heart of gold. No wonder Takara liked him so much."

"Heh, we both don't know him that well. We didn't really talk to Shinichi that much." His trial, however, is when things truly well ape shit. Things were bad before but the true turning point was when Yasu and whoever else was working with them on that plan decided to turn on Monokuma and try to escape. Ah, the good ol' days when we thought the worse thing was being stuck on the island. I want to go back to those people and try to warn them. But it's funny to think about how I went to thinking Ayano was a murderer to her becoming my love. Hotaru Amemori wouldn't understand my feelings.

"You know what? That boy always stuck to his morals. Could have easier saved himself. But instead, he fought." Once again, Yasu raises a pretty good point. Lord knows it's much easier to run away. You could do it so many ways. Escapism, denial, drugs, you name it. Facing reality is harder than experiencing an illusion. "Loyalty seems good."

"Loyalty?"

"You see, he could've easily become part of the enemy. But he stuck with the Saviors. They may be dead...but it was clear the Saviors cared. Cared for each other and the world."

* * *

 _ **Shinichi Fujimoto, the Embodiment of Loyalty, has been laid to rest.**_

* * *

"The Committee and Despairs could've taken over the world if they weren't full of people who would turn against them at any moment," I comment. Especially since the Committee must be struggling against the Despairs right now. Who knows what crazy shit is happening because of people dying or being brainwashed. Honestly, I don't give a shit about what's going on with the Committee. They could all burn in Hell for all I care. Them being slightly better people could've stopped the rise of this crazy True Despairs Team Danganronpa whatever business. So many people are suffering just for the greed of those in power. A part of me is happy that they are finally getting what they deserve.

"We need a new Saviors of Humanity. This time with a less tacky and on the nose name."

"After this," Yasu smirked. "Of course, I would just name it the Mochi Squad. Or Bunny Squad. Whatever. You get the idea." It might not be a good name but maybe we could still have Mochi as our mascot. Mochi is just as much as a survivor than the two of us. And also Hayato but I don't wanna think what's happening to him now. I know why he was left behind but that doesn't make me any less pissed.

"And now we get to a fun one. Mr. How Can My Name Be Any Longer and More Stuck Up."

"I think you just pissed him off," Yasu jokes. I never thought that an interaction like this could ever happen with me and Yasu. Probably because I always thought we would die. Falling in love in one of these games is almost a death sentence in of itself. Maybe because they find heartbreak to be good television. But they have to realize that we are all human beings. Enjoying our suffering is sickening. But then I think back to the past. Hotaru Amemori would enjoy such a thing. What a horrible truth to admit. Well, part of the reason is brainwashing, yet even I can admit that wouldn't be all. There's always that hidden desire everybody tries to forget exists that makes them want to see other people in pain. Everybody is a sadist. Or maybe I'm underestimating the goodness of humanity or some shit like that.

"No, I think it's more likely I pissed Hayato off. Cassius would probably think it's a compliment." Yasu's face drops. Oops.

"Let's change the subject. To this whole embodiment thing." Although I can't take Cassius completely seriously, there were two things that were clear. One was that he was a rich, naive idiot. The other is his dedication to his family.

"Yea, neither of us really hung out with Cassius too. We really should've gotten spent more time with them." Instead of that, I was too busy getting wasted. I could've stopped something by opening my stupid mouth. Warn them all about the horror known as Kaneshiro. But my ass didn't do that until it was way too late. Why though? Sure, punishment and flashback lights, but I didn't know that they made evil flashlights then.

"We really do suck, don't we? Why were we the ones that survived?" Yasu looks down. I couldn't respond. There's no clear answer other than just because. Because we somehow got out of there alive.

"Because."

"Because?"

"Just because," I sigh. Sometimes life just sucks and you just gotta roll with the punches. A lot of people don't realize that. Thinking that everything is happiness and rainbows, that everybody has a happy ending just because they were a 'good' person, yet that's just bullshit. If you want to truly get your happy ending, you have to fight tooth and nail in a fight that you don't even know you'll win. A part of me hopes it's worth it, the other just says that everything sucks and just to give up. "But this isn't the time to wonder about the meaning of life. We're trying to have a funeral thing. I don't think we're very good at this thing."

"What possibly gave you that idea?"

"Haha, well, with that out of the way, let's finally get back to business. Cassius...hmmm...probably some family shit. We can't really do loyalty again, that would be boring..."

"Confidence?"

* * *

 _ **Cassius Jacobson, the Embodiment of Confidence, has been laid to rest.**_

* * *

"Okay, that seems to fit." At this rate, this is going to take forever. But it's not like we've anything else to do. Being stranded in the middle of a forest is surprisingly lackluster without the constant threat of death. But I'm highly skeptical of the current state of Japan. Not only is there the three-way war between the Committee, the Despairs, and the Future Foundation, there will probably be other countries still not loyal to the Committee that find this disarray the perfect moment to attack. So many innocents are either being killed, tortured, or brainwashed.

"...Naoko..." Yasu sighed. Other than me, I guess it would be safe to say that Naoko was the first true victim of Kaneshiro in this Killing Game. Who knows what he and Hideyoshi did to her to make her fall into despair? I really don't want to know. It's really not that hard to figure out some of it but I did not want to come to terms with that. Naoko truly didn't deserve anything that happened to her.

"If we ever meet with Kaneshiro again, I'm gonna punch him in the face. Don't care if he kills me. We all know that bastard and his stupid loyal henchmen deserve to be in these graves other than..." I could not finish that sentence. My words form in my head but cannot escape.

"Yeah, make sure Mochi can take a bit out of him too," Yasu smirks. Because of the past couple of days, I can safely say that rabbit bites can really hurt. Especially when Mochi really wants to do so. Don't mess with pissed off rabbits. They're more fierce than any other creature.

"And figure out whoever is this Master bitch. Just how many evil overlords of darkness could there be?" I'm just waiting for the moment we defeat the Master or something and then an evil person from nowhere appears and says something like 'fools I've been pulling the strings all along even though literally nobody has heard of me.' Or maybe it's gonna turn out that somehow Kotori is still alive after having her head severely bashed in by an overly emotional teenager.

"Let's focus on Naoko though. We've got a really bad habit of getting off topic."

"Haha, neither of us have the greatest attention span," I laugh. My parents, if you could even truly call them that, would always get on my case for that. And my teachers. Basically, every authority figure in my life that had a giant stick up their ass. But enough about me, time for Naoko who might as well be the Ultimate Teacher's Pet. I can just tell that teachers would love somebody like her. Naoko was a sweet girl though. Too bad she had to die the way that she did. Could have possibly helped save the world or some sappy shit like that.

"But Naoko was such a good kid. She would've done better for the world than us." Hell, maybe Naoko would've found the cure for cancer or some shit like that. Yasu could probably now do some pretty cool things with their talent now that we're out of the Matrix. And then there's me with my stupid dart throwing. Who even gives a shit about dart throwing? Being able to throw a piece of shit kinda well won't do anything amazing with a possible end of the world scenario happening. What am I gonna do? Throw a dart to end all evil? That seems like the biggest stretch I've ever heard. And I had to deal with many bullshit theories in the Killing Game.

"Or she could've destroyed the world after going kookoo for coocoo puffs. We'll never know." There are so many things that could have happened. Kaneshiro really should've killed me at the start to make everything according to plan. Or poison my ass. Or brainwash me. I mean, Natsumi did take over my body with coding, but that didn't really exactly work that well for anybody involved. Natsumi is strange. Even though I killed his goddamn ass, I know he's gotta be important in some other way. Team Dangan Ronpa wouldn't just introduce a new 'character' just for them to be killed off. Really, our story is not that important in the long run, isn't it? There seem to be eighty billion side characters doing more important things than us at the moment. But that's maybe because we're only having a funeral.

"Naoko wouldn't do that without brainwashing," Yasu states. Fair enough, most people are the same way. Or at least I hope so.

"So like Naoko I was thinking humility or some shit like that. I don't know. We're not exactly the best at this sort of thing."

* * *

 ** _Naoko Kawabata, the Embodiment of Humility, has been laid to rest._**

* * *

"Now for Kyoto," I say. Kyoto had the clearest crush on Ayano and I can not tell whether or not it was annoying or adorable. Then again, I might be a little bias. It's not my fault that something about Ayano made her hot for so many people. That girl was like a love magnet without even trying that hard.

It was sorta a good thing that Hayato wasn't here for this part. I mean, everything else without him sucks. But I do not need a long monologue full of self-pity and guilt right now. We already have way too damn many of those. Though it could be debated like for all of eternity whether or not any of us could be considered decent or good people, that is not the point. This is not the time to think through moral questions about the truth or lack thereof around the concepts of the cliche good and evil.

"All of these kids deserved better," Yasu sighs.

"Let's make this simple because we're spending way too much time out here already. It's starting to get dark." I point to the sky. Unlike the simulation, looking up actually did not only show even more boring trees. At this point, I can never see a tree again in my life and be happy. Now it was a purplish-pink sky with birds flying above, their chirps providing us sweet melodies.

"Yeah, we do spend way too much time with these sorta things. And I'm sure Mochi is starting to get a little impatient."

"Alright, alright, let's get this done already. The embodiment of intelligence I think fits Kyoto nicely."

* * *

 _ **Kyoto Kamui, the Embodiment of Intelligence, has been laid to rest.**_

* * *

"Oh, Mitsuru." I don't think it surprises nobody still alive really liked Mitsuru that much. Like, I'm sure she was a nice person and all beyond all the layers (blah blah blah, insert obvious onion joke here), but neither Yasu or I really talked to her that much. Because she even scared the crap out of me. How did Akita have a puppy dog crush on Mitsuru on all people? It was like the world truly hated Akita or something. But, hey, at least Mitsuru cared when Akita bit it. I think. That's a few extra points.

"Let's make her the embodiment of passion and get this over with."

* * *

 _ **Mitsuru Banda, the Embodiment of Passion, has been laid to rest.**_

* * *

"Sounds like a good idea." Yasu might give a little bit more of a shit about Mitsuru than me but the sun is already too close to setting to waste even more time asking questions that can be answered later.

"Now it's for...should we call her Rosalina or Mirabilis?" Honestly, Mirabilis was...something else alright. It is still hard to wrap my head around her being an heir to the Committee. Which meant she had to have training about how to be the most boring person ever. No wonder the Committee tried to hide her existence, Mirabilis destroyed their image in all of the right ways. That meant that once she entered the simulation, there was no saving her. Even if the tragedy of the third trial did not happen, Kaneshiro would try even harder to kill her than he did me. Pretty sure one of the reasons I'm still alive today is because they underestimated me. No way would they make the same mistake for Mirabilis, no matter how insane her outward persona acted. Their plan would not work with her alive. Truly, Mirabilis could have taken control of the Committee and helped the world move on to a better ideal. But there's no way to make that happen now.

But I think everybody, even the Despairs, and the Committee together, can agree on one thing. Mirabilis's wand with that overly complicated name I don't remember...yeah, you don't fuck with that wand. That wand is goddamn terrifying.

"...Mirabilis..." Yasu's eyes are tearing up. Just remembered, like the good friend I am, that those two were rather close. Yasu, Ayano, and Mirabilis made a group to take down the mastermind, pretty sure of that. They didn't really do the best job. But at least they tried.

"You should do this one, Yasu," I tell them. Visions of what if started to fill up in my mind. Of all of us, besides the obvious, or maybe we invite the true versions of Atsuto and Satoshi since they seem to be just as much Kaneshiro's victims as well, being the best of friends. Playing video games together, causing mayhem at parties, maybe even organizing protests against the Committee. Now with Team Dangan Ronpa's clear victory over us, the world has been screwed over. It is up to the people in charge now to make sure the streets are safe enough for the common day people to do simple tasks once again.

"If you say so, kid. You're stuck with my awful choice."

"Really? Because I would've just named her the embodiment of anime. The power of _**FRIENDSHIP**_!" I wave my arms around like a lunatic. At least that got Yasu to laugh. Really, I'm good at that if I ever try. I was part of the circus and friends with the Ultimate Clown after all.

"...Justice. Embodiment of justice."

* * *

 _ **Rosalina Irving, the Embodiment of Justice, has been laid to rest.**_

* * *

"Now we got Takayuki." Takayuki. Oh man, Takayuki. On one hand, he was a serial killer clown rapist, but that was Hideyoshi and the whole Personality Experiment #045 that still makes my head hurt. Really we're burying Hideyoshi's body here. And my mind feels it is about to explode. Or maybe I'm just thinking way too hard on this. And doesn't help that Takayuki was a massive asshole. Technically, his real body is supposed to be buried somewhere else, but who knows where that is? Probably some mass grave since the Committee doesn't give a shit about people after they lose their usefulness. Plus, having a grave for Takayuki while he was still walking around would be suspicious. Most of the people around them, Takayuki and Akita, must have been completely loyal to the Committee to not completely screw the experiment over by saying one wrong thing. Oh, and we still have to find the last experiment and Kindra. Whatever Kindra is doing. So many things to do, not enough motivation to do them all...yet.

"I remember one time he snuck treats for Mochi. He pretended to not know what I was talking about." Somehow the image of an overly serious tsundere with no hands somehow doing that is amusing to me.

"Clearly, he's the embodiment of affability."

"How to describe him...he's like an asshole with a heart of gold. Like so many book characters. Guess reality really does mirror fiction." Reminds me of the time he literally cut his hands off. At the moment, he was like 'pursuit of knowledge' and blah blah blah, but you can't fool me for that long. The emo tsundere twat did it to save all of us from Hideyoshi. Really didn't work out that well. Could have definitely thought about other things than removing important body parts.

Oh, and he couldn't hide his crush on Akita or Naoko for the life in him. It was weird seeing how different but alike he was with the two of them. But that doesn't matter anymore because literally all of them are dead. Really would have been awkward if Akita realized what was happening.

"To stand up for what's real even when you're being possessed by an evil clown..."

"...Embodiment of Fortitude..."

* * *

 ** _Takayuki Anno, Embodiment of Fortitude, has been laid to rest._**

* * *

"Now for Miyuki and Namita..." Those two lovebirds who thought they were hiding so well but really the only reason they weren't caught is that everybody was an idiot.

"Look at the bright side. They didn't see what happened to Tsukiko." Kinda morbid but right. I don't know what is worse: having your best friend die or see them become something that they're not. Experiencing both, I still don't know. But Namita had to deal with Miyuki being in despair as well. Unlike me, she had to kill Miyuki. Don't know how she got to that point, yet now I can understand her thought process a little bit more. Giving up on life when you just took one of another you truly cared about is...is...well, I don't actually know how to finish that sentence. All I know is that it's something that shouldn't be done.

"I think they would've prevented that..."

"Shit, you're right. I'm an idiot...Dammit. They're dead and smarter than me. Fuck." Yasu bites their lip so hard that it begins to bleed. "Why are we alive? I helped Kaneshiro. He would be dead without me." Now that's just absurd. But then I remember things would be better without me as well. Is that a requirement for survival? To be negative for the world in general? Oh, the world sure loves to play its twisted games. Perhaps there are people watching us from somewhere that loves to see us suffer. After all, that's what Team Danganronpa is doing right now. Guess people hate me for thinking I'm the mastermind or something. Should've seen them trying to frame me from a mile away.

"What are you even talking about? Hell, the Sakura Circus could've probably stopped all of this if we weren't a bunch of idiots. But what do you expect from a bunch of nobodies trying to find their way in the world with the circus of all things?" Too many what-ifs that it would drive somebody insane thinking them all. What if the police didn't suck balls? What if Kaneshiro didn't decide to jump off the deep end? What if we weren't saved from the Future Foundation? What if? What if? What if? So many alternate universes, not enough time to think through them all. Hell, there could've even been a world where I became a psycho yandere and tried to kill everyone. But that would be stupid.

"Back when I got damn shot. I protected Kaneshiro from a bullet," Yasu admits. "I mean, Kirigiri was a crazy bitch too. But she didn't have any of this shit. She ain't that crazy." I don't like the thought of the Committee controlling our lives either but everybody would be alive that way. Sure, severely traumatized, but still. We still also have to figure out what exactly happened to the survivors of the other game. Highly doubt anything Kaneshiro told us was the truth.

"If that happened, Akemi would've still gone for our heads. He was still on their side, remember? There would've still been issues." I try to comfort Yasu yet we both know that's bullshit. Even if Akemi continued the game, he would've been more reasonable than Kaneshiro. There was reasoning with that backstabbing brat. All of us should have realized there was more happening with him. It wasn't exactly that hard. Guess that was part of the strategy. Become not suspicious by being as suspicious as possible. But, even as the Ultimate Chess Player, Akemi made some pretty dumbass moves. Real life turns out to be much more than a simple chess game.

"Miyuki would've still died. With that injury of her and blah blah blah. You know this shit already. But Namita could've lived." Yasu grabs harshly onto their arms, their nails digging into their skin. "Not only that. Things would've been better. None of that... _stuff_...would've happened." I'm gonna guess this isn't the best time to tell Yasu that they're wrong.

"Let's change the subject-"

"Why is it that I fell in love with... _him_?"

"Love is strange like that. You can't really control it. It's hard to explain." Many have tried to explain love like so many things. But it's clear that nothing is entirely right. Somethings just don't have a clear answer. Because that's how life works. Then again, what's exactly life? Is life the state of your heart beating, or being yourself? Is it the body or the mind?

"You're really smart, kid," Yasu smirks with tears starting to form in their eyes.

"Alright, we've spent way too much time on this. Both of us really need a therapist." Sadly, the Future Foundation doesn't seem like it wants to supply us with anything else except if we join them. But I don't like them at all. Sure, they saved us, but they also have a massive stick shoved out of their 'hope' ass. What's so good about hope anyway? It does nothing but make fake promises. A world of pretty lies...that's the world of both hope and despair.

"Miyuki and Namita, right? I always found Miyuki to be brave...so how about the embodiment of courage?"

* * *

 _ **Miyuki Kobyashi, the Embodiment of Courage, has been laid to rest.**_

* * *

"Guess I should do her girl toy then. Namita Nakahashi..." Although Tsukiko was clearly the main 'leader' of us, Namita was her true second in command. Miyuki was really there to make sure we all didn't accidentally blow up the school or something. Though I always got the feeling that Namita didn't really like me that much. Don't know why. Never really found the time or reason to ask.

"You know, I could come up with one too."

"Yeah, yeah, but how about orderliness? I don't know." It would fit an event planner. Even though I think either Monokuma or I destroyed all of her parties. Oops. You know what, that might be the reason she seemed to be annoyed with me.

"Nah, that's surface level. How about understanding?" Why does Yasu seem better at this than me all of the sudden?

* * *

 _ **Namita Nakahashi, the Embodiment of Understanding, has been laid to rest.**_

* * *

"...Minato..."

"Do you want to do this or something?" Might as well not do it anymore. Keep my mouth shut since I can't do anything right. Well, except for one...but Yasus seems to be a nice enough person to understand that.

"Embodiment of kindness." Well, that was easy. But it does fit that cinnamon roll.

* * *

 _ **Minato Ueda, the Embodiment of Kindness, has been laid to rest.**_

* * *

Now here's a difficult one. Kira Iwata. As much as I want to punch the little bitch in the face, I strangely get her messed up mindset. Doesn't change that she was a traitor. That she was one of the reasons that we were put through such Hell. She should've known that it wasn't the best idea to force people into Killing Game, even with Kirigiri's words of us all surviving. All of those turned out to be sweet nothings. Sure, if Kira refused, some random Committee rando would've taken her face, but doesn't change that she could've told us something about it but choose not to. Everything about Kira screamed sin, not out of malicious intent, more out of personality flaws. But we're supposed to label them something nice. Even Akemi when we come to him. Pretty sure Yasu wouldn't see the humor of him being the embodiment of a little bitch.

"Kirigiri was still a manipulator. Kira was a victim," Yasu tells me. But I don't believe them. Sure, Kira had elements of being a victim. It's obvious to me that Kirigiri was abusive towards her. If we knew the full truth of everything that happened between those two, we would've probably enjoyed her death like demented sadists. But the two people who could tell us the story are now very dead.

"Sure, sure, choose something before I make her the embodiment of sin or something like that."

"If you say so. How about...?" Yasu takes a second to think. They look around us, at the now dark purple sky threatening to engulf us into darkness if we don't hurry. Doesn't take a genius to figure out being out alone in the forest during the night was a bad idea. "...Diligence...?"

* * *

 _ **Kira Iwata, the Embodiment of Diligence, has been laid to rest.**_

* * *

"Okay, okay, now to get through the others. With all this work, we might actually have a decent sleep," I lightly chuckle.

"Tsukiko, right?" Honestly, I thought that Tsukiko was going to die first. Strong leader types have the bad habit of dying first in games like these. But she made it to the fifth case so expectations were destroyed. She might have even survived the whole thing if she actually for once relied on anybody else to get work done. It was hard for everybody to think straight that far into the game, and it affected Tsukiko the most the more I think about it. But Tsukiko suffered in silence. That girl really was one Hell of an actress.

"Let's make this easy and give her the title she deserves. Leadership."

* * *

 ** _Tsukiko Oda, the Embodiment of Leadership, has been laid to rest._**

* * *

Here's one I really wasn't looking forward to. Dumbass Akemi. If Yasu even dares say something like honor, I might actually go insane. But, then again, those two seemed like friends. Akemi somehow gave a shit about us. That much is clear, but still no excuse. Nothing can excuse this kind of shit. I don't care how sad your childhood was, or how good the motive, nobody, even the leaders of the Committee and Despairs, deserves to go through this pain.

"Yasu, before I kill Akemi a second time by burning him alive, take it away."

"I think authenticity fits." If I had drunk anything, I would've to spit it out. Is Yasu implying what I think they are? Oh Hell no. I thought honor would've bad but this is batshit crazy.

* * *

 ** _Akemi Nakatani, the Embodiment of Authenticity, has been laid to rest._**

* * *

"How can somebody who lied to us the entire time we've known him be that? You do realize he was a despair too and was probably down with this Dangan Ronpa bullshit?" Everything about him was a lie. Not as bad as Kaneshiro but it still hurts. True friends stab you in the front, not whatever Akemi was doing. It wasn't really stabbing in the back as it was to the side. Still a piece of shit move yet you could still see it coming if you paid attention.

"Calm. He lied about everything but himself. That was the real Akemi Nakatani," Yasu answers. Guess that makes some sense. Still, don't like it but I've got a feeling that would be the same with all the different possibilities.

"Fine, we should do Takara now." He was somebody that deserved this treatment, unlike Akemi. Many people haven't had proper burials. Last time I checked, the government is still finding mass graves of brutalized graves from the Tragedy. Humans, animals, everything. It wouldn't surprise me if animals were put into their very own Killing Games. After all, the Despairs had no problems with Mochi possibly being killed. Those monsters have no morals so of course, they wouldn't give a shit about helpless animals. I would bet the clothes on my back (because that's pretty much the only thing I truly have besides Yasu and Mochi) that the Despairs or Team Dangan Ronpa or whatever we call them now, has trained animals just for the sole reason of being put through torturous situations. I mean, the Committee makes them go through experimentation, along with the governments and companies of before the Tragedy happened. Some humans will always be evil, even in times of peace. But I guess some of them will always be good too. They kinda balance each other in that way.

"Haha, I got off topic in my own mind. I guess it's the narrator's curse."

"Relatable. But I've got an idea for Takara. Patience."

* * *

 _ **Takara Miyagi, the Embodiment of Patience, has been laid to rest.**_

* * *

Guess that makes sense. Lord knows I wouldn't be able to go through the shit he did without wanting to smash my head onto the nearest tree. Honestly, people like Takara were too good for this world.

But...now...Ayano Kamukura...I checked the body again and again even though it's in literal pieces. There's no pulse. No other sign of life. None of that warmth that used to be there. But a part of me just wants to hold Ayano's hand one last time. I couldn't even enjoy the last days I had with her since Natsumi wanted to destroy everything that made me...well, Hotaru Amemori. Jokes on him. Though, even with all of my work, I can't stop myself from dreaming. Only if life was like a fairy tale. That way...but, even if life was like that, I wouldn't be with Ayano. She would still be with Kazuhiko. And I'm not selfish enough anymore to destroy that happy ending. Hotaru Amemori is forever destined to be alone. In a castle made with golden bars...But, just for this time, allow me to dream...

* * *

 _It's a world where flowers actually bloom naturally, showing off their beauty without the help of the humans who have destroyed them so. There are many flowers, even some which only exist in the past. Looking down, I see it's a cliff of some kind. The sea is calm, unlike the one in the simulation, not overpowering the sound of birds chirping. Everything was perfect._

 _"Hello, Hotaru." Ayano appears out of nowhere. It's strange to see her in an outfit I never seen her before, with her hair completely dyed red. She looks older like she had the opportunity to actually finish growing up. And she was smiling. Not one somebody flashes to trick others into thinking that they're okay, but one that is real. One I never have seen her with._

 _"Hey, Aya~ how's life?" Catching me off guard, Ayano grabs onto my hands, looking me directly in the eye. Almost immediately afterward, she releases my hands but doesn't break eye contact. Both of us stand there for a couple of seconds, enjoying the existence of the other. Then happens something that never happened outside Ayano being Junko, but that doesn't count. Junko will never be Ayano, even while she's stealing her body. Ayano kisses me, her lips being more tender than anything else on the Earth._

 _"Hotaru..." Surprising me, Ayano gets down on one knee. Ayano gets something from her pocket, a black box and opens it to expose a diamond ring exactly out of the movies. "...Will you marry me...?"_

 _"..." There was no more time to live in fantasy. "...No..." I've to realize that, no matter what, I cannot be with any version of Ayano. It was time to let her go. After all, that would be what Ayano would want._

* * *

"Love."

* * *

 _ **Ayano Kamukura, the Embodiment of Love, cannot be laid to rest.**_

* * *

"Let's go now, it's about to get dark..." With that, Yasu and I leave. I was about to suggest doing embodiments for everybody living but our stories has not concluded yet. Everything can change. After all, now we're truly the authors of our very own lives. Nobody can control us now. Even if they try again, we will show that we will not bend to their will. We must live on as ourselves for the sake of everybody else.

"You know what, kid. Before we go..." Yasu stops right in front of the door. "Let's name our own story."

"Hm?"

"Team Dangan Ronpa is calling it some bullshit long name. Let's keep it simple. I'm thinking Forest of Despair." I don't know where this is coming from but I like it. Next Dangan Ronpa 4: Despair Beyond Hope isn't our story, just a bastardized version for the entertainment of the masses. But Forest of Despair is the truth. For those who actually care about people and don't want to watch others get screwed over for the sake of a sick laugh.

"I like that."

"Well, after you, Hotaru," Yasu opens the door. Mochi waits for us. He actually doesn't charge out of the door which shocks me. But there's something more on my mind. Hotaru Amemori is the name given to me by my abusers. It's the name I never really felt connected with. And now I'm certain it's being destroyed by me being forced into the mastermind role.

I'm no longer Hotaru Amemori...

Now I'm...oh shit, I've to think a new name for myself. Most people would probably spend more than a few minutes thinking about one but I'm not most people. It's impulsive but whatever. Who gives a shit. Possibly Yasu but whatever, they've given themselves a new name before so I know they understand how it's like. For a completely different reason but the point still stands.

"It's Rei Sasaki."

* * *

 **Ultimate Dart Thrower**

 **Rei Sasaki**

* * *

"Alright, Rei Sasaki." With that, Yasu and I return to the cabin. The very first thing Yasu does is pet Mochi. That rabbit will always be spoiled, even if we've less than we did in the Killing Game.

I can't help myself from smiling. It felt like a massive burden was lifted from the chest. Now I can truly be free.

* * *

Another door opens. Another closes. Opening, closing. On and on and on again. I have truly lost count for everything. All I know is that Mbali is still with me. Even she has lost track of everything. Yet both of us continue to survive. No matter what, Team Dangan Ronpa has not been able to kill the sparks of hope inside me. When I stopped counting, I was at five Killing Games. Team Dangan Ronpa tells Mbali and I that we are a hit with the fans. They never tire of us being on screen, even though I know all of these games are not true seasons for their dreadful show. Most likely, my continued suffering is for spin-offs.

"Puhuhuhu! Welcome to the Killing Game! The sixteen of you have been gathered here today is participate for your lives!" Everybody around Mbali and I gasp. The two of us do not even bat an eye. It is another group of eccentric young children, this time most of them must be around the ages fourteen to sixteen. Usually, there was at least another eighteen year old but seems like Mbali and I are the only adults here. That might be some sort of weird gimmick this time around. With Monokuma, you could never be too sure. It was time to stand back and watch from afar, gathering the clues that we can and keeping each other safe.

"I'm gonna kill you, Monokuma!" One of the students charges at Monokuma. This time it's a girl with red hair, blue eyes, and tan skin. The girl had introduced herself as Hiromi Saitou, the Ultimate Daredevil. She steps down on Monokuma hard, but Monokuma does not seem to mind. And, just like Mukuro, Hiromi is stabbed with spears, being killing instantly. As she fell onto the ground, the other students started to shout in terror. But I've seen this way too many times. At least Hiromi did not suffer as she died. Hiromi was in a much better place now. Maybe she could somehow meet up with Cassius, Tsukiko, and the others to tell them that Hayato Akimoto continues to survive. Hayato Akimoto has not been destroyed by the bastard known as Kaneshiro Kazuma.

"Well, well, well, a little bit impatient, are we? For that, I'll add an extra rule. No matter what any of you fuckers do, only one of you gets out of here alive~ Doesn't that sound like fun?"

So that is how this game is going to be played, huh?

* * *

"You know what, Rei. I wanna start our own organization," Yasu says as they pet the soft ears of Mochi. I spit out the water in my mouth. That truly came out of nowhere. Over the past couple of weeks, Yasu and I have been getting used to the cabin lifestyle. It's not the best but still better than being hunted down by Team Dangan Ronpa and the Committee every moment in our lives.

"What?"

"I'm thinking of calling it Brethren of the United Nations! Oh, but you don't have to be a guy to enter. Just thought it sounded cool."

"You just really wanted BUN, didn't you?"

"...Yes.."

"You gotta make sure you really want to do this-"

"Yes! I'm tired of just sitting around waiting for the world! We shouldn't be trusting the Future Foundation or other countries to fix this mess!" Yasu exclaims. There's a fire in their eyes that I haven't seen before. Not only on Yasu but anybody else. It was the fire of true passion. Mochi seemed to try to follow suit but failed miserably. But Yasu does have a point. The Future Foundation has been around for longer than we've been alive yet all they've done is make things worse through their good intentions.

"Mochi will be our mascot!" Yasu holds Mochi up like Simba for a couple of seconds before putting him down. They were jumping up and down the walls. Don't blame them, it's a little bit cramped in here. It's starting to get a little bit cold so we spend less and less time outside.

"Yeah, yeah."

"I was thinking it was about time that Mochi gets a bunny friend!" Yasu's eyes sparkle. "Oh, we can have a bunny farm on our base. Maybe for other animals too! They need our help!" I didn't want to crush Yasu's dreams by telling them we wouldn't have the resources to do that for a long time. But it's good seeing them like this.

"We should pack up our things. Perhaps we should leave the day after tomorrow so we can fully plan out everything. There's no way we can just save the world by charging in blindly." With everything said and done, the two of us enjoy the rest of our breakfast. It is about time that Team Dangan Ronpa really experienced the pain they've caused others, even to the innocents they brainwashed because they accidentally watched part of their show.

* * *

Turns out it took a little bit more time than originally planned. But now we're in the city of Kyoto, where we started this insanity. Somehow it's completely the same but entirely different. Even Mochi is with us since Yasu took the time to build out a new toolbox for him to relax in. I still don't know how but we're geared up to cause a proper rebellion. We're the true underdogs, with everything else out to get us.

Walking through the city, we see many screens broadcasting what appears to be the new season. But we don't pay attention to more than that, making us keep our heads down to the ground. It would also be bad if anybody recognized us so we had hoods and sunglasses. We stood out like a sore thumb but nobody else seemed to care, only focusing on themselves and the screens.

Then we reach where we wanted to. The second Hope's Peak Academy. Although we have only been inside once, I feel strangely connected to it. There are students inside, way more than there should be as, even from outside, I can tell that the classmates are crowded through the massive windows. The Committee must have found some anti-brainwashing technique as nobody inside appeared to be so. But that is not the reason we came here. For the two of us, returning back is extremely dangerous but there is something we must do. There's no clear reasons but a little feeling of satisfaction. Nothing is holding us back now. We are truly the embodiment of freedom.

We take out red spray cans from Yasu's toolbox. With a smirk on our face, we get to work. For there's a message that everybody needed to hear...

 _You can't kill us._

* * *

 **OH MY GOD ITS ACTUALLY DONE! I ACTUALLY DID IT! I FINISHED THIS MONSTER OF A SYOC! Thank you so much all of you for going on this wild journey. Seriously, you guys are the best. I love you guys. 3 My fanbase is awesome and every single one of you gets huggles. The support for this story has allowed me to go through dark times and survive, along with the fabulous people on my Discord. Every single one of you ROCK**

 **My birthday was yesterday and I'm twenty. I was supposed to finish it then but I ran out of time. So yeah.**

 **For the last time on FoD...**

 **Reviews~ (I guess all other reviews will be answered in PMs if I'm not lazy enough to do so)**

 **Ziggymia123-Madoka is amazing. Here's more proof that Ayano is actually dead. She'll never have peace because Afterlife Theatre exists, and, even then, she wouldn't exist in the theatre, Junko would. Here are the first steps towards the end of their story. Hotaru and Yasu are here to kick ass with BUN. Thank you so much! :D June is just gonna be the month of endless intros so you guys have fun with that. Because I won't.**

 **Scissor-Snipper-There's gonna be a lot of Junkos existing. I'm just imagining them all in Afterlife Theatre talking to each other. Ayano is actually dead guys. Yippee. I killed her twice. I've got a bad habit of killing protagonists multiple times. Thank you so much~ I'm gonna finally get some karma for what I put my readers through.**

 **TheRoseShadow21-THANKS SO MUCH ROSE! Well, most of this epilogue is talking about dead people so it's actually not that wild. Hanami is up to something. ;) Yasu and Hotaru are on their journey to create their own found family with BUN. Thanks so much again. :D**

 **AnonChan1-THAT'S ALRIGHT! First thing Yasu and Hotaru do for BUN is find a therapist that's not Etsuko. Hotaru was the only one that got framed so they could use Hayato again without the fans going crazy. Word of God is sometimes your best friend in these stories. Yasu doesn't have DID as that's how despair works and I go further into just how despair works in other stories. YASU IS GONNA KICK YOUR ASS KANESHIRO! I LOVE MY CHILDREN TOO! Yasu's narcolepsy has been working with the doors to create this whole series the entire time. Well, um, Hayato would love to be part of the OT3 but things happen. Hotaru is just not having fun. The execution is very mean and that's why I love it. They did it and Hotaru and Yasu are still more than upset about that. Izuru may be more emotional now but he's still Izuru. Because everything Mochi does is adorable. Mochi could be killing me and still be adorable. They actually did that but now they're like FUCK YOU WORLD.**


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